Update from me on this one.
I took the 701 trail riding (in the UK) for the first time yesterday. I am riding a long distance trial next week on it so have it shod in Pirelli MT43 trials tyres. I took it up lots of muddy lanes and rock slab hill climbs. I feel like a wreck today, but the bike was great - a good purchase for me.
As others have said this is a dual sport with a big emphasis on off road ability. It was much harder work that the 99kg trail bike i’ve been using off road for the last 6 years, but it did it all with ease in a way a road bike would not, and with 175 mile tank range, heated grips, powered GPS etc it is a bike i’d be happy to travel on. A couple of weekends ago i did 450 miles on paved roads (on the standard TKC80 tyres and it was a pleasure, albeit a sore arsed one!)
It will not be replacing my 800 Tiger for European road touring just yet (the Tiger is a way better bike for that), but for harder unpaved riding this is a bike that will do that (in a way the Tiger would not) so it ticks my ‘travel bike’ boxes.
Planning to ride the TAT on it in 2020 so will report back after that.
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