Riding impression:
Husaberg MeSOl
By Kit Palmer
.
Photos by Kinney Jones
.W
hat 's a Husab etg, you
ask?
Well , i t's not a
Husqvarna, it's not a
Cagiva a nd it's n ot a Du cat i, It 's
a . . . Husab erg.
To be more spe ci fic, it's a Husaberg MC501 - a si ngle-cyli nder,
wa ter -coo led , ' S O H C four- val ve ,
m o tor cycl e
502cc fo ur-s tro ke
designed for eith er m ot oc ro ss or o ffro ad racin g. It ha s a clai med wet
If you're Ioold.., for some·
thin, different, then the
HusaIJere (alJove) milht IJe
for you - that is, if ~ can
afford the $64" price tal. Its
smooth and tract4IJ.. power
output (left) ....... the HusaIJerC fun to ride. It 100.. lUre
a HUS4l1GrnG eneine (INlow),
ht 100.. can ... "'callf..,.
What makes it tick?
The Husab erg Me501 is powered
by a pot en t 502cc four-stroke motor
very sim ilar to the Husqvarna 510'.
Husab erg reps , however , a re relu c-
20
(wa ter a nd o il on ly) weight of 240
po und s a nd carries a rather eyeca tch in g ' su gg ested retai l price of
$6499. Wh oaa!
.
Okay, bu t where did it come from ,
yo u ask?
Remember a few yea rs ago wh en
Husqvarna was bought by Ca gi va
a nd was in corporated into th e Ca giva factory in Ital y? Well , th ere were
three Swedes from th e Husqvarna
factory who refu sed to go to Italy and
decided to design, build and sell their
own m otorcycle. Inside a sma ll barn
in Hu sa ber g .. Sw ed en : th e three
en ginee rs built th e first Husa berg
mot orcycle, based o n th e succe ssfu l
Husq varna 5 10cc four- st rok e. The
bani was even tu a lly aba ndon ed for
a sma ll facto ry wh ere approxi mately
600 Husab er gs h ave been manufactured.
The Husab erg MC501 su rface d in
Europe late last yea r and is now
being di stributed in th e U.S. by
Husab erg Ameri ca , In c., (Surdy ke
Yamaha/Harley-David son) in Festu s, Missouri.
tant to adm it tha t th e Husab erg
engine is related to the Husky 510
m ot or: They a rg ue th at no parts are
intercha ngeable betw een th e Husq varna an d the Husab erg en gi nes ,
exce p t for th e co u ntershaft sp roc ket.
From a technical point of view th is
is true, but from o uts ide ap peara nces
alo ne th e Husab erg ha s " H us ky"
written a ll over it.
.
The Husab erg engine is a sm a ller
. (albeit sligh tly smaller ) package than
th e Husk y m otor, and is claimed to
be 10 pounds lighter. It features the
same wet-sump lubrication system as
th e Husky , and th e clutch assembly
also looks nearly identical. Carbure-
