I adore Husqvarna's. I still kick myself I didn't buy a dealer-special, heavily-discounted Vitpilen 701 when I had the chance.
They're light, agile things that grunt their way through life thanks to their KTM-produced engines, and/or lightly changed cloned versions. And though I haven't had the chance to ride a Norden 901 yet, I'll bet dollars-to-donuts that it, like the Svart and Vit, is a fabulous thing. But as with anything in life, there's always room for improvement.
At least, that's the case if you're suspension wunderkind WP, which decided the stock Norden 901 suspension wasn't up to task. So what to do to solve that? Easy, call KTM enduro rider Chris Birch and build something he approves of.
Say hello to WP's XPLOR PRO setup.
Now, technically speaking, the XPLOR PRO setup works for both the Norden 901 and the KTM 890 Adventure, as the two bikes are siblings. So if you see that when you're ordering the kit that's why. What it is, however, is a new setup both front and rear designed to take your street bike to new levels of off-road prowess.
The XLPOR PRO encompasses a set of new forks, as well as a rear shock, designed to "offer ambitious drivers tailor-made peak performance and compromise-free off-road dynamics thanks to WP CONE VALVE technology." What that means practically is that the front fork has progressive damping thanks to WP's Cone Valve tech, along with being fully adjustable so riders can dial in exactly what they want from their bikes, as well as tuned correct for their weight.
The XPLOR PRO shock does a lot of the same, with the same progressive damping, and is also fully adjustable with a bare-minimum of tools so backwoods changes are simple and easy. Likewise, the shock is designed to always keep your wheel in contact with the ground, ensuring you always have traction.
But WP didn't stop there, as there are two versions of the XPLOR PRO setup, a standard and a long-travel system. The latter does everything the standard does, but increases your travel and the bike's height, offering you more ground clearance and travel when conquering the trails.
As for price, the WP setup will set you back $3,599 for the forks, and $2,800 for the shock. Now, that's a lot of money, especially considering that a Norden 901 will set you back $14,000. So you'd be spending nearly a third of the price of the bike on just its suspension. But, if you're an absolute nutter for off-road, and you live and breathe dirt, then it isn't all that bad.
Plus, you'd have the dopest Norden 901 around, and Chris Birch signed off on it. So that's cool.
