00:00We're here in the south of France to ride Husqvarna's brand new Svartpilen 801.
00:05The most exciting thing about this bike is that this bike has just adopted the LC8C engine
00:11that's also shared in the 790 KTM Duke.
00:14The big question is, why did it take Husqvarna so long to get this twin-cylinder engine in
00:19this awesome naked bike?
00:20So does adding that twin-cylinder engine completely make this a different motorcycle than the
00:25701 that came before it?
00:26And I think the answer is yes, so let's find out why.
00:38First let's talk about the engine, the 799cc LC8C engine, which like we said is the same
00:44engine that is shared in the 790 Duke.
00:46So this is the first time that Husqvarna has used a twin-cylinder engine in their naked
00:51bike line, which is really cool.
00:53Now the thing that you need to know about this engine is, it's not the bigger engine
00:56that's in the new 890s and stuff like that.
00:59This is the smaller engine, but in this format, it's a great choice.
01:03The engine makes 105 horsepower and 64 pound-feet of torque.
01:07And this bike only weighs 399 pounds, so the engine is a great choice.
01:11And compared to the 701, which we really, really liked, this engine is a completely
01:15different animal.
01:16It makes more power, it's just such a smooth, nice, balanced engine.
01:21Everything about this engine just fits into a naked bike, and it really brings this bike
01:26into different competition than this Husky's ever had before.
01:29In the past, the 701 really didn't have any other direct competitors.
01:33It was kind of a unicorn inside the class.
01:35It was a single-cylinder naked bike, it was a very unique motorcycle.
01:39But now, all of a sudden, by adding this twin-cylinder engine, this parallel twin, Husky has opened
01:44the door to a whole bunch of different competitors.
01:47So we're really curious to see how it stacks up against the other bikes in the class.
01:53Today on the road, we did all sorts of stuff.
01:55We started out in the morning riding some really tight second-gear, maybe third-gear
02:00corners, just on and on, just twisty, twisty, twisty roads, kind of narrow roads.
02:05And the engine's just awesome.
02:06It just snaps off the corner, and it comes with a standard quickshifter, which is an
02:11up-and-down quickshifter.
02:12And just, you know, rowing through the gears, flicking out of the corners, this engine just
02:17pulls hard.
02:18It's just a completely different engine than the bike that preceded it.
02:21And that's a good thing.
02:22This bike is really, really fun, and I think this bike now has just come to a completely
02:27different level in terms of who it can compete with.
02:29So we really enjoyed it.
02:30And then later in the afternoon, we were on some much faster-flowing roads, whereas the
02:34older bike maybe didn't have the top-end power, it didn't have the top-end performance.
02:39Because it was a single, this bike just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling.
02:42And as an overall package, we were super happy with the engine and super happy that Husqvarna
02:48made this decision.
02:49And like we said, we just wonder why they didn't do it earlier in the past.
02:53Now let's talk about the electronics.
02:55Because of course this bike has a full package of electronics, like all of the KTM and Husqvarna
03:00bikes do.
03:01So this bike has a six-axis IMU, has ride-by-wire throttle.
03:04This bike has four modes.
03:06It has a dynamic mode, it has a street mode, a sport mode, and a rain mode.
03:10And we played around with those a little bit today and went through the menus and ended
03:14up settling on the dynamic.
03:16The throttle response is super, super crisp and really fun to ride.
03:20And then we set it up with the supermoto mode on the brakes, which we'll get to more in
03:23a minute.
03:24But in that setup, the bike is just really, really fun.
03:27I mean, this bike has just become a complete hooligan bike.
03:30We had lots of little rises, the bike would wheelie off those.
03:33You can go into the pod here, which is a new pod on this motorcycle compared to the Adventure
03:38models.
03:39And the access to the menus is super easy to navigate, getting in and changing modes
03:44on the fly or changing settings on the fly, super, super easy.
03:49The screen is brand new, the TFT display is new and has an anti-glare coating on it.
03:54And accessing those menus and getting in there and making those changes was really easy.
03:59One of the other things that we like is those modes are sticky.
04:02So you would go in and set up your dynamic mode and have all your settings where you
04:06want it.
04:07And when you cycled the key, it would stay in that mode.
04:09So when you would turn the bike back on, you would be able to just be in the mode that
04:13you were on.
04:14The electronics have a lot of options.
