If you want a fast and agile bike for blasting around tight city streets or swooping country roads, you can’t go wrong with a machine powered by KTM’s ‘LC4’ single-cylinder engine. That includes not only the 690 Duke, but also the Vitpilen and Svartpilen 701s from KTM sister company Husqvarna.
The Kiska-designed Huskies have a small but passionate following. They weigh less than 160 kg (350 pounds) dry, have a lusty 75 hp on tap, and are blessed with pinpoint handling. I’m a fan, and when it came to shelling out my cash on a bike, put a Svartpilen 701 in my garage.
Žiga Petek, the man behind the Slovenian workshop Gas&Retro, is also a fan of the middleweight Huskies. He’s just finished this custom Vitpilen 701, which makes him one of the few people who dare to mess with Kiska’s design.…