I drove mt friends Husky CR500 2 stroke twin shocker years ago. Fell in love with the bike immediately and didn't want to stop tearing up the small reack we made. When comparing the Husky to my late model Honda cr250 it was obvious the Husky was heavier and the brakes were drum and it wasn't liquid cooled. When you put a leg over the husky and cracked the throttle over any terrain you knew the difference. The bike was under challenged no matter where you pointed it. Best bikes period.
I have several old Husky projects awaiting my focus and a bunch of NOS and good used parts, as well as some HVA stuff I plan to get. Have gotten some of the NOS parts I have, from HVA several years ago. Have an '83 500XC, an '85 500XC, and an '88 510TE. The above bike is quite trick, clearly. Those forks I'd guess are '98 KTM White Power Extreme 50mm, as the upside down for knowhow of the time, was easily surpassed by the plush Conventional WP 50's. As well as Suzuki Showa Twin Chamber conventionals from the same period. I have a set of each to retrofit, possibly, to my bikes. Those upper triples look similar to the KTM ones I've seen from that period. A few additional comments or points I'd make on the 510's, as though they were both too big for me and out of my budget at the time. In the early through mid/late 1980's I had ongoing subscriptions to different MX and Dirt Bike magazines, and recognized the Husky's from the 430's on, were special bikes. Especially the XC's in the US Southwest, and I grew up in the Arizona deserts. On the 510's, don't sell these short; the 510 engine was a ground breaking leaps and bounds step forward, for all MX 4 strokes. The problem was, as much as people wanted kept trying to build bikes capable of running with the 2 strokes, all the engines, no matter how trick of a frame or what other MX bike people tried to swap a 4 stroke engine into....all the engines, until this one........were HEA.....VY. Making the bikes just unable to cut and dice with the much lighter 2 strokes. When Husqvarna married the 4 stroke topend to a 2 stroke bottom end........That was really it! It was .....finally.....a big jump forward in the 4 stroke engine weight reduction dilema. Not to mention, they were strong.....stock. Then let Up Tite in the states, or perhaps a few others do their race massaging, and watch out. Bigtime revs and power are possible outta these. I'm not familiar with the 570 mod, as I haven't kept tabs on HVA, being distracted by other life stuff, but will certainly look into it. My first guess is, being aircooled here, allowed for a much bigger sleeve/bore upgrade. Oh, and that pipe setup, looks very trick, and appears to essentially be a modern version of the Pro Circuit setup you could get back in the day. Which was done both too drop a bunch of weight, and narrow the back area of the bike. Though I'm not sure if this rear segment routes the same tight in way as the Pro Circuit one. Would have to dig up pics of the PC one and compare. Great clip, thanks a bunch. Would sure love to see some of these bikes in action, and hear the mechanical music they made/make.
The best bikes on this channel
I drove mt friends Husky CR500 2 stroke twin shocker years ago. Fell in love with the bike immediately and didn't want to stop tearing up the small reack we made. When comparing the Husky to my late model Honda cr250 it was obvious the Husky was heavier and the brakes were drum and it wasn't liquid cooled. When you put a leg over the husky and cracked the throttle over any terrain you knew the difference. The bike was under challenged no matter where you pointed it. Best bikes period.
I have several old Husky projects awaiting my focus and a bunch of NOS and good used parts, as well as some HVA stuff I plan to get. Have gotten some of the NOS parts I have, from HVA several years ago. Have an '83 500XC, an '85 500XC, and an '88 510TE.
The above bike is quite trick, clearly. Those forks I'd guess are '98 KTM White Power Extreme 50mm, as the upside down for knowhow of the time, was easily surpassed by the plush Conventional WP 50's. As well as Suzuki Showa Twin Chamber conventionals from the same period. I have a set of each to retrofit, possibly, to my bikes. Those upper triples look similar to the KTM ones I've seen from that period.
A few additional comments or points I'd make on the 510's, as though they were both too big for me and out of my budget at the time. In the early through mid/late 1980's I had ongoing subscriptions to different MX and Dirt Bike magazines, and recognized the Husky's from the 430's on, were special bikes. Especially the XC's in the US Southwest, and I grew up in the Arizona deserts. On the 510's, don't sell these short; the 510 engine was a ground breaking leaps and bounds step forward, for all MX 4 strokes. The problem was, as much as people wanted kept trying to build bikes capable of running with the 2 strokes, all the engines, no matter how trick of a frame or what other MX bike people tried to swap a 4 stroke engine into....all the engines, until this one........were HEA.....VY. Making the bikes just unable to cut and dice with the much lighter 2 strokes. When Husqvarna married the 4 stroke topend to a 2 stroke bottom end........That was really it! It was .....finally.....a big jump forward in the 4 stroke engine weight reduction dilema. Not to mention, they were strong.....stock. Then let Up Tite in the states, or perhaps a few others do their race massaging, and watch out. Bigtime revs and power are possible outta these. I'm not familiar with the 570 mod, as I haven't kept tabs on HVA, being distracted by other life stuff, but will certainly look into it. My first guess is, being aircooled here, allowed for a much bigger sleeve/bore upgrade. Oh, and that pipe setup, looks very trick, and appears to essentially be a modern version of the Pro Circuit setup you could get back in the day. Which was done both too drop a bunch of weight, and narrow the back area of the bike. Though I'm not sure if this rear segment routes the same tight in way as the Pro Circuit one. Would have to dig up pics of the PC one and compare.
Great clip, thanks a bunch. Would sure love to see some of these bikes in action, and hear the mechanical music they made/make.