Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Terry Cunningham's Husky 500AE is a ca refully set up and maintained b ike, t uned specifically for tight woods. Inside the heavily finned cases of the 488cc engine 's transmission resides a trio of automatic centrifugal clutches. each mated to it s own gear pair. Im~ression:Enduro eham~ Terry: Th e tie rod on the front brake runs above the axle for more reliability. Cunningham's Husgvarna 500AE AutolDatie tilDe lDaehine By Tom Kolnowski Wh ile his competitors were busy shifting gears - literally hundreds of times during each mile o f terrain they covered - Terry Cunningham barely ever made use of his left foot, excep t to take an occasional .dab. .Instead,.h e 'l or ked th e I throttl e o f th e Husk y SOOAE th e a u to ma tic en d u ro mount - a nd posted overall wins in five o u t o f the last six ro unds of th e 1984 N at ional C ha m p io ns h ip E n d uro Series, whi ch ea rned h im his seco nd ser ies titl e. . Of co urse, T err y's ea rne d repu tali o n as o ne o f th e best o ff-road rid ers in th e U .S. certa in ly was 'a key fact or ' in h is wi n ni ng a seco n d titl e; but hi s bi ke must a lso be a capa ble a nd p roven performer. And .after spe ndi ng time in th e sa dd le o f T erry's per- so'na l !iO OAE (the ver y sa me machine th at carried him 10 a ll o f those wins), we began to see j u st how effecti ve th e bi ke is in mak in g lim e th rou gh th e wood s. H ere's wh y: rid ing th e AE a llows th e rid er to co nce n tra te more o n th e tra il a hea d rather th an spe ndin g tim e searchi ng for' th e best p ossi ble gcar Zt h r o t t le o pe ni ng . You expend less ene rgy a nd go fas ter: th at 's so me th ing we can live with. Si nce Terry is a member of T eam Husk y a nd co u ld be ca lled a " fac tory rider, " yo u m ight ex pect hi s bike 10 be an exo tic prot ot ype . But hi s mOUlII, whi ch is based o n th e '84 500AE, o n ly ha s a few trick pans. And most of th ose prot o typ e p ans have a lrea dy been p ut iru o production a n d ca n be found o n th e '85 version o f the m achine. T he AE is bas icall y a Husky WR (end uro) model fill ed with th e threespeed a u to matic engi ne . Wh at th at m ean s is a si ngle-dow n -tu be dual shock chass is, full end uro eq uiprn ent a n d p le n ty of e n d nro-s pec i f ic fea tu res . - Th e heart of the bi ke - th e 488cc air-cooled m ill - was a ll new wh en introd uce d in '84. T he fou r-speed tran smission o f th e '83 420AE was repl aced by a new three-spee d u n it, w h ic h, i n its sim p lest terms, consis ts of three centrifuga l cl u tches , eac h driv in g a p air o f gears. As engi ne speed in cr eas es, th e transmission a u to ma tica lly sh ifts 10 (he next hi gher gea r. Wh ile sw itch i ng to a three-speed generall y a llowed for beefier transmission co m po nen ts, th e added power o f th e 488cc mill brought 10 ligh t probl em s with excess ive wear in th e fir st gear cl u tch assembly. Allthree cen trifugal clutches co nsist of an outer clutch drum and three inner brass shoes; th e shoes come into contact wit h their respective drums as the engine reach es a specified rpm. After trying severa l combinations using grooved shoes, grooved drums and vario us materials, T erry and teammate Dave Bertram, who al so rides an AE, settled on a grooved drum/ sm ooth brass shoe clu tch design for fir st gear. That co m bina tio n p rov ides a cl u tch lif e co m pa ra ble 10 a co nvent io na l multi-di sc cl utch . Husky has m ad e ava ila ble upgrade kits for owners o f the '84 model s; th e n ew cIut ch es co me fill ed 10 th e '85, Th e o n ly o ther change Terry mad e inside th e transmission is us in g th e heavi er third gear clutch shoes in th e seco nd gea r clutch. The result is th at second kick s in sooner wh ich yields beuer ga s milea ge. Wi th much metal-to-metal co ntact in the clutch es, th e o il tends 10 get extreme ly h o t. T erry us es onl y a spe cia l Bel-Ray o il, specificall y formulated for the demands of the AE , which is bottled as Husky Automatic Transmission Fluid. Other oils tend 10 be 100 sl ippery, which causes even more heat 10 be created since the clutches slip for a longer length of time before fully en gaging. For addi-. tiona I oil cooling, the left engine cover is a lso heavily finned . While there is no shifter per se, the AE does have a neutral; a lever located a to p th e eng in e case is pushed forward when sta rt ing th e bike, and slid ba ck to engage first gear. Gone is the ca ble-o pe ra ted, handlebar-mounted lever as on past autos. The transmission must be in n eutral 10 stan the engi ne. T err y notes that " Na tio na l e-nd u ros a rc won between th e trees, not o u t on th e road. I want m y bike to carbu ra te reall y well from zero 10 30 mph. Wh en I hit th e throttle, I want th e engi ne 10 co me o n hard - so th e bike barks from tr ee 10 tre e - whi ch ' is so me th ing th e stoc k '84 model didn 't do ." To so lve th e problem, th e cylinder was ported by Mo ssbarger Racing

• Cover