Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By Kent Nicholls The first Husqvama I ever rode was one of the old 360 motocrossers and, to me, it was the evilest handling thing on two wheels. A short while back 1 rode one of the UN ew Generation" five speed 250s and it handled somewhat better but I still couldn't make it go through tigh t corners comfortahly. In fact, it seems that every time I climb on a Husky, I end up falling off the thing. So, when I took on this test, 1 ~as sligh t1y biased against the breed not no more. It seems that the little Swedish two·stroke singles are somewhat hard to come by for"tests, and even harder to come by stock. The one tested belongs to Greg Blackwell and it's ah·almost stock. It's been raced for the last five months, so if anything is going to break, it should've by now. Being almost stock means having the me tal [enders replaced by plastic ones, and a plastic air·cleaner cover in place of the stock item. This took the stock weigh t of 203 lbs. down to a shade under 200. The Blackwells also removed the stock 32mm Amal Concentric carb and put in its place a 28mm of the same brand to make it run cleaner, give it more low end and come out of corners faster. When the smaller carb was mounted, it was done with a Bultaco manifold to put the carb in a level position as the stock position is at a fairly steep angle which very likely affects the float level in turns and such. As with all Amals, there is the starting drill of tickle it until gas comes out the hole and no more. Anymore and the thing becomes nearly impossible to start. Do it right and the engine comes alive after two or three prods on lhe left'side mounted kicks tarter. A 'while back, the little Huskv's engine developed an air leak due to a bad seal and therefore had to have the cases spli t. 'When it was apart, someone couldn't resist the temptation to stuff the crank, so they did. This is the only thing done to working parts, so it's almost -stock inside. The engine's state of tune is the same as it was from the factory . The first thing I noticed when I climbed on the bike was that everything fit. Now, I'm 5'11" tall so I'm almost a full'sized person and the distances from the bars to the seat and from the seat to the pegs felt right. The next thing I noticed as I flailed the 125 around the Escape Country Motocross course was that no matter how far over my head I rode in the whoop-de-doos and nasty rough parts, that the famous Husky straigh t line stability sifted down into th"ir littlest bike, and it always got me through in shapt'. The first sharp corner came at me a little faster than it should have and I began getting scary visions of what happened when I did the sam!' thing on the 250. At this time I got a pleasant surprise. The 125 Husky is a bullet in comers. You don't have to square them off; there is no front wheel skating. In short. it comers extra neat. If Husqvama can make the 125 corner so well, why not the bigger ones? The suspension is nearly iden tical to the 250 and does a first rate job of filtering out the jolts. The front forks are massive·looking thin'gs with seals that didn't weep a drop of oil, and in ternal springs. The back shocks are Girling and work well, as most Girlings do. Escape Country has a long back straight that goes into a 180 degree turn and this is where I found my major complaint with the bike: the brakes. They work so poorly, in fact, that the 125 and I nearly wen t swimming in the lake that lurks just beyond said straigh t. This might just be due to wear but the full width hubs are so tiny that they can't work too well. They do have one thing going for them, and that is the back ,is full floating, so the rear wheel never hops or chatters. The machine's folding footpegs are only fair as they get slippery when wet because of a smooth surface and have no return springs so they can jam in the up position. Even with the smaller carb, the engine wanted to load up if not kept on the pipe. This isn't such a tall order because the bike has a close ratio six·speed gear box to belp keep it singing. I t shifts so fine, always grabbing the next gear and never complaining if the clutch isn't used. On Greg's bike, the shift lever has been bent in· an arc to shorten the throw which is nonnally lairly fong. • '," _. ... .. Husqvarna 125 o ti o II) 3: w z w ..J U >U Lightweight Review Straight-line stability associated with the name Husqvarna has been carried through to their smallest MX model. Mods by Blackwell to the 123cc engine include a small.er Amal carb (When's the last time you heard of that conversion?) and an arced shiftlever to shorten the throw. good, although all appear strong. AU the welds, pretty or not, and the rest of the frame are covered with a first-rate metallic silver pain t job. The tank is colored an off yellow (well applied) that looks just like a scaled down version of the little Husqvama's big brothers' tanks. The tank holds a moderate 1.85 gallons of fuel, and is very skinny in the righ t places. One point of interest is the pipe. It is an upswept affair that is well tucked in and has a good heat shield that doesn't conduct heat to one's leg. It has a small coil spring under the head of the moun ting bolt instead of being rubber·mounted, and the bulge in the sting"r does a fairly decen t job of cutting down the noise that issues forth. The 125 had been ridden all day before I got it and then I rode it a bunch. Not a single bolt or part was loose after all that . riding - not one. This should indicate that the bike will stay in one piece In any racing encountered. The 125 Husqvarna isn't mind·blowingly fast, but it sure does corner and handle well. The bike is a racer only. It won't plonk around like a Trials machine but it does its intended job of going fast around a motocross course. It is one of the· few racers that is 99·9/10 percen t ready to race out of the crate. All in all, the 125 Husky is a neat motorcycle. Full·floating rear hub with a very lightweight sprocket; Girlings, and a 3.50x19 Metzeler make up the working end components. . Some of the features of the bike are: a paper aireleaner element (replaced by a Filtron on the test bike); Akront rims, 3.50 X 18 and 3.00 X 21 Trelleborg tires; a rear sprocket held on by nine hefty bolts but not shock·mounted to the hub; Motoplat electronic ignitionwhich never missed a beat: nine gauge spokes; a Renold chain that is bill; for a 125, and elastic stop nuts all around. . The frame is very "Husky" looking Wtth a large smgle tube branching out into two smaller tubes under th.e engine. The crown is well·gusseted and after several months of racing, none of the frame mlOmbers showed stress. Some of the welds on the frame are extremely good and then some of them aren't so Much to no one's surprise, the 125 Husky looks very much like a smaller Husqvarna motocross machine. Almost all the major components retain the unique "Husky" identity. HUSKY DETAILS ~~~~LBASE '" 53 inches AND STROKE SSmm X 52mm CARBURETION (STOCK) .........•............ 32mm Amal Concentric IGNITION . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Motoplat Electronic HORSEPOWER ENGINE SIZE (CLAIMED) . " " " " . ...............•......... 21 HP ..••••...........•....•.......•.............. . 124cc FUEL CAPACITY .••...••........... ' '. . • . . • . . . .. 1.85 US Gallons" ~~T~~';-f'~ICE (SUG.) .. " .. " !.'.! .. ' ",: .r'. . '.$975 ., ...•.•.••••••.......•••••.•••.••.•.••••..• 203 Ibs. (dry) . " . " , Portrait of the author as a young dog trainer. • ~ I I l 1"· f • I I

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