As the veritable banquet of 2016 releases draws to a close today in Milan, something caught our eye towards the end of the afternoon – and about eleventeen million of you going by its social media frenzy. It’s the quiet ones you have to watch, so they say. In the shadow of stalwart major manufacturers releasing high-volume matter and grabbing headlines, little old Husqvarna went and dropped the finishing touches of the VITPILEN family – the 701.
Fresh from launching the 701 Supermoto and Enduro versions, this is a new-skool roadster concept (for the moment) and, according to Husqvarna, it’s the company’s progressive vision of street motorcycling. Other than the teaser here, and its premium bolt-ons clearly evident, we don’t know too much about the 701, other than Husqvarna claiming: ‘it’s an all-new and all modern large displacement single-cylinder motorcycle, created to provide a raw, exhilarating and authentic riding experience.’
You may recognise the 401. Based loosely on Husky’s 1950’s Silverpilen, it’s being doing the rounds in concept guise for a while now, and is joined by the VITPILEN 125: I’d beg, borrow and steal to own either if I were new to bikes. Part of Husqvarna’s ethos is buiding ‘state-of-the-art’ bikes, which is believable on inspection of this pairing. Both the 125 and 401 will hit the showrooms early 2017. In what state? We don’t know.
Now owned by KTM, Husqvarna is celebrating 112 years of on and off-road (and sewing machines), though most of its recent history has been mud-based and turbulent to say the least. We’ve seen glimmers of sexual trinkets now and then, but the VITPILEN family is utterly epic. We want to live in the VITPILEN household.
