Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126001
... ; Impression l1l:I • ~ t ~ rO"l ...... ~ ..... til = = <: 00 HUSKY 360 CR GP .. / By Ji m Gianatsis Heikki Mikkola had gotten off with a good start in fifth place , but Roger DeCoster had the lead. It was the first moto of the final 500cc Grand Prix at Luxembourg, and it would decide the 1974 World Champi onship. By the thi rd lap Roger had incre ased his lead to 36 12 seconds as he flung the prototype Suzuki around the hilly course. Heikki had wor ked his way up to second pla ce and began the task of tr ying to reel in Roger . Heikki was sto ked and going as fast as he and the bike could manage ; but Roger was holding his own. Five laps later the Suzuki's engine seized and Heikki sped past to win the race and the World Championship. This moto, which had clinched the championship for Heikki and his manufacturer's machine, was reflective of what had taken pla ce throughout the entire season. The bike is the Husqvama 360 CR Grand Prix. It began the 1974 Grand Prix season in Europe as a prototype motocrosser, but whe n it crossed the finish line at the final GP in Luxembourg with Heikki Mikko la in the saddle it was a production machine. If you think this article is going to be a test of the 360 CR and how it can leap tall whoop-de-docs in a single bound, you 're wrong. The bike has already pr oven itself, so our testing is of small consequence. The 360 CR does everything that a World Champion like Heik ki Mik kola wants it to do , and that means it exceeds almost everyone else 's requiremen ts , A goo d rid er can adapt himself to the 360 CR easily because it alway s meets his ability. Instead, a description of th e bike and i t s performance would be more appropriate than a critical anal ysis. We had two bikes. The first was Dan . Farle y 's production 360 CR Husky which i s sponsored by Orlando Motocross Center in Florida. The other was one of Heikki Mikkola's GP bikes. "One of" obviously means that Heikki used more than one bike last year to win the World Championship, which is logical, because a factory can't seriously campaign the World Championships with just one bike , no matter how reliable it is. This particular bike had . been Heikki's back up machine for the final events of the World Cham pionship, then was flown over to the United States for the Trans-Al\lA Series where Heikki won the Honda Hills event with it. In comparing the two bikes, they were exactly alike except for a few parts on Heikki's bike which were hand built. Present production parts like the brake pedal and the air box weren't available when Heikki's 360 was assembled. Though there was no serial number on Heikki 's frame, it was a prod uction item and conformed to the exact - same geometry and used the same heat-treated chromemoly steel. The: magnesium pressure: die cast engines are also the same, right down to the cylinders where porting and hand finishing of the ports is exactly the same on Heikki 's bike as the production m achine . The stoc k 360 en gine produces enough of the right type of power and doesn 't need reworking. The GP bike has a five-speed gearbox though, while the production bike has six-speed. If you remember from our test of the 250 we said that its six-speed gearbox had to be worked really hard because its gears were within the range of last year's five-speed 250 CR . Well, the production 360 CR h as a mu ch wider ratio range for its six speeds than the 250 does because the 36 0 has the bottom end power to pull it. This mean s that Husky's reasoning for using a six-speed in the 360 CR really works; that normally only five of the six speeds are used, and the rider has the choice of using first through fifth or second through sixth depending on individual tracks. With the old five-speed gearbox Pelle Persson, Heikki's mechanic, usu ally had to change sprocket gearing fo r various co urses. When you consider all the improvements the production 360 CR has over Heikki's 360; the reliability o f all production parts rather than some hand bu ilt items, a much better air box, and a six-speed gearbox, y ou can understand Husqvama's reasoning for wanting to use production bikes for the 1975 season. Dan Farle y's 360 CR is stock except for one modification which the shop made to it, and that is converting the front forks to air pressurized units. It's a simple modification, Kent Howerton and Mitch Mayes had it done to. their production factory bikes, and within the year it should be almost as common to dial your front forks in for varying track conditions as you do yo ur tire pressure. Besides the advantage of being able to adjust the forks for individual tra cks , about three pounds are saved in weight by not using springs. To make the modification on a new Husky the fork seals are removed and replaced with Universal Leakproof Seals, and the upper scraper seal is Loc- Tited in to keep it from blowing. Air valves are threaded into the fork caps, oil capacity incre ased to about , 300cc per fork tube , 360 strong ce's, 8 petal reed valve, 36mm Bing, 6·speed close rat io gea rs an d radial he ad. Heavy d uty!