Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 And Svartpilen 401: Top 5 Facts

The Vitpilen 401 and Svartpilen 401 are based on the 2017 KTM 390 Duke and shares a lot of their mechanical components with the KTM. These bikes will be the first products Husqvarna launches in India. The Vitpilen 401 is a cafe racer motorcycle and the Svartpilen 401 is a scrambler motorcycle based on the same KTM frame, and both will be positioned a niche above the KTM. Both the bikes will roughly cost around 20 per cent over the KTM. 

The bikes are expected to land on Indian shores by 2018 and the initial batch of the bikes will be built at KTM’s Mattighofen, Austria, factory before the shift of base to Bajaj’s Chakan factory by late 2018. 

Below, we list five features of the new Vitpilen and Svartpilen that make it such a bang for your buck.

Design -

 The design of the Vitpilen 401 and Svartpilen 401 are entirely different even though they carry the same frame as the 390 Duke. Both the bikes get the same big body panels, 17-inch spoke wheels, flat seat, and megaphone-type exhaust muffler. They look identical, with minor differences being the knobby on-off road tyres and the luggage mount on the fuel tank on the Svartpilen. The Vitpilen 401 gets clip-on handlebars to enhance its cafe racer stance, compared to the raised handlebar layout on the Svartpilen that endows it a scrambler look. There are small rose gold-anodised touches on the engine, alloy wheels and fuel tank lid that enhance the bike with a rich appeal. The engine does get the Husqvarna logo and new casing which looks distinctive, though.  

Engine -

Both the bikes are powered by the same engine as the 2017 KTM 390 Duke. The 390 Duke gets a 373.3cc motor which develops 44.1PS @ 9000rpm and a peak torque of 37Nm @ 7000rpm. The engine might be worked upon to suit the cafe racer and scrambler requirements, and deliver a linear power delivery compared to the aggressive original nature of the Duke.

Mechanical Parts -

The Vitpilen 401 and Svartpilen 401 shares all their mechanical components with the 2017 390 Duke. Both the bikes are constructed on the same steel trellis frame and get the same swingarm as the 390 Duke. Suspension duties are handled by 43mm WP telescopic forks at the front and a WP monoshock unit at the rear. Braking is done with the help of a 320mm disc rotor with Bybre callipers at the front and 230mm disc brake with Bybre callipers at the rear. 

Features -

As seen from the initial set of images, the bikes get a round fully digital display which displays speed, rpm, fuel indicator, time, trip meters, malfunction indicator and a few more bells and whistles. It's not yet clear though if the display will be a TFT unit which also features Bluetooth connectivity, like the 2017 390 Duke, or a LCD display. With both the bikes being positioned at a premium over the KTM, they will get all the present day safety nets and performance inputs like slipper clutch, ABS and ride-by-wire as standard.

Price and rivals -

Both the bikes will be positioned above the KTM 390 series and as per the current information, the bikes will roughly cost around 20 per cent more than the 390s. The 2017 390 Duke is currently priced at Rs 2.26 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the ABS variant. Once on sale, the Vitpilen 401 will face competition from Royal Enfield's Continental GT. The Svartpilen will be the cheapest scrambler bike available in the country then. 

Watch this space for more updates on the Husqvarna bikes.