Vanasche 701

“I am a rider, a world traveler, and maybe more importantly, a 35-year-old industrial geek with a very strong affinity for motorcycles and a work ethic bordering on insane. In addition to this, I own and operate Vanasche Motorsports which caters to the KTM and Husqvarna crowd with custom fabricated and machined parts. I love designing just as much as I enjoy creating solutions for product manufacturing. With the growing number of blank canvases being produced in the adventure sector, I think the fun is just beginning. The vast majority of our products are simply parts that I felt was required back when I was building up my first KTM 690. Each person has their riding style that dictates what additional equipment is necessary. I’m ecstatic that the products I’ve made for myself have found a home with many of the riders in this tight-knit community.”

Andrew grew up on a farm located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. With a passion for tinkering, building and creating motorcycles was a natural evolution. “I lived for riding the dunes of the Oregon Coast through my teenage years hence my passion for high-speed desert riding.” During this time he’d build up bikes by shoving big motors into small frames, because “who doesn’t like speed.” He also spent countless hours in a dirt-floored barn rebuilding shattered engines in an attempt to grasp that next euphoric feeling by traveling through a rough environment at speed. “I also worked away my entire high school summers driving combines on the local farms at minimum wage, and with those proceeds, I’d buy a different bike or add tools to my expanding shop.”

As soon as Andrew left for college, he moved on to street bikes. After a few crashes and more than a few speeding tickets, he decided he wasn’t going to push his luck anymore. “I had tried on café bikes, scramblers, etc. Until I met a friend that introduced me to the DRZ 400 SM. Basically a heavy gutless dirt bike with street tires and reasonable suspension.” At that point, Andrew was living in the city, so off-road access was limited. “I didn’t want anything extremely fast for fear of my driving record. It needed to be reliable and inexpensive.” The entire notion of a street legal dirt bike was new to Andrew, and he fell in love with it. “Call me sheltered I suppose, but I knew motocross bikes and crotch rockets but was wildly unfamiliar with the dual-sport and ADV style of riding.”

Searching out parts and farkle ideas led him to the website advrider.com. “To see these folks out there building up bikes to ride around the world was shocking to me. Not the fact that they did it, but the fact that this culture even existed. I’d done a fair bit of traveling in my life and coming from the pacific northwest outdoor activity is my jam. Low and behold here is this community that revolves around combining my most favorite things in the world; motorcycles and travel. And I didn’t even have a clue it existed.” Fast forward just a year after this discovery and some unforeseen health issues cropped up. So Andrew decided to take the most significant trip he could think of. Oregon to Argentina on a DRZ-400S. He spent around three months building the bike to his liking and set off on a six-month journey.

“Upon my return, I started a new job designing production sawmill machinery but began offering custom fabricated pannier racks in my spare time. But after two years of pannier racks on the side, Andrew lost his day job due to layoffs. Rather than chase down another job that promised a level of “stagnant comfort” he decided to set out on his own. “I constructed a climate controlled room, purchased a lightly used two-year-old CNC machine capable of mass production.” At this point he had no paying jobs so first on the agenda was to figure out a product. “I knew bikes had lots of machined components. So I figured I’d start out there and who knows maybe someone else might want what comes out of my mind.” The first part that Andrew produced was the now famous Vanasche Billet Case Saver. “I put it up on my original website alongside the 690 pannier racks, and they started selling straight away. The rest is history, and I’m having too much fun to look in a different direction.”

On Andrew’s trip down to Argentina, he fell in love with the Baja Peninsula of Northern Mexico and the racing that takes place down there each year. “I now head down every November to spectate the Baja 1000 and usually run a good portion of the tracks on my own time having dreams of one day entering the race. I have the utmost respect for those athletes.” It’s this fascination with the world of Rally Raid that has had him lusting after a Dakar style bike for ages. “I thought that this style of build would make for the perfect ADV travel and race bike. I wanted to build a bike where everything was a true bolt-on solution that would truly intrigue the riders out there. Something anyone can do in their garage.”

Andrew takes enjoyment in the entire build process when putting together a bike like this. “You strip the bike down to bare bones, and then it just hits you, thinking; I’m in pretty deep again. Once the nav tower is mounted and the wiring pulled up and secured, you can see the metamorphosis taking shape and the ‘Oh shit’ feeling starts to turn into ‘this is gonna be awesome!’ This kind of build requires you to look over every inch of the bike multiple times as you make your way through the process. That has sparked a new list of projects and products I’d like to start working on.” And when asked about the unique color scheme? “The two-tone scheme comes from the fact that the majority of our business caters to the KTM 690 and Husqvarna 701 crowd. The bikes are almost identical other than the representing colors hence our product line is very interchangeable between the two makes. I had never seen a split color scheme like this so decided to give it a shot knowing that it would either turn out clashing or phenomenal. Ride Industries knocked it out of the park. Depending on the side you are viewing you wouldn’t be able to tell which brand of bike it was.”

