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A single. Sw edish -built Ohli ns
shock handles t he rear suspension .
Rear suspension on the Husky (above) is first-rate. but the forks are too soft. The new 510 (below) is stylish.
Test: 1986 Husqvarna 510 Enduro
four-stroke:
Is it worth $823.75
a stroke?
By Kit Palmer
What can be said about an enduro bike that
carries a $3295 price tag? How about, it better be good! From what we've already seen of
this motorcycle, it could be - American
Larry Roesel er, riding the n ew
Hu sky four-stroke Enduro,
n abbed a gold m edal at th e
In ternational Six-Days Enduro
26
(ISDE) in Spain ; he finis hed seco nd
in class a nd was top America n , while
Ital ian rider Giugliemo Andrein i too k
the class wi n mo unted on a nother
Husky four-stroke. That 's impressive,
but wh at does a ll this mean to yo u? Is
th e Husk y worth th e ex tra dollar s for'
th e local en d uro rider, for th e weekend play rider or th e jac k-of-all-tra des
rider? Or is th e Husk y stric tly for
u ltra-serious enduro co mpetitors like
Roeseler a nd Andreini?
Fro m the outside, th e ' H usky is
n oticeably changed for 1986. Most
obvious is the all-new, white-painted ,
sin g le do wntube, chrome -moly steel
frame designed to acce p t single-shock
rea r sus pe nsion to replace the previousl y used two shocks. The two
Husk y-m ade shocks used last year
have been repl aced by a si ngle, Swed ish-built Ohl in s unit wi th a p iggyback reservoir. T he rebuildable shock
h as fu lly adj us ta ble ex terna l co m pression a nd rebound damping , a nd
preload adj us tme nts. It 's m ounted in
a near-vertical p osition a nd attach es
so lidly to th e frame on th e to p, and
connects to levers a nd linkages o n th e
bottom, producing 12.2 in ch es ofrear
w h eel tr a vel. The mu ch larger .
stro n ger and lighter swin ga rm is now
made out of a lu m in um instead of
steel.
U p front , th e ai r-assis ted 411mm
Husky-m ade forks grace 10.6 inch es
of travel wi th 4.7 in ch es of trail and
270 rake. Wh eels are m ad e out o f
a lu m inum all oy wi th non-straightpull spokes, and th e tires are Metzelers .
A 9.06-inchdisc bra kewith a rubber
hose is used up front , while a 6.11-inch
drum set-u p is used in th e rear. Both
th e rear drive sp roc ket and drum
brake are mounted on the right side
of the hub.
Pl astic o n th e Husk y is m ade by
Acerbis, and th e plast ic gas tank
holds 2.4 gallons.
The air-eooled, four-valve, overhead
cam , 5011cc, four-strok e motoris basically th e same as last yea r's, with a
new Dell 'Ono carburetor and slightly
modified cylinder an d head. The engin e is an unsu al design , built to be
light, with no oil pump. Instead, th e
ca m cha in carries oi l up to the cam
box; th e cam bearings a n d lobes are
sp lash -lubrica ted . T he ro lle r-bea ring
cra n kshaf t is a lso sp las h- lu brica ted.
Husq varna recommends that engin e
o il be cha nged after every rid e.
The 40mm ca rb (same size as last
year's) is rejeu ed, but the ma in cha n ge
is in th e floa t bowl. In stead of ha ving
two floa ts co n nected to eac h ot her,
th e ca rb now uses individual floats,
which , accord ing to Husky, reduces
loading up wh en th e bik e is on its
side in a cras h, making sta rti n g eas ier. The a irbo x is m ounted on the
right sid e of th e m otorcycle, and the
filter elem ent ca n be reached aft er
removing two screws.
The cylin de r h ead is redesigned to
im prove ga s flow a nd improve start ing. T o wo rk with the new frame, th e
intake trac t is now m ounted to o ne
side, instead o f st raight o n , to clear
the frame's backbone.
The twin exhaus t p ipe set-up comes
with al u min u m si lence rs. co m p lete
with rem ovable U.S. Department of
Forestry -appro ved spark a rresters.
The Husky uses a six-speed, consta nt-mes h transmission wi th a wet,
mult i-di sc cl u tch. The ki ckstarter
wo rk s fro m th e left side of the bike
a nd is eas y to use eithe r sta ndi ng
alongside th e bike or sitt ing on top . A
CD! ignition is used with 70-wa tt
lighting coi l.
Last year's [our-stroke leak ed o il
through th e co untersha ft and main
bearing (beh in d the ignition ) seal s;
tha t' s cured by new Viton seals, Husky
says . According to Husky , Viton is
ex treme ly h eat resistant material ; it 's
a lso used in the valve gu ides. The
n ew sea ls,' Husky claims, considerably reduce oil consu m p tion.
Claimed dry weight is 257 pounds,
but on a certified scale, the Husky
weighs 280.5 pounds.
.
On the trail
The n ew Husk y passed wi th flyin g
co lors th e first day we rode th e 510.
Starting th e big Husky was a major
concern (p revio us Husky four-strokes
were hard starters ), so we were ver y
happy to learn th at the 1986510 is an
easy starter , cold or hot. It fired to life
on th e second kick and warmed up
quickl y. There're a few steps z however, th at must be used for cold starting. The id le screw o n th e carb must
be turned clockwise o ne full turn to
increase idle, an d th e choke must be
on. After kicking the motor through
a few times with the compression
lever in , find th e compression stroke
a nd give th e starter lever a moderate
ki ck without an y throttle applied,
and the Husky will fire up.
Once th e en gine is warmed up, the
ca rbure tor idl e screw can be turned
back to its o rigi na l position and th e
choke lever turned off ; th at done, th e
Husky is read y to hit th e trails.
Starting the Husky wh en the engin e
was h ot never ga ve us a ny p roblem s,
eithe r. It usu ally started rig ht up
with n o th rottle; if it didn ' t, a slight
twi st of th e thrott le and a nother kick
