Riding the new Husqvarna Svartpilen 801

So – by now, hopefully, you’d have read all about Husqvarna’s newest ‘Pilen. We took a while to get our hands on one but we’ll tell you this – it was worth the wait…

“Damn! I’m getting too old for this nonsense!”

That’s the sentence going through my head as I pushed the new Husqvarna Svartpilen the last few hundred metres up the hill towards the fuel station. You see, we seem to have utter conviction in the fact that, even though the bike gives you due warning, we never allow refueling to get in the way of having fun.

This time we got caught out. Despite the fuel light and range meter flashing for days, we still managed to bugger it up!

Ah well!

We are happy to tell you that for the first 100 metres or so, the new bike feels light and easy to push around…

Parallel twin.

The last time that a Husqvarna road motorcycle was powered by a twin was the old red Nuda. But that’s another story.

Husqvarna then powered the Pilens in various guises with their single cylinders in the form of the 401 and then the 701 with a motor derived from the 701 enduro machine.

That’s a fun bike – go and ride one. The quirky styling raised eyebrows, it was certainly an unusual motorcycle – probably a bit ahead of its time.

FFWD to 2025 and this is the new bike.

The new Svartpilen a bit more classically styled with a wide, comfortable stepped seat, sensibly angled dirt tracker styled bars, comfy pegs and a user-friendly engine to match.

That engine is the same LC8c parallel twin you’ll find in KTM’s 790 Duke – an engine that has proved itself in a variety of platforms across the globe.

We collected it for the KTM offices in Kyalami, did a quick 5 laps around the track, headed down the manic streets of Tembisa, through the quiet suburbs around Kempton Park back to our offices in Bredell.

Then we hopped back on and shot down the quiet country back roads to the launch of the new multi brand UB Trax dealership – and caught the freeways back home in the late hours of the evening.

So we actually got to ride this bike quite a lot and should probably be able to tell you everything about it… Here goes.

It’s nippy. Simple hop and and go convenience. Compact, small and fun to ride.

The quickshifter is sublime – butter smooth as she powers through the six speed gearbox.

Power delivery is perfect for a bike of this class.

Lots of torque off the bottom building up with a nice steady rush as you head toward 9,000-plus rpm.

Note to Husqvarna:

We love this donk, but a 901 engine would really bring this beasty to life (Hint Hint!).

The suspension is pretty firm, up front, the Svartpilen uses 43mm inverted WP Apex fork with rebound and compression adjustability and 5.5 inches of travel. There are easy-to-access, tooless adjusters on top of the fork caps that allow five clicks of adjustment each.

The linkageless WP Apex shock has 5.9 inches of travel and is adjustable for spring preload and five clicks of rebound damping. To be fair, we didn’t fiddle, for what we needed, the bike felt great as it arrived.

The ADV oriented Pirelli MT 60 RS tyres were chosen to give the bike a beefy look and felt good for our time in the saddle. Sportier riders will probably swap them for a full-on sport tyre.

When you find the twisties, you’ll have a lot of fun.

The brakes feel good, a pair of radial-mount, four-piston J.Juan calipers up front grab 300mm discs, while a single-piston caliper is mated to a 240mm disc out back.

Easy fun with riding modes that are simple to switch through.

Here goes, there’s a lot:

Three ride modes: Sport, Street, and Rain.

Within these modes are preset parameters for traction control and ABS, all using a six-axis IMU to enable lean-sensitive adjustments. Also included is wheelie control, engine-brake control, and throttle response.

Sport mode is the one we like with great throttle response, reduced TC, and Supermoto ABS that allows the rear to be locked.

Rain is the opposite, with smooth throttle, lots of Traction control, and ABS.

Road is a sensible balance of the two.

The optional Dynamic package allows the user to manually choose between 10 levels of TC, five levels of wheelie control, and to adjust the MSR (Motor Slip Regulation).

Also on the optional list is cruise control which takes a new control switch on the left handlebar.

Chat to your dealer.

Heading into speed well in excess of the national speed limits is no sweat and as for competing in traffic – well there is no real competition. It’s fun to ride all day long and when that little guy taps you on the shoulder, there’s plenty of grins when you see an open road.

Oh and that headlight lights up the freeway like it’s daytime!

The switches controls even have backing lights – a great touch for sure.

In the looks department – well, just look at it! It does draw many an admiring glance.

Note: The fuel light warning is perfect!

Next time… pay attention. Damnit!

At your Husqvarna dealer.

Engine: DOHC, liquid-cooled parallel twin; 4 valves/cyl

Displacement: 799cc

Transmission/Final Drive: 6-speed/chain

Claimed Horsepower: 105.0 hp @ 8,000 rpm

Claimed Torque: 64.0 lb.-ft. @ 6,500 rpm

Fuel System: EFI w/ 46mm Dell’Orto throttle bodies, ride-by-wire