My Vit Journey

[myers64]

I thought I would document my ownership and journey with my Vitpilen 701.

A little about me - I raced motocross at an amateur level in my teens until I was adult and my dad was no longer prepared to pay for it. It's a great sport and I do the odd ride every now and then with one of my brothers who has a couple bikes. I'd recommend it to anyone. My last motocross bikes were KTMs, and loved them. This was before KTM owned Husqvarna.

I've always liked cars and bikes, especially older and classic stuff. I really liked the older cafe racers based on old Japanese bikes. I also really liked older triumphs and British stuff.

Wanting a bike on the road, the appeal was being able to go out on it with little effort (no driving it in a van to a track etc). So with that, something more modern being 'turn key' was what I really wanted, as cool as older stuff is.

My first bike on the road was actually a Vitpilen 401, see below:




More to follow...

 

[myers64]

 

[myers64]

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[myers64]

I had the 401 for about a year and a half and enjoyed owning it. They are good fun up to legal speeds in the UK so it did near enough everything I could want it to.

I sold it to free up some cash for a while, but when I had funds available again I started looking for a 701.

The 701 was a good buy I think - it had all recalls done, low miles, good standard condition with the official accessory mirrors.



This was the day I picked it up. I was a fair ride home, and limped it into a fuel station after it started coughing for petrol (terrible fuel gauge).

 

[myers64]

First mod done was to ditch the rear wheel hugger in favour of the official Husky accessory part tail tidy and a smaller number plate. It wasn't the cheapest option, but it's really good quality as you'd expect. Plus I like to keep it OEM+ as much as possible so the aftermarket offerings weren't quite the right fit for me.





The not-quite-perfectly-legal plate is too small for the tail tidy so needed trimming.

 

[fetor56]

I'm sure you'll be happy with your 701....stay upright.
Keep an eye on chain stretch cos even though it's a DID i believe it to be a financially challenged DID.

 

[myers64]

Next modification was simply removing the dorky reflectors on the fork legs. They are just stuck on with a double sided sticky pad. Around this time I removed the airbox lid. I wasn't sure but I felt it robbed some midrange power - the noise was nice for sure though.

 

[myers64]

After riding it and enjoying it for the summer, come winter time I had started to collect parts for it.

I spent more time than I'd care to admit finding the following parts:

Seat cowl cover in black.



Exhaust hanger without pillion peg.



Not so difficult to find, and was readily available from Husqvarna from a Svartpilen Style model, the 'closing panel' in black. This is the panel between the tank and the seat.



All quite expensive parts for what they are, but I think it ties together nicely and I like that it is all official Husqvarna stuff...



The eagle-eyed among you will notice a couple other changes. More to follow.

 

[myers64]

Though it's not the ugliest exhaust in the world, it is pretty ugly so I replaced the standard can with a very nice titanium Arrow Pro Race.





The the quality of it is nice, it's super lightweight and it fits really well. I'd guess a weight saving of at least a couple kilos. It comes with a baffle fitted that easily removes with a single bolt. I'm actually not a huge fan of loud pipes, but it looks a bit dorky with it fitted, so I have had it out. It's loud but not majorly offensive with standard cat still in place.

Wanting to keep the bike OEM+ I would have liked to use something more official. The official accessory Akra is too long I think. It looks great otherwise but it is just too long. I even toyed with the idea of shortening one but the laser etched logo would be at least partially cut off and would look bad.

Of all the aftermarket options I think the Arrow Pro Race suits the bike best, with a style similar to old cafe racer type bikes pipes. (Plus pilen means arrow!).

With a nice new silencer going on I took the time to remove the header and give it a good scrub...



Notice I also fitted a simple bolt to bung the o2 sensor plug. I got from eBay a simple o2 sensor eliminator. It plugs in to the cable for the removed o2 sensor and dupes it into reading lean (adding more fuel). This tucks neatly up into the frame out of sight by the headstock.

Interestingly I got an email from eBay saying that what I bought (a little while afterwards) is illegal and they have removed the listing. It also instructed me: do not install it, do not resell it. I'll decide...

 

[fetor56]

The lengths we go through for our bikes....lengths we wouldn't normally do for other things.
What next.

 

[Lozion]

Nice thread, thinking of going a similar route, Svart 401 to 701..

 

[myers64]

The Vitpilen's clean look was something I wanted to maintain. Adding a phone mount, it needed to be subtle and sleek when not in use.

The SP Connect handlebar mount was perfect for this. It's an anodised black aluminium clamp, so it looks inconspicuous on the handlebars.





