Husqvarna’s Svartpilen 801 is coming! This is what we know so far.

Husqvarna’s just confirmed it’s going to be bringing out a large-capacity version of its funky Svartpilen roadster-cum-scrambler.

The news from the Austrian-owned firm isn’t exactly a surprise, following its not-so-subtle social media teaser a few weeks back. But that doesn’t mean it’s not exciting.

Historically, it was only possible for riders to get their hands on the sportier, more-focused Vitpilen if they wanted something punchier than the 401 versions of the bikes. Speaking of which, this reveal follows swiftly on from the release of the new range of smaller capacity Svartpilen and Vitpilen 401s and 125s – and there’s a good chance that the larger capacity version of the somehow retro and modern street scrambler will follow the same winning formula. While we haven’t got all the details just yet, Husky has shared a few bits of key information which give us a taste of what’s to come when it’s revealed in full on March 19.

Based largely on the KTM 790 Duke (though not built-in China by CFMoto), the new Svartpilen 801 is a pretty big deal for the firm. It’ll become the biggest purely ‘street-focused’ bike in its range; and as you’d expect, it’ll have all the good stuff necessary to make it an absolute blast on the road. It tips the scales at a svelte 181kg and has 105hp on tap from its feisty parallel-twin motor… that sounds like a winning combination, doesn’t it? There’s WP suspension and all the electronics you’d expect too; including rider aids, an Easy Shift system as standard and more.

Despite being more street than scrambler, Husky gone out of its way to put the bike through its paces in some pretty exceptional circumstances, taking it for a blast on a flat-track oval, and sticking some spikes in its tyres and handing over the keys to an ice track racing champion. If nothing else, the photos are super cool – though actually, it’s actually a pretty smart way for the factory to reinforce the message that its bike is perfectly placed to help riders ‘escape the ordinary’. And even without the spikes, there’s no doubt it’s a pretty different proposition to the rest of the middleweight naked bikes on the market. We like that.