Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

better on th e 250XC for rea sons we will exp lore lat er , an d out of fo ur fork legs, onl y one wept a little in th e cou rse o f the impression. T he low er bend Husky handl ebar controls a ll mod els thi s vear. Las t year it graced only th e 500CR triple da m ps . A Gunner Ga sser throttle ge ts th e ca rb slides h igh in th e 250 and 500, withou t resorting to exces sive wrist movem ent. A long Magura lever actua tes . a pl ea santl y easy to pull dutch , but a shorty lever works th e do ubl e leading shoe front brak e. More leverage wo u ld be superflous si nce th e front brakes on both bikes are excell ent in bo th [eel a nd p ower. Ca bles a re qua lity • items 'with lubrication fitti ngs. All seem ro u ted well , a n d th e frontbrak e ca ble was sna g and trou ble free for th e dura tion. More fu el , 3.2 ga llons to ta l, is housed in th e lar ger , white, but otherwise unch anged aluminum tank. A new a irbo x wa s neccessitated by th e new risin g ra te shoc k moun rin g system . Gone is th e deli ghtfull y easy to service box of last yea r. In its pl a ce is a d ean -l in ed , verv wat er a nd dust resistant airbox. T he sea t must be rem oved via two six m illimeter bolt s wi th aircra ft-style n ylock nuts. The process requi res two wre nc hs, bu t is not an undue hassle. T he sea t o bscures the ai rbo x, ah yes, th e sea t. We have been a void ing the seat. Our first im pressio ns of the seat colo r were o nes of less tha n ecstasy. T he br ig h t yellow co ver ta kes some ge tti ng used to . It is di st in ctive a nd d id n 't draw much ver bal a buse from the wander in g multi tudes a t an en du ro , but th e XC is never m ista ken [or another bike. T he cover d irties eas ily, but clea ns up wi th soa p a nd ' wa ter a nd seems d ura ble. A particu larl y important part of our a na to m y, wh en it comes to j udgi ng sea ts, was quite p leased with th e com fort facto r. It feel s firm ini tia lly, but is probably th e bes t a ll arou n d seat in the bu siness. After. 140 mi les in th e desert , we suffered -ver y littlc " 'bottom'itis." In fact , th e whole sea ting posi tio n, as it wa s on last yea r's Husqvarnas, is th e finest go ing. Th e ergon om ics are designed for Eu ropean-sized bodi es, by European-sized peo p le a n d test rid ers. The on ly sacrifi ce comes in th e way o f a tall sea t h eight. Our taller testers didn 't rind it o ffens ive: in fact th e opposi te was true. Shorter testers, 5'8", had no tro ubl e with th e sea t to ground stre tch , but found start ing the 500 diffi cult. Several testers co m me nted that riding the 500 wa s more difficult , because it wa s tall er. In reality th e 500 was lo wer th an th e 250, if anything . The great er weight of th e big bore becomes more noticeable in aw kward situa tio ns, causing tha t impression. The all wh ite '83s ar e not as hard to keep clean as th ey look. They ar e aging gracefu lly a nd wash up easi ly. We had no trouble shi n ing th em u p after a rid e. Th e sh ift sha ft sea l wep t on both ma chines, th e 250 worse th an th e 500, but not eno ugh to affect th e oi l level serio us ly. Servi ce procedures on both mach ines were easy and strai g h tforward. Th e new side- pan els snap off of new fittings, a nd th e gea r o il drains are on th e side of th e en g ine. No need to lay underneath the bik e. G ear changes were noticeably better with frequent gear oil changes. Our one gripe wa s with the kill switches on both bikes. Both DNF th e first ride. Only a few plug wrench es fit the sp ark plugs on either ma chine, unless the exhaust p ipes are removed . We didn 't have a tool kit, so we don 't know if th e Huskys come with one that works. We had an '82 Husq varna plug wren ch , but it did not fit. Other owners said th ey found wren ch es that would work. OC",) -.. 00 0') 0') (Above) The Husky looks at home in its native habitat. (Below) A view of the 500 and a little water time. Dancing to a foreign beat We 're talk in g abo u t a n expensi ve cross co u ntry wea pon h ere, wh at 's th e bo ttom line? H ow does it work? In th eir elements, the H usk y xes are, in our experience, wi thou t peer. Fortunat el y, o ur fi rs t m eeti n g with th e XCs was in th e Californ ia dese rt . T hree o f us were to trail ride over a variety of soil types, hills, flat s, nails, fi reroads an d roc ks. We got to do, on the XCs, wha t th ey were designed for. Si nce, despi te identical fra mes, th e 250XC feels totally different from th e 500XC, we will deal with th em ind ividuall y. The 250 is a ligh t, wellpowered racer th at seems to dance a t ease across th e co un trys ide. Riding away fro m a sto p reveals adequat e low-end power. The engi ne carburetes cleanl y, and th e XC is willing to pl onk a ro und just off idl e without dying o r loading up. Medium size hills can be level ed without lot s of rp m , but serious in cl ines or a medium hurry require th at th e little mill get pumpin g . For trail riding an d end u ros, th e motor is excellent. For serious desert or h ar e scrambles rac ing, th e p ower is p ro bably enou gh, but th ere is no excess . Our fast est tester felt