Review: The 2018 Husqvarna Vitpilen and Svartpilen 401
Husqvarna set the interwebs ablaze when they announced their Vitpilen and Svartpilen 401 concepts four years ago. Then the good news came: these bikes would actually go into production. But would the factory machines be as cool as the concepts"
The answer came last year at EICMA, when Husqvarna revealed the production ready 401s (and 701). It made us very, very happy: never before have we seen production motorcycles stay so true to the original designs. Now, after literally years of anticipation, we’ve finally had a chance to ride the full ‘Pilen range.
Our friend Cristoph Blumberg of Craftrad magazine has already penned his thoughts on the Vitpilen 701. Now we’re taking a look the 701’s little brothers.
Husqvarna’s new street range references the classic Husqvarna Silverpilen, but that’s more about ideology than looks. Rather than create a ‘modern retro,’ the now-Austrian marque has made a conscious effort to build a different type of contemporary motorcycle.
The new 401s feel more like one-offs from a top custom shop than factory bikes. (I can’t help but detect shades of Alex Earle’s Ducati Monster tracker.) KTM and Husqvarna send all their design work to industrial design house Kiska, who’ve made their presence felt on the Husqvarna range since it was brought into the KTM fold in 2013.
We’ve ogled photos of the Vitpilen 401 (above) and Svartpilen 401 (below) since day one, and seeing them...
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May is Motorcycle Awareness Month
07-05-2024 08:33 - (
motorcycle )