Need Of The Hour

Finally, A Dual-Sport In India That Isn't Pretending To Be Something It's Not.

- Sherman Hale Nazareth

You could always put swim fins on a cat, but in no way does that mean it’ll suddenly develop a fondness for the wet stuff. I’ve harped on relentlessly about how these gargantuan ADV bikes we have in India tend to behave like drunk elephants in the dirt. They’re called globetrotters and whatnot, but it does help that the globe is now covered in stretches of tarmac that snake across the harshest of landscapes. But what happens when you want to get off the beaten path and seek out more treacherous terrain? Sure, you’d come up with excuses like spoked wheels and ground clearance and off-road ABS, and whatever else it is the beaming salesman at the dealership told you to make you imagine you’d be the next god of off-roading. He’s made his commission and you now think you’re ready to conquer the Dakar. What the salesman conveniently forgot to mention is that you probably need to be taller than 6’5 feet, have a bank balance that makes the cost of this motorcycle look like a daily expense, and be covered in more muscle than an alpha male bison.

Here’s where the SWM Superdual T steps into the picture and triumphantly proclaims its dirt credentials. It is, after all, a redeveloped Husqvarna TE 630 under all that bulky bodywork. And for those of you that haven’t heard of the SWM moniker before, it was founded in Italy in the ’70s and competed in trials and motocross races. It eventually shut down in 1984 and was resurrected about two years ago. While funding was sourced through the Shineray group from China, production of the motorcycle still takes place in a former Husqvarna factory in Biandronno, on the outskirts of Varese, Italy. This sleepy little town also has the MV Agusta factory call it home. So motorcycling heritage runs deep in this part of the world. But truth be told, build quality isn’t exactly on par with the middle and larger displacement European or Japanese machines. But all of that is f