04:15You can go in there and you can control your engine brake, you can control your TC settings
04:20and your anti-wheelie and your MTC and all those things.
04:23The ones that we rode today has the optional dynamic mode, which is about $250.
04:27And so that's an addition, like on most of the KTMs and Huskies now, you've got to pay
04:31for that.
04:32Our bike didn't have the cruise control, which is another option, which is about $490.
04:37And the cruise control not only comes with a setup, a different pod here, but it also
04:41has a cheater button that you can set up custom that you could cycle just to a mode
04:46or a particular TC setting, or you can customize that completely.
04:51But our bikes came with the dynamic mode, which I would highly recommend that anybody
04:54that buys this bike would do that.
04:56Now let's talk about the chassis a little bit.
04:58One of the advantages to this bike is it comes with the WP suspension, which is adjustable.
05:03So at the rear, you've got preload and rebound adjustment, and at the front, you've got compression
05:08and rebound, but no preload.
05:10But compared to the other competition that this bike is going up against, most of those
05:14bikes, like the new Suzuki GSX-8S, don't have adjustable suspension at all.
05:20They've got preload only on the rear.
05:21So this suspension is much higher end than some of the competition.
05:26And out on the roads that we were on today, we kind of hit a little bit of everything.
05:29There's nice, smooth stuff.
05:31There's a lot of bumps in the road, and the suspension was very good, and we didn't play
05:34with clickers or anything today because the standard base settings were really good, and
05:38we were totally happy with that.
05:40But overall, I think that the suspension package on this is really good.
05:43And then the brakes were totally good.
05:45They're the J-Juan brakes, which is a subsidiary of Brembo.
05:49You've got adjustable clutch and brake levers, really nice little features.
05:53Overall, the chassis is really nimble and fun, but yet it's still stable, but it's lively.
05:59Like today on some of the roads that we were on that were tight and twisty, you can just
06:03get into the corner, you have full confidence, come out of the corners, little wheelies and
06:07stuff, and it was just a total blast.
06:09Overall, chassis performance, I think that this engine and this chassis puts this bike
06:14into a completely different light than the bike that it replaces.
06:18And we love that about it.
06:21Now let's talk about ergonomics.
06:23This morning when I got on this bike, the very first thing I noticed when we pulled
06:26out of the parking lot was how comfortable the seating position is.
06:29There's a lot of leg room.
06:30The bar reach is super neutral.
06:32The seat is great.
06:34It's got a little kick up at the back here.
06:36I think it gives you plenty of support, but riding all day today, I never got cramped.
06:41I thought that the leg position was great, so over the long term, you can spend an entire
06:45day on this bike and it's a sporting riding position, but it never gets cramped.
06:49It never makes you feel like you need to take a break from it.
06:52Totally comfortable.
06:53You don't have much wind protection, but it's a naked bike.
06:55You know that, right?
06:56You've got a little windscreen.
06:57There's some options for that as well.
06:59But overall, I thought that the ergonomics were really nice.
07:02For a naked bike, it's really nice because around town, it's got a 32.4-inch seat height,
07:08so it's pretty easy to touch the ground.
07:10You've got control of the bike.
07:11You feel really comfortable, but then you get out on a sporting road and you can get
07:15into a really nice attack position and ride it like a sport bike, which is great.
07:21In the past, we loved the Svartpilen 701, but I think that this is a really big change
07:26for Husky, and I think bringing this bike into the twin-cylinder world has been a really
07:31good decision on their part.
07:32This bike comes in at $10,899, which is a little bit more.
07:37It's about $1,500 more than the 790 Duke, but Husky's got their distinct styling.
07:41I think this bike is really attractive.
07:44The finishes are great.
07:45Everything on this bike looks sharp, from the seat finishes to the subframe, which is
07:49an aluminum subframe, and everything just looks really top-notch.
07:53And so you're getting something for that $10,899.
07:56But like I said before, I think that this bike now has so many different competitors
08:01that people are going to be comparing it against, and I really liked how this bike
08:04performed overall today.
08:06Just had a great ride, and I think that anybody looking for a parallel twin naked bike has
08:11to look at this bike, because it's a really, really fun model.
08:13The change to twin power is the thing that makes this bike awesome, and so we're totally
08:18happy with that.
08:19So that's it here from the south of France, riding the Svartpilen 801, and if you like
08:24what you see, please comment, like, and subscribe, and we'll talk to you next time.
08:27Thanks for watching.
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