I don't often ride with a phone on there but it's helpful if I need to navigate somewhere. Not pictured, I also since mounted the anti-vibration head from SP Connect to protect the phone. I'm impressed with the mount - it seems pretty secure and most importantly isn't too ugly when not in use.

 

[myers64]

So as you might have spotted in previous posts, I set to 'black out' some of the bits that stood out.

I got a pair of the Husqvarna accessory footpegs which look really nice, but didn't fit them until I got chance to have the carriers powder coated black. See before and after:





Much more premium feeling, and at a distance looks much better. The silver really stands out I think. The 2020 model bikes have these black as standard.

As a note, when I put it all back together the quick shifter now seems to work better. I wonder if something was overtightened but nothing was obviously wrong.

 

[myers64]

On holiday last summer I travelled a bit of Italy and spotted a Vit in the wild in Naples...



Is the owner on here?

 

[myers64]

Further with my efforts to black out the VIT...



After some trimming and tidying, and refitting the radiator shroud...



The material is stick on car window tint. I bought an A5 sample size piece and it was only cheap. I think from memory it was '50% Light Tint'. The coolant level can still be seen through it.

 

[myers64]

Towards the end of last summer the stock tyres just started very suddenly go bad, which was slightly unfortunate timing with the end of summer approaching. I thought I could see out the year on them. They were the standard S21s with about 5k miles on them and coming up 5 years on from date of manufacture. I didn't have anything bad to say about the tyres, but seemingly out of nowhere the profile of the front and rear both went out of shape. I was running them around 30PSI front and 34 rear.

I wanted to replace them with S21s (thinking non-OE spec might be a subtle upgrade).

Not impossible - but difficult - to find S21s, I ended up going with S22s.

I only got a couple rides out of them before the bike went away for the winter and initial impressions were good. On a slightly damp road and cold road, with the 42/36 the fitter put in them it was a bit like riding on ice to get home! But after putting them back to sensible pressures and getting out a warm and dry day they felt great.





Looking forward to the summer to get back out on it.

 

[Jester1971]

I put S22 on my Svart 401 in late October just before taking her off the road for winter. I managed around 80 miles on 15 degree dry roads and got them scrubbed in. They do not warm up as fast as the Pirelli Rally STR’ do but they do not have the block movement of the Pirelli’s to help get some heat in. Once warm they seem to grip well and I think they will be great for my style of riding out on the country B roads.
Bring on the spring…..!

 

[myers64]

The rear shock's seal failed and was leaking oil. It leaks onto the exhaust when it goes so I knew about it from the smoke and smell before noticing any handling change. After losing probably most of the oil by the time I got it changed the handling was quite bad with no damping it in.

I explored options for replacement. I opted in the end for an aftermarket replacement from Nitron. The model is the R1 with combined adjustment for compression and rebound damping, as well as preload adjustment. They build them to order asking what the bike is used for, whether you take a pillion, and rider weight. You can also choose between a grey or blue spring. The lead time was quoted as four weeks and took almost exactly that to arrive.

The shock seems very high quality compared to the standard unit.

After some riding and setting changing the settings it arrived with I'm happy with it, and with the S22's it handles very well now. I set the sag to just a little less than what the standard was previously and have it with one less click of damping. I have the forks which are standard set with both compression and rebound damping nearly all the way in.

 

[Jester1971]

I fitted the Nitron R1 on my 401 in April 2024, so it is now at the end of its second season. The quality is on par with the Ohlins unit and they are cheaper and UK made, which is a plus. The Nitron is 1kg lighter than the stock on the 401. The standard shock is way over dampened and the spring weight is progressive being too soft in its softest part and too stiff in its stiffest part, it’s middle spring weight did not suit my 95kg neither. Changing preload on the R1 is simple with the included tool and the damping has positive clicks unlike some other more vague designs. Some have reported issues with the damping adjuster coming undone (as in letting off all the damping) but I have not had this issue. I do not ride in the wet or cold so cannot comment on how it stands up to a British winter. The shock has performed faultlessly in the 4000 miles of rough Suffolk B roads I have been riding on.

Just out of interest how are you getting on with the S22? I have done around 2000miles on mine and they are showing virtually no signs of wear. They are very grippy once warm but I do find they can get a little slide on ( the front more so) if they cool down whilst I’m going through a 30 mph village then back out into the twisties. I run 35 rear and 29 front and tend to throw my little 401 into corners quite hard.

Pics.

No flattening of profile.





Front has almost no wear..


I know my bike is way less powerful than yours but I think I can easily get next years riding out of these.

 

[myers64]

@Jester1971

I rate the S22’s highly. As you say they are great once warm which doesn’t take long. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed them cooling down mid ride through villages etc. Mine have about 1500 miles on them now and haven’t worn much.