The SWM’s stability and balance
inspires confident riding
your total bike price well over the very respectable
$12,000 of the fully-dressed Superdual. Sure, there
are other mid-capacity adventure bikes that come
with a reasonable package of gear, but they are also
priced a fair bit north of the SWM’s shop-floor tag.
To my eyes, the Superdual looks the business,
with nice styling touches and the red frame with
black and silver livery for the rest of the bike all
looks great. The tank’s a generous 18 litres and
will provide a decent range. There’s no ABS or
traction control here, the recipe reading more like
a classic mix of reliable thumper engine, rugged
frame, decent brakes and compliant seat and
suspension. It’s what you might call ‘old school’
Kiwi. This may change, however, as I understand
an ABS-switchable model may be on the cards.
The Superdual joins its RS enduro-styled
stablemate, which was released here in NZ last
year. With it’s 19-inch front and 17-inch rear spoked
wheels the Superdual is clearly targeted at
adventure and back-road touring as opposed to
the RS’ 21inch front and its more off road-biased
intentions.
SWM is a reincarnation of an Italian manufacturer
most prominent in the 70s, which then disappeared
in the mid-80s. Now, with a new owner the
manufacturing plant is based in Italy, in the old
Husqvarna HQ facility. The beating heart of these
new SWM bikes is the Husky-derived TE610 engine,
but with modern updates such as fuel injection,
Euro-4 exhaust, electric start, new valves, clutch,
oil pump and electronics. The water-cooled unit
puts out a claimed 54hp and is matched to a six-
speed gearbox. It’s not crazy power, but perfectly
adequate for what the bike’s designed for.
On the road the smoothness of this engine
really shines. It’s nicely balanced with very little
vibration across the rev range. The gearbox works
well too, with a good spread of ratios for this
bike’s intended use. The Superdual has a more
sculpted seat than the enduro seat of the RS,
and after a 150km stint I can confirm it passes
KIWI RIDER 75