‘Black arrow’ shoots straight to the heart
Look, I get it. It’s your first bike and you want to make an impression. Yes, there are some great starter bikes out there, from various manufacturers, but you want something to stand out, a bike that is really cool, stylish and urban. Good for you.
You can choose from the little track-inspired, full-fairing offerings, the pseudo cruisers, the faux off-roaders, and even the cafe-racer-styled entry bikes, but none of them — none — have the radically unique look of the new Husqvarna Svartpilen 401.
Just like the furniture of its national corporate counterpart, Ikea, the Svartpilen — Swedish for “black arrow” — is a textbook design for Scandinavian simplicity and clean lines, the likes of which you won’t see anywhere else. It’s a fresh take on the motorcycle with serious urban appeal, if not outright street cred.
It also looks tiny, but don’t be fooled; with a 33-inch seat height, it easily fits taller riders, and the higher handlebars make for a slightly forward but still upright “scrambler” posture for riding. In other words, it’s fairly comfortable. Sadly, it’s only the rock-hard seat that would limit saddle time for longer rides.
There are a few areas of costcutting: there’s a handy cargo carrier on the tank but it’s plastic, the speedometer is covered in a cheap-looking plastic that will easily get scratched, and even the tank that stretches back behind and below the seat in one continuous form is plastic, not metal. But for a $6,999 entry-level bike, there are also pleasant surprises: the forward forks are an upsidedown set, the front brakes are a single disc with four-piston calipers from ByBre (and both brakes with ABS, no less) and the headlight and tail lights are LED. Even the switchgear is lit for nighttime use, and that stylish speedometer includes a fuel gauge. To top it off, the six-speed gearbox is spun with a slipper clutch.
Power comes from a 373-cubiccentimetre 43-horsepower thumper. It’s at lower speeds where the motor shows a bit of weakness; with the power pulses of that single cylinder, the bike can be jumpy and jerky, and it takes a skilled clutch hand for smooth operation. But that disappears as the revs climb and this mill likes to rev. Twisting the throttle and moving through the six gears sweeps the tach needle up quickly, with the sweet spot for smooth operation and power starting around 5,000 rpm.
There’s very little vibration in this engine. Husqvarna has done an amazing job at damping that single cylinder’s pulses at elevated rpms, with only a hint of buzz coming through the pegs and the tank at higher speeds. At those speeds, the Svartpilen is at least competent, though it’s no superbike by any means. It’s sprightly enough to pass at a moment’s notice, but if you’re riding with other larger bikes, you’ll see a big difference in trying to keep up with them. Hitting 125 km/ h at 7,500 rpm starts a warning light on the tach, but it’s not until around 10,000 rpm that the engine hits the rev limiter.
With a lack of luggage options and lower horsepower, this was never going to be a grand touring bike; it’s around town where the Svartpilen shines. It weighs just 150 kilograms dry and feels light and nimble, a joy to be tossed around traffic and squirting down side streets. The wide handlebars make the front end easy to turn, and that quick-revving engine with 27.3 pound-feet of torque at 7,000 rpm means almost instant power. The Pirelli Scorpion tires on the 17-inch rims do a better job for traction on the street than they would in the dirt.
The bike looks so different that I had questions on whether it was electric, and the radical shape and lime-green stripes on the black body are a head-fake toward a futuristic powertrain. But there’s no question that the Svartpilen is different, so if you want a radical first bike, this single cylinder is worth a look. Driving.ca