I'm A Husqy Boy Now

When I leased my 2024 Fiat 500e, I did so largely because it was cheap, but I also wanted to see exactly how hard it would be to live with the shortest-range, slowest-charging new EV on the market. Since I live in a pretty rural area, not a dense European city, I knew I'd be playing the modern EV game on hard mode, but what is journalism if not voluntary suffering? Besides, the 500e's cute, and it's not like an unmarried guy with zero kids has much of a need for a bigger car. And yet, I've been feeling unbalanced.

The 500e really has been a perfect, if not especially exciting, car for me. It's the right size, I love the color, and the ladies have all been big fans. The problem is, there's been a motorcycle-shaped hole in my heart that no car could ever hope to fill. I may be a Fiat 500e guy, but I'm also a motorcycle guy, and finding the right bike has been tough. I love design, but more than anything, I wanted a bike that offered a truly unique riding experience. Something different. Something special.

After close to a year of searching I finally found it, and right in time for fall, too. As you may have guessed from the photo, I'm now the proud owner of a 2019 Husqvarna Svartpilen 701. Because of course that's what I bought. No matter how many Ducatis, Hondas, Moto Guzzis, or MV Agustas I considered, my heart always knew what it really wanted was a naked pseudo-scrambler with a giant dirtbike engine. And now it's mine for as long as I choose to keep it.

Could I have saved a little money and bought a Svartpilen 401? Absolutely. Could I afford the larger, more powerful Svartpilen 801? Probably. But I didn't want the 401 or the 801. The 401 might be the best beginner bike anyone can buy, and the 801 might be a perfect motorcycle, but the 701 has the one thing I really wanted: 693 cc of displacement in the form of a single cylinder. The 801 might be "better," but when your heart yearns for a thumper, only a thumper will do. 

When a 2019 Svartpilen 701 popped up for sale about an hour away, it was basically a done deal. A little less than 4,000 miles, $4,500 out the door, and one of the best designs I think I've ever seen. In fact, I'm still not entirely sure how I'm legally allowed to own something this nice. Bikes like this are for better people with more money, not someone like me. And yet, here we are. I have the keys, the title, and the bike, and I've basically been riding it all weekend. As you should when you've just bought a new (to you) motorcycle. 

Collin Woodard/Jalopnik

It's only been a couple of days, but I can already tell you for a fact that this thing is fun. The seat is firm, my butt is sore, the suspension is far from cushy, I hate most of the mods the previous owner chose, but my god do I love riding this thing. Oh, and so far, I'm averaging something like 60 mpg. Cheap, special, fun, and fuel efficient? Sign me up! Wait, I already did that. 

First things first, that exhaust has to go. I don't know which one I'm going to replace it with yet, but it's cheap and tacky, and I hate it. OK maybe that's a little harsh, but it's also true. As much as I love the bike, I hate the way the exhaust looks, and I hate the way it sounds. The real problem is that, since every possible alternative should sound better, I may have a hard time deciding. If you have suggestions, I'm happy to hear them. Unless it gets stolen, I have a feeling I'll be keeping this one for a while, and if there's one thing I'll happily spend money on, it's a slip-on exhaust that will actually make this bike sound as good as it is to ride.