The Svartpilen is my favorite of the 2 concept bikes.
So many cool deatils on this little thing. WANT!
A little background on the bikes found on Deristricted:
"In 1955 Husqvarna introduced a revolutionary motorycle. While other
manufacturers insisted on going larger and heavier, Husqvarna went
lighter, smaller and..faster. The SilverPilen or “Silver Arrow” was a
special motorcycle. It was a combination of a compact high output motor
in a state of the art featherweight chassis. Husqvarna then utilized the talents of Sixten Saxon, a legendary
Swedish industrial designer, to pen the beautiful shape of the Silver
Pilen. Both the chassis and the appearance went on to directly inspire
the furious red and chrome bombers that later dominated the off-road
racing scene.
Almost sixty years later, Husqvarna is reinventing the concept of a
small lightweight premium motorcycle. Once again, a high performance
engine is housed in a lightweight compact chassis. The Avant garde
aesthetics are the result of a partnership with another legendary
designer, Gerald Kiska. The 401 Vit Pilen “White arrow in Swedish,” and
the 401 Svart pilen “ black arrow” are today’s Husqvarnas. They are
not recollections of the past, but rather future interpretations of what
defines a modern motorcycle.
“It wasn’t our goal to do a “retrograde” design. When we looked at the
55’ Pilen, it wasn’t so much a source of visual inspiration as it was
philosophical. I wanted to “cook” so to speak, using some of the same
ingredients, but I wasn’t interested in copying the recipe. Purity,
simplicity of form, economy of line, all the fundamentals of Husqvarna
design language, doesn’t matter if it was 60 years ago, or now…the same
mentality remains,” says senior designer, Björn Shuster.
Sporting upside down WP forks, lightweight trellis frames, powerful
brakes,17 in wheels with modern rubber, and a powerful 400cc engine, the
401s are anything but antiquated. The pure forms and clean design
enable a degree of versatility that is not often found on contemporary
motorcycles. The Contrast between the Svart Pilen and the Vit Pilen
showcases not only the visual variation, but also the functional intent
that can be achieved on these bikes.
“A lot of modern machinery has become so hyper focused that it is
difficult for the customer to inject a little of his/her own style into
the bike, we wanted to create a platform that offers you a little more
freedom. You want to run tall bars and run a high pipe for some fire
road fun? Or perhaps you want a little more weight over the front end at
your next trackday with the clip-ons? Maybe you just prefer one stance
to another, it’s up to you!” says Björn."
All pics from the always cool Derestricted site
Remember my post about the KTM Duke 390 last year?
What I said was this:
"I think this can be the bike we have all been waiting for
It is light - 140 kilogram
It has a powerful 1 cylinder engine
It probably has a nice sound with the right exhaust
A cool looking frame
Nice rims, good brakes, etc.
And the most important thing is.. it is cheap! 5000,- or something like that.
This could be the most interesting platform on the market right now to build a custom bike
Imagine this bike without the orange and all the plastic parts
It's fast enough for a cafe racer, tracker, scrambler, etc
This bike can be so many cool things.
Please KTM send one of these Duke 390's to Roland Sands, Cafe Racer Dreams, the Wrench Monkees, Mule and El Solitario and this could be the new weapon of choice in the custom world"
KTM has made it very clear that they will not build any retro inspired new wave custom bikes in the near future because it doesn't fit in with their slogan "ready to race".
Well it seems they they found a loop hole. Since all the big motorcycle brands are jumping on the factory custom train KTM probably changed their mind after all and wanted to join but how could they do that without compromising their slogan and core business?
As you probably know KTM bought Husqvarna last year. Yesterday on the Eicma show Husqvarna presented these 2 concept bikes based on, you've probably guessed it already, the KTM Duke 390!
They’re sporting upside-down WP forks, lightweight trellis frames, 17-inch wheels with modern rubber. The 400cc water-cooled single has an output of 43hp and the bikes weigh 135
kg (297 pounds). The first concept is the Husqvarna 401 VITPILEN (white arrow). A lightweight naked (cafe)racer with clip-ons. The second one is the Husqvarna 401 SVARTPILEN (black arrow). A lightweight scrambler or desert racer.
Looks like KTM was at least a little bit inspired by my post from last year or maybe I can predict the future, haha!
Right now these are just concept models. Let's hope the production models will look very similar to these concept bikes!
Now the big question is, how much will they cost?
These bikes are designed at Studio Kiska. Here's an interesting quote form one of their designers.(found on Derestricted)
"I think there are an increasing number of folks like myself, who really
want to ride contemporary machinery…but at the same time we don’t want
to look like extras on a Michael Bay set ;-) At the moment there are
not so many affordable options, but this could be about to change with
these bikes"-Bjorn Shuster
Will this be a affordable option next year? I surely hope so!
All pics from the always cool Derestricted site
November 7th marks the release of On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter – hitting theaters
nation wide. With its highly anticipated debut, Red Bull North America wanted to do something special to promote this iconic
movie. Dana Brown and Roland Sands decided it would be cool to build a custom
bike that would take us back to the original 1971 classic, On Any Sunday and bring those nostalgic days to modern life. This bike
build could have easily taken the path of flat tracker, hill climber or road
racer; but with the tragic loss of offroad racer Kurt Caselli last year at the 2013 Baja 1000, they all decided that a “desert
sled” build was in order. Roland Sands contacted KTM North America and they were on board to have RSD build the bike and help tell Kurt’s story, and raise awareness of the Kurt Caselli Foundation.
The online auction bidding for the bike starts today and ends on November 29th, with a live auction at A Day In The Dirt. For more details or to start bidding please head over to Compass Auctions and be part of history.
RSD:
"Our aim was to take a brand new, 2015 KTM 450 SX-F
and turn it into something with modern day performance and reliability but,
with the aesthetics and styling of the long-gone bomb runners of
yesteryear. There’s something great about the simplistic lines of
vintage bikes. The cool thing about customizing modern day motocrossers is that
underneath all of the plastics, electric start and fuel injection, the bones
really haven’t strayed too far from the original motocross bikes of the past.
The new machines have obviously gotten a lot faster, have
way better suspension and are much more reliable; but changing the look was
pretty straight forward. We hand fabricated the aluminum gas tank and chromoly
subframe first, then made the aluminum side panels and number plates. The
aluminum fenders are reproduction versions from a 1974 Husqvarna. All of this
was done right on top of the unmodified stock frame and, technically speaking,
you could pretend your riding down cow trails alongside Steve McQueen one day
then return it back to a stock 2015 KTM and go race Anaheim 1 with it the next,
all in just a matter of a couple hours.
We incorporated some parts that Kurt
was critical about on his race bikes, including his preferred handlebar bend,
grips, pegs and wheels, as well as a custom, thinned-out brake lever from
Kurt’s long time factory KTM mechanic, Anthony Di Basilio. We think this bike
would be set up just how Kurt would have liked it. All of the custom made parts,
combined with the modern day aftermarket accessories, almost makes you wonder
what year this machine is actually from.
Designer:
Roland Sands
Fabricator:
Aaron Boss
Project
Manager: Cameron Brewer
Photos by: Joseph Hitzelberger
