HUSQVARNA VITPILEN 701 (2018 - on) Review

Single disk but plentry of stopping power.

Superb when pushed. Not easy to ride in town and always needing to be in right gear especially at low revs.

Quality of components very good especially WP suspension. Coped with harsh road surfaces brilliantly. Reliability terrible. Rode 1000 miles of which 750 were with the engine light on. Would sometimes cut out whilst pulling out onto main roads. Final straw was Can Bus error which disabled speedo, quick shifter, ABS etc. Two main dealers were mostly perplexed with the issues and last one took 6 weeks to diagnose at which point I’d lost all confidence.

Quick Shifter, WP Suspension.

Piece if p*ss to ride. Effortless.

I like thumpers. Stock pipe sounds shit but.

Difficult to work on. But okay if I just allow a little more time.

300 AUD for the first service then they are far between. The Duke motor is a good one.

Quickshift on a tourqey lightweight is fun. Makes it a bit of a dart. Hauls up easily.

The Vitpilen loves to be moving around the 5k rev counter. Exceptionally smooth and on a country road or forest ride out, I wouldn't trade this for anything. It feels to me always what I imagine motorcycling should feel like. Responsive and feel on the road, connected to the chassis and engine and not over-powering on acceleration. It gets you where you want to go fast enough but keeps you honest at the same time. The brakes are very good and trail-braking into corners is a doddle. The suspension and forks stay stable and comfortable and will not dive like a premiership footballer if you need to squeeze them a bit harder. I bought the premium seat for comfort, and the maximum saddle time I've had in one go was 2 and a half hours before a break. Would not recommend this as a pillion bike as there is very little room on the back and little to grip. The seat is pretty slippery too. I have had my young son (7yrs) on the back for 15 minute cheeky stints to the duck pond and back, but a full grown adult twosome would be impractical.

As with all singles, the lower revs can be lumpy and pretty brutal jumping the bike at low speeds. When in it's normal range however, it is extremely smooth. The power is constant, not sluggish, it feels like a straight curve and acceleration is constant and manageable for most people. i'm not a sports bike rider so this is more than enough for me to be able to get my head down and get on. Easy riding and stable in corners keeps the bike moving well and encourages you to use all the grip in the tyres.

Mechanically i cannot really fault this bike, there are a couple of minor embuggerances however - 1 - The fuel gauge is as reliable as can be expected from a chainsaw manufacturer. Shows the tank at empty a lot of the time on initial start up and can take a few miles to sort itself out. 2 - The easy shift is an amazing bit of kit and very fluid, but can be known to kick out of gear during changes, normally between 5th and 6th at higher revs. Will go over the stated 115mph if you want to, up to approx 124mph (clocked).

I normally pay the Husky dealer to service my bike every spring and a winter service too. It's relatively cheap by comparison to previous bikes I've owned. Mileage -wise, it is surprisingly economical.

The overall look of the bike is what originally sold it to me. The ride is great. The stock mirrors vibrate to the point that they are less than useless. I bought the premium mirrors and these have no vibration, however they aren't much better. I get a very good view of my own forearms, unless I'm in a racing position, then I can see what is behind me. Would go for the bar end mirrors every time with his bike. The premium seat is a good, if slightly expensive, option to go for. As the bike was new on the market when I bought it, it took nearly 6 months for all of my extras to be available from Austria and fitted. I also bought the soft panniers for the bike, purely out of curiosity. These are an expensive option and pretty much pointless. The bike is not really set up for distance or touring and the bag size themselves are tiny. Great if you're heading to a big city and you want to pack a sandwich, water bottle and bike chain. You may just about fit a spare shoe in each bag and that's about it. The pannier brackets don;t even work well as a handle for a pillion due to the solid plate in the centre of them. Save your 360 quid and buy a set of cheap throw-overs if you want panniers. Don't bother getting the Akro exhaust. The standard Husky one is nice enough and goes better with the overall look of the bike.

The ride quality is fantastic due the the WP suspension and I have not tinkered with any of the adjusters, I just have'nt needed to, which I found suprising. The brakes are very good with delicate feel and real power. The ABS works and only chimes in when I am riding in a "spirited" manner, opening the throttle at full lean etc. or when the tyre breaks traction due to debris on the road such as gravel.

The engine is like a bucket of lump hammers being thrown around a tumble dryer under 3000rpm but once it is singing above that it is as smooth as a slugs foot and just keeps pulling like a cart horse as long as you keep feeding it gears through the quick shifter. Between fifth and sixth it sometimes finds a false neutral if I am not firm enough with the gear leaver but I think that is more due to me than the bike. The dealer tells me that they will check and adjust it at the next service.

Only minor things such as the clutch leaver span adjuster looking a little cheap and the switch gear looking slightly bargain basement let the bike down but they all function well and I really am being picky.

The bike is expensive for a single but I got a great trade in price that softened the blow. What price can you put on beautiful design? I absolutly love the look of the machine and as an ex-racer I love the feel and expeience of the ride. From hooning around like a brain out goon to just having a gentle ride around North Wales it never dissapoints or fails to deliver.

The bike has more electrical magic tricks than I will ever use but the gear indicator and fuel gauge are good. The quick shifter is a great feature on this kind of bike and really suits my "enthusiastic" riding. The only issue is the false neutral between fifth and sixth but as I mentioned earlier, it's probably more me than the bike at fault.