Yeah the color is a big thing to me as well, just would rather not have to make all those changes if I don’t have to. Doing new bars, tires, paint, brakes, fender and belly pan would be a little excessive on a new bike. I’ve modified several bikes to be exactly what I want but then it gets out of hand and I can never sell them because of the work and attachment I have to them.
Who is getting one?
- Thread starter Vintage Veloce
- Start date
Well that was stupid fun! Met up with the Husky roadshow for a test drive. Apparently the only 801 in Scandinavia at the moment. The Husky guy wanted me to drive safely and to only ride it in street mode, so he put it in street mode. So of course, I switched it to sport mode as soon as I turned the corner.
Holy smokes this bike moves. Good mid range and a kick at the end. The seating position was very comfortable and it didn’t feel as low as I expected. Felt pretty much like the 401 but a little broader. Wind screen probably did some good. Couldn’t see crap in the mirrors but other than that, zero complaints. Brakes and suspension felt good, seat felt good as well.
I’m pretty sure I’ll order the carbon windscreen, didn’t like the glossy standard look. Other than that, I’ll keep is stock until there’s a cheap slip on available for it.
I have not ridden the 701. The quickshifter was butter smooth up, I didn’t use it down. I was mostly focusing on getting a feel for the acceleration and the handling.
How tall are you for reference? Any obvious flaws with the build quality? One of the things I'm concerned about with the bike being based off the 790 is QC and reliability.
I’m 183cm, 100kg. I didn’t see anything strange with the bike. The fitment between the parts on the 401 looks shady, didn’t notice that here, the parts looked to fit great. The seats felt high quality. My only quality concern is the windscreen, that part will probably scratch very easily. And like I said, I didn’t see crap in the mirrors. The brake and clutch levers were swapped to “power parts”.
One thing to note is that the “dynamic mode” is not included. That means anti wheelie will always be “on”. So it’s not possible to wheelie the bike without paying for the dynamic pack. That really sucks! I am by no means a wheelie king, but still.
The rider on the Husky press photos is 180cm by the way. I asked him.
Perfect, I'm 185cm so I should fit nicely. I'm glad the quality looks ok. Although it is a press bike so it may be hand picked. I was planning on getting the bar-end mirrors anyway. But I assumed without the dynamic package it would have no wheelie control, not always-max wheelie control.
How was the sound? I'm assuming really similar to the stock 790 duke considering the only change is the muffler.
I thought the bike would feel lower to be honest. I didn’t feel the need to buy the +2cm padded accessory seat. Yeah, the sound had an OK tone but it was very quiet. I’ll do barend mirrors and slip on as well. I think an open slip on without db-killer will be good. I rode after my friend that has a 1290 Duke with open slip on and even that sounded OK volume wise. Buying the expensive Akra with street legal volume seems like a bad buy.
I’m curious how it looks under these screws.
BISavage
champion rider
Those screws hopefully allow repacking, but probably only mask the not-pretty part.
From the picture, it looks like stainless with a plastic cap... is that right?
From the picture, it looks like stainless with a plastic cap... is that right?
Looks like it. I’m hoping there’s a somewhat removable db-killer under there.
Well I caved and put a deposit down on one. I'm the first at my local dealer. They also said I can switch to the Vitpilen if that is announced before the bike arrives. They have no info yet on when the bikes will be getting to the US. They claim that they usually get info when bikes are ~5 months out but they still have nothing.
Husqvarna 801 Svartpilen Test 2024
The first two-cylinder Husqvarna naked bike sets out to explore the dark roads. We bring light into the darkness - first test!
www.1000ps.com