2018 Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 First Look

Rennie Scaysbrook | November 7, 2017

Husky’s little retro-future café racer is finally, finally, here.

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Old -school cafe racing just got a firm shove into the future with the new Vitpilen 401.

We’ve been waiting on the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 to become a production model for literally years, and now the KTM-owned concern is finally, officially, dead-set-certainly making this a 2018 machine.

The Vitpilen 401 is basically a KTM 390 Duke in neo-retro drag, using the same base chassis and engine but with different clothes. Refreshingly, the design is almost totally unchanged from the prototype that we first saw waaay back in 2015, which is something of a rarity these days.

The 375cc single-cylinder motor will crank out a claimed 44hp and 27 lb-ft of torque, and although no official weight numbers have come from Husqvarna, expect it to be close to the 390 Duke’s claimed numbers of 328lb dry.

You’ll get the same ABS-equipped brakes in the single ByBre four-piston caliper set-up, and the show will be rolling on Metzeler M5 rubber.

Expect the Vitpilen to start showing its face around summer of 2018.

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