It is Good to be different

When it comes to choosing a Husqvarna, you are spoilt for choice these days thanks to the KTM-owned manufacturer's habit of providing not just one but two variants of each new model. Should you opt for a single-cylinder 125 or 401 or this, the all-new twin-cylinder 801, you get a brace of options: Vitpilen or Svartpilen. Essentially the same bike but in different clothes and with a subtly different attitude to life. It is a proven recipe that has served Husqvarna well for the last 10 years

- Story: Adam Child 'Chad'

THUS IT IS THAT THE NEW VITPILEN 801 now follows on from the Svartpilen 801 launched in the summer to complete the double-act of 799-cc twins. While the Svartpilen arrived in showrooms wearing traditional Svart scrambler styling, the 2025 Vit drifts away somewhat from its traditional café racer design and riding position, adopting instead a more conventional naked styling, along with what looks a deeper seat and more practical riding position.

Based on the KTM 790 Duke, the Husqvarna uses the Austrian manufacturer's punchy and lightweight LC8c parallel-twin (now produced in China) in a tune that produces a quoted 105 hp, which is handful more horses than the 790 Duke and CF Moto's 800NK Sport, both 95 hp. Like most bikes to come out of the Pierer Mobility Group, suspension is WP, complete with sportier settings than the Svartpilen. Other differences between the sister bikes are mainly cosmetic and include lower bars, a radiator cover, and belly-pan. There is no flyscreen but there is that distinctive Bi-LED headlight and more road-focused tyres—Michelin Road 6 instead of Pirelli MT60 RS—that should help make it an absolute blast to ride on twisty roads. We headed to the south of France to find out.

Parked outside our launch HQ just down the road from Nice, the new Vitpilen 801 looks far from out of place among the swanky hotels and celebrity-owed beach houses. All right, it has lost a bit of café racer chic but it still looks good, it still looks special—and very different from the 790 Duke from which it is derived. In the metal, its unique and mildly provocative styling punches harder than in pictures and, on looks alone, I would take the Husqvarna over the KTM. The question is, would I be willing to pay the extra cash?