A bigger, badder Husky
Svartpilen 701 is a lightweight flat-tracker for the road
Husqvarna have unveiled the new Svartpilen 701, the flat track-styled big brother to the 401 and sibling to the café racer style Vitpilen 701.
The Svartpilen shares a lot of parts with the Vitpilen. Both have the same liquid-cooled 692cc single-cylinder engine and steel trellis frame and suspension. But unlike the Vitpilen, which is characterised by its aggressive stance and clip-on bars, the Svartpilen is more upright with flat handlebars and 18in front, 17in rear wheels that give it a more upright posture. It also has the same electronics including ride-by-wire throttle, switchable ABS and
‘It’s a sibling to the café racer-style Vitpilen 701’
bi-directional quickshifter. The only thing that might let it down a little is its teeny-weeny 12-litre tank, although whether you’d want to ride one for over 150 miles in one sitting is questionable.
Of course, if the Svartpilen isn’t wacky enough there’s always the new Vitpilen 701 Aero Concept. Based on the café racer sister bike, the Aero is Husky’s take on the modern sportsbike. Echoing the 401 Aero they showed in 2016, perhaps with a bit of Honda’s CB4 Interceptor concept thrown in, it’s a striking piece of kit. There are exciting things going on under the hood, too, including a round TFT dash, which could go on to feature on a production bike in the near future. All that being said, the old 401 Aero came to nothing, so this might well suffer the same fate.