Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 - One Hot Cafe Racer from the Future

Ever since Stefan Pierer bought the Husqvarna brand, we have been curious to see how “Husky” would fit within the KTM family.

As of late, Husqvarna models have been little more than recycled KTM motorcycles, with a few minor changes and some cosmetic tweaks seemingly being the only thing that separates the Swedish brand from its Austrian owner.

Part of this is a necessary evil, as it takes time to design and build new models, with the current overlap at least serving to update the Husqvarna line until actual new models can be released.

In 2017, we will see the first truly new Husqvarna models come to market, the Husqvarna 401 Vitpilen & Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen. Now we can see a third model, which further defines how we will understand Husqvarna in the future, its called the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 concept.

Based around the same 690cc single-cylinder engine that we have seen power the recently released Husqvarna 701 Supermoto & Husqvarna 701 Enduro, the Vitpilen 701 concept continues the modern café racer theme first explored on the 401 model, with obvious changes of course.

Clicking on the photos below will launch ridiculously high-resoltuion images of the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 concept, so as to better show the details on this machine – it doesn’t help that there is some serious mood lighting going on in this photoshoot.

What is clear though is the Husqvarna’s design team at KISKA have found a way to make café racer that will appeal equally to “post-heritage” riders and modern motorcycle enthusiasts, as there is a unique balance and style being evolved here for Husqvarna.

Another thing that is clear from the concepts is that the Husqvarna brand will lean more heavily into the street segments, a good thing perhaps for KTM here in the USA, where the brand is jokingly said to be a “dirt bike company with a street bike problem.”

With that in mind, It will be interesting to see then how the current dirt bike models from Husqvarna evolve forward, with things like the Husqvanra Vitpilen 701 appearing on the street-side of the company. Time will tell.