that h e wa s running out of rpm in to p gea r. He wou ld need to loft th e front end, or gasit for so me wh oops a nd find h imself with a lack o f stea m . Adm itted ly, that wa s in wid e open -deser t runn in g . In an end u ro , with no time-k eeping equipment, we were early to every check but one. Real early. We n ever ran out of top-end speed in th at situa tio n . Stabili ty a t speed was excellent, but turning was a lso . We felt far more comfortable in san d or a ny su rface wi th loose material th e tires co u ld ge t a gr ip o n. Flat hard surfaces were unsettl in g wh ile turn in g fast eno u gh to get sid eways. The 250 wa s n ot iceably m ore a gile tha n th e 500 in corners . Wh ere th e 250XC really sh ines is in th e ro ugh stu ff. T ig h t lunar-scape sections were leveled with th e rid er ex iting fresh and ready for more. Surprise whoops seem less sig n ifican t as more are encountered. Between rides in th e desert , we took th e XC s to a rough, technical motocross track. We thought , " Ma ybe these weren'tas neat a s we th ought th ey were." The en du ro reinstated our original eu p ho ria. The gear spacing th at made th e XCs, m ainly th e 250 , a handful on th e closed co urse, made it a deli ght in th e open. L ight steering a nd good balance make th e XC a jo y in slo w feet-u p sections, but n o speed seemed too great to a ttack wh oop-de-docs. Even wh en th e sus pe ns io n starts to bot tom, th e Husq varna 's excel len t frame doesn 't kick sideways o r ge t unrul y. T he differen ce bet ween th e two bikes is quite su rp rising co ns idering th eir specifica tions. T h e 500 does things a different wa y. Some sus pe nsion set-up would p robabl y make th em m ore similar. The sus pe nsion a t both en ds feels much so fter th an th at o f th e 250. We suspect that th e fo rk sp ring s are ide ntica l on both bikes, with th e h eavi er , taller engine of th e 500 making th e d ifferen ce in feel. Th e add itiona l cylinde r h ead a nd barrel weight o[ th e 500 is nearly as h igh in th e frame as ra dia tors a re on so me Japanese 250s. The weight is not iceable, but not too o ffens ive unless yo u jump from th e 250XC to th e 500XC. Turn in g th e 500 requires a sha de more thought. The suspens io n of th e 500 works in sim ilia r excellen ce to th e 250, but bottoming comes sooner. On soft wh oopdees, the front fork wo u ld bottom, a t times, ha rd enough to pl ow th e fro nt wheel. It was never scarey, but wa s n oticeable and no t as good as th e 250. We were getti ng full travel o u t o f bo th bikes. Both front a n d rear fenderS-h ad scu ff mark s on ' th e undersid e. We n ever heard th e bottoming in the 250 fork, a n d rarely in th e 250 's rear sh oc ks. T he y would bottom noticeably only when dropping into a depression with an uphill landing, wh ere a nyth ing sp rung correctl y would. We felt audible clunks from th e 500 front end , and th e only fork leg to ha ve a weeping seal was on th e 500. Other XC rider s as large as o u r resid ent Open bike lover recommended a stiffer p rogressive-wound sp ring for th e 500 rear shocks. We would recommend a good 15 weight o il for th e forks for a nyone ove r 175 pou nds. A sti ffer sp ring would be a help too . Ai r would work, but m igh t a ffect the su p p leness o f th e for k's ac tion. The 500XC's suspension was very good, we j us t felt th e exce lle nce of th e 250 a nd realize th a t th e 500 ca n be su perb with very little d ial in g . The 500XC's engi ne n eeds no d ialin g in , save a little jetting for yo ur a lt itude . Even tha t ma y be overkill. We rode in many a lt itudes with no problem . Six gea rs, widely spaced, co up led with the 500 's bulk of tractable power eq ua ls o ff-roa d rocket. Slow tri a ls-t ype e n d u ro i ng is handled in sty le in the lower gears, but g et it on fast, loose trails an d yo u hit cros s-co u n try h eaven . It h elps to be a hopelessly-hooked horsepower addict, but th e smooth power d elivery d idn 't intimidate many people. Lugg ing up hills just o ff o f id le is no t out of th e realm o f th e SOO. It ch ugs al most a s well as a fo u r-s troke single. As forgi vin g as th e SOO's engi ne is about carbu re tion, we didn ' t try to je t it closer th en del ivered . It may be . ca pa ble o f cha llengi ng th e fo u rstro kes. Cross-country m otors don't co me any better than th is. In th e final a na lysis, th ere are o ther bik es th at will get yo u across terra in a t th e sa me speed. There are oth er engi nes with as much grou nd speed. Hu sqvarn a 's XC models g et yo u ac ross th e desert with less co nce ntra tion , th ey feel safer in m ore ins tances a n d you ge t somewhere less tired. For less money you ca n get so mep lace as fa st. For your money yo u buy th e feeling. If yo u ca n swing th e money, do . For yo u r money, you get a quality m achine designed from th e drawing board to go cross-country. A bike backed with a warranty and developed in off-road situations. You may have to do a little m ore lo vin g maintainance, but yo u will have the best for yo ur trouble. We love them. One is p robabl y not goi ng bac k. • II

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