There are a handful of Rally kits available for the 701, but Andrew decided to go with Aurora Rally Equipment 701 Explorer Kit. The fuel tanks, windscreen, and headlight are all KTM manufactured parts while Aurora Rally creates the navigation tower, side fairings, carbon fiber skid plate, exhaust manifold, seat, fuel lines, custom wiring, and all the mounting hardware necessary to bring it together in one package. “With the additional weight, I wanted some performance gain since lofting the front is a favorite past time of mine.” So a Rottweiler Performance Intake System complete with an emissions delete kit was installed to help the bike breath. A power commander with Rottweiler’s optimized maps also improves the fuel delivery. A Wings exhaust silencer helps quickly expel the burnt off gasses but sheds a good bit of weight from stock. Both front and rear suspension were sent out to the team at Konflict Motorsports for a complete KM3 Level re-valve along with new springs to handle the additional weight and riding style. A hydraulic preload from Tractive was installed on the rear to quickly adjust sag for riding with and without luggage. Highway Dirt Bikes supplied the handguards, risers, and integral mirrors. “I run this setup on all of my bikes and wouldn’t consider anything else.”

Andrew also runs his Minimalist Pannier Racks along with Quick Release HDPE plates for a seamless on/off luggage solution. A Factory Pro shift kit got installed which helps remedy the false neutrals on the lazy shifting LC4 gearbox. A Scott’s steering stabilizer with Vanasche’s custom one-off subplate for pin mount location helps add some straight-line stability. For some added peace of mind, Andrew also mounted up an Oberon Clutch Slave Cylinder, their Vanasche Case Saver, and a High Volume Clutch Reservoir. Fitted alongside these upgrades is a Vanasche side-stand dongle to prevent being stranded trailside due to sensor failure and a rear disc guard in combination with the Motominded ABS Cable Guide for some added off-road protection. “The cockpit was also opened up via our lowered foot-pegs which offer some premium comfort by way of increased surface area support. To complete the foot controls we mounted up our extremely rigid billet brake lever combined with a lowered P2 pedal pad which enhances the braking feedback.” Andrew runs Dirt Tricks sprockets on all of his bikes. “We used a 48T rear in combo with the factory front and paired them via a Regina Z-Ring Chain. The Maxxis Desert IT tire up front has a very stiff sidewall. In five years of use, I yet have to get a pinch flat with one of these.” The Motoz Tractionator Desert H/T on the back is reportedly holding up well to both the Moab rock and some “spirited” pavement riding.

“One thing I truly like is the additional fuel pump located in one of the front tanks. I can switch between the factory pump in the rear or the front pump with a simple flick of the switch.” This gives the rider complete control to adjust the center of gravity depending on the upcoming riding conditions. The Vanasche team finished the build only a day before the Touratech Rally in Plain, Washington. “I was a bit nervous about doing the shakedown run with a bunch of riding buddies for fear of loose bolts or anything that could go wrong after you strip down and add so much to a bike in a single go. I think we ran 300 miles of off-road over the course of the weekend and it was bulletproof. Not one single issue. I wouldn’t expect it either as Dimitri has had this kit tested in a multitude of rallies. All of his fabricated parts are warrantied for life.”

With a busy production schedule and new parts in the works, Andrew is a bit tight-lipped about their plans for the coming months. “We are super busy turning out products and doing everything we can to get a couple of hours of riding in on Sundays. “This platform is so versatile I wouldn’t hesitate to add a second more enduro oriented 701 to cover the gap between my 1090 and 501. Hopefully, things will slow towards the close of summer, and we are going to jump on the list of future products I have floating around my head. Not only for the 690 / 701 bikes but we also have some fun stuff planned for the big twins and the 501 class!” With Vanasche’s track record of turning out quality parts for real-world use, we’ll all be keeping a close watch. As for riding plans, Andrew’s interest in the growing Rally style of racing has only just started. “I set out to build my idolized Dakar Rally machine that could both race and easily sub in for the ultimate ADV and travel bike. And I think we’ve achieved that and more. Future plans include a lot of local riding and definitely some Mexico trips. And I’ll be setting my sights on getting more involved in the Rally racing too.”

Follow the exploits of Vanasche Motorsports on their official Instagram page.

All images by Spencer Hill aka The Gear Dude. Follow him on Instagram.