Savile Row Duke
Husqvarna’s new Svartpilen 801 oozes style. But is it worth £3500 more than the KTM 790 Duke it’s based on?
This new Husqvarna 801 is essentially KTM’S 790 Duke stripped of its lairy orange paddock jacket and wearing a beautifully-tailored trench coat instead. It’s the latest in a line of converted KTMS (the two brands are owned by the same company), though in this case the underpinnings are not exactly the same as the donor bike’s.
The main difference is the 799cc parallel twin engine, which makes 103bhp rather than the Duke’s 95bhp. This isn’t down to any special tuning, but rather a lack of detuning – KTM wound the 790 down a bit so it wasn’t too close to the 115bhp 890 Duke. Obviously they didn’t have to bother with the Husqvarna. Both bikes share the same 63 lb.ft torque figure (and every engine dimension).
The electronic widgets are subtly different too, with the 801 losing the Duke’s Track mode and gaining an optional Dynamic mode which lets you fiddle with all the electronic settings. This is a big deal if you like that sort of thing because besides the basic Street, Sport and Rain modes, the 801 has zillions of settings to meddle with – from lean angle-sensitive traction control and ABS, to slide control and supermoto ABS mode.
So, will a Savile Row-attired Duke 790 sell? ‘I’m sure the 801 will be good for us,’ says Jason Jones, sales manager of The KTM Centre in Hemel Hempstead, which stocks both brands. ‘In general the Husqvarnas are slightly more stylish than KTMS, and they’re bought by slightly more stylish people – riders who like to be a bit different. The Dukes are lovely bikes but they are sporty-looking, which not everyone wants.’
One obvious sales problem could be the 801’s price: at £10,499, it’s £3500 more than the 790 Duke thanks to the deals many dealers are offering. Even accounting for the fact the 801 is assembled in KTM’S Austrian HQ (790 Dukes are entirely made in China), that’s quite a chunk. ‘More mature riders often want something a bit funky-looking without being garish, so a bike like the 801 will sell at that price,’ says Jason. ‘There’s definitely a marketplace for it.’
‘Funky-looking without being garish – it will sell’