TESTED: Husqvarna’s new Svartpilen 801

Distinctive design and dynamic handling for Husqvarna’s new Svartpilen 801. Martin Fitz-Gibbons tells us what we need to know:

Just when you thought every conceivable corner of the middleweight street bike landscape had been covered, along comes the Husqvarna Svartpilen 801. Part scrambler, part roadster, part commuter, part flat-tracker, part hi-tech hooligan, and part eye-catching style statement, the Svartpilen gleefully refuses to slot into a single category.

Visually, there are plenty of nods to Husky’s off-road heritage. There’s the Pirelli MT 60 RS tyres, with their distinctive flat-track tread pattern. There’s the wide, cross-braced handlebar. There’s a single retro-style round headlight. And there’s the high-rise exhaust, that silencer tucked up tight against the tail just like a dirt bike.

But the Svartpilen is no good-old-days rose-tinted throwback. Its lines and silhouette are modern to the point of bordering on sci-fi. That headlight is LED, as is all the bike’s lighting. The dash is a colour TFT. Wheels are cast, brakes are radial, suspension is multi-adjustable – it’s the chassis spec you’d expect of a cutting-edge streetfighter, not anything retro. At first, it’s hard to know what to make of it all.

On the road, first impressions are of a charming, welcoming, relaxed roadster. The motor fuels impeccably, the throttle response smooth and sublime in all its riding modes. As standard there are three, intuitively named Rain, Street and Sport. A fourth mode, Dynamic, is unlocked by adding an optional software package (Dynamic Pack, £361.51), but even this is so measured at low revs and small throttle openings that you can ride around in it all day, from congested traffic to walking-pace hairpins, and never feel the slightest hiccup.

Above 7000rpm there’s a step up in urgency, with peak torque of 64lb·ft arriving at 8000rpm, shortly before all 103bhp hits at 9250rpm. On paper that might sound like a revvy delivery and a fairly narrow powerband, but in practice it doesn’t feel it. There’s no doubt you get the sense that the Svartpilen gives back more if you put more effort in as a rider, but it’s never demanding or frustrating. When you want to cruise along, the motor delivers at midrange revs. When you want to rip, it matches your enthusiasm with a sparkling, fiery top-end.

Suspension is by WP, with 43mm upside-down forks at the front and a linkage-free monoshock at the back. Forks have separate damping adjustment (rebound in the right leg, compression in the left), while the shock can be tweaked for preload and rebound. Both ends are a higher spec level than the 790 Duke, which offers no damping adjustment at all.

As standard it feels plush and compliant, a suspension that’s set up for ride quality first and foremost. The amount of wheel travel at both ends is slightly more than you’d find on a regular roadster (140mm front, 150mm rear), but nowhere near long-legged enough for it to feel anything close to an adventurer. No, this is a pure road set up, one that holds the Svartpilen nice and flat while soaking up uneven roads.

Brakes calipers bear Husqvarna logos but are made by J.Juan. The bite from the front brakes is fairly gentle at first, but there is decent stopping power to be found once given a good squeeze. ABS is lean-sensitive, while skid fans will be delighted to know that it can be set to a Supermoto mode, which disengages the anti-lock function at the rear wheel.

The wide bars give loads of leverage, making it easy to fling it through tight, twisty, single-track mountain roads at the world launch, in the gorgeous Sainte-Baume Regional Natural Park in the South of France. Steering is light without being frisky or too giddy – it’s planted on its Pirellis, and neutral in the way it rolls from upright to leant over. No shortage of ground clearance at full lean, either.

You might find a shortage of range, however. Fuel tank volume is just 13.7 litres and, given our bike’s dash showing an average 49.6mpg at the end of the day’s ride, which works out to a maximum range of less than 150 miles. At least the 5-inch colour TFT display keeps you informed, with a remaining range countdown one of the myriad options available to view. There’s also Bluetooth connectivity as standard, which is designed to be paired with the Ride Husqvarna Motorcycles phone app to offer the usual phone and music controls from the switches, plus a route planner with turn-by-turn sat-nav instructions displayed on the screen. 

It’d be all too easy to dismiss the Husqvarna Svartpilen 801, assuming it’s either a) a superficial styling exercise, b) nothing more than a badge-engineered 790 Duke, or c) both. Judge it by spec sheet alone and, fair enough, it might not leap off the page, or stand out for any single specific trait – especially not now it seems everybody has an 800cc-ish naked middleweight, with plenty powered by parallel twins. But to ride, it really does knock most of your expectations down. It’s a genuinely usable, versatile, well-developed machine with plenty of substance to back up its distinctive style. And it does feel pretty different in character from a 790 Duke, the Svartpilen exuding a mellower, milder side, and feeling slightly more sophisticated from the saddle. It’s less single-minded, more rounded, and more complete as a result.

Words: Martin Fitz-Gibbons Photography: Sebas Romero & Marco Campelli