Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GNEW BIKES 1992Hus vamas e fatig uing - for a " big-bore" twostroke. T he five-speed transm ission works in perfect ha rmo ny with the motor 's powerband, too. The on ly thing I didn 't like abo ut the 360 was starti ng it. Extre mely high comp ressio n and an awkward kickstarter lever made th e job diffi cult. The WXE 360 sh ou ld be very popul ar with off-roa ders all across .the cou ntry. Even desert racers sho u ld be conte nt with the 360's top- end. . Getting a cha nce to ride the WXE250 was toug h on th e rid e - nobod y wante d to give it up. L ike th e 360, th e 250 tackled the rocks and ledges wi th ease, tha nks to decen t low-end and a smooth and predi ctabl e powerband. Most of the 250's punch is in the middl e of th e pow erband, and it's quite fast o n to p, too. For so me reaso n, th e WXE250 seemed to vibrate sligh tly more than th e rest of the 250 and 360cc two-strok es that we rode. An inhe rent problem? Most likely not , but it did gi ve us someth ing to think about. The WXEI25 is without a doubt far better than an y other Husqvarna 125 ever offered. When the, Swedes were building Husqvarnas, the. 125 barel y had enough pow er to get out of its own way, but when Cagiva took over in 1988, the 125 Husqvarna definitely benefitted. It now is a very fast and respectable motorcycle. Not on ly is it fast but it has low-end power as well, maki ng it a fun mo torcycle to ride on the trai l, even on the loose, rocky and hill y ones. On the o ther end of th e spec trum, the WX E6IO was certain ly a ha ndful o n th e ti gh t trail s, but it was n' t unbearab le. It seemed that everytim e I th rew a leg over the 610, we turned on to some of the gnarliest trails of the day . Despite the workout, I enjoyed the 610 im men sely. almost idle over any obstacle, then wh en the tra il opened, you cou ld really mak e up some time wi th its bru te pow er. Yeah, I admi t, I got 'tired ' wrestling the big, heavy and po werfu l 6 10 a ro u n d o n some o f the very demanding sectio ns, but I made it th rough all of them, and actua lly had fun doin g it. I guess of all th e bikes, th e one I was most disappo inted wi th was the four-stroke WXE350. Perh a p s m y expec tatio ns were too high , but I just did not ca re for it all that much, mainly because it weigh s the same as the 610 and has less horsep ower ! On some of the trails, however, th e 350 did feel better than the 610, mainly becau se th e po wer did n 't hi t as ha rd , making it a littl e easier to control o n the tri cky stuff. I still enjoyed ridi ng the 350; all it needs is just a little power . sna p from the motor . Shifting the 350 wasn 't as smooth as compared to the 610. T he 350's transm ission felt "notchy," and finding neutral was im possi ble wi th the engine idling. This year's batch of Husqvarnas are certa inly compe titive in every sense of the word. The WXE360 should be Cagiva 's best seller, with th e WXE250 close behind. Both bikes are as good as any 1991 bik es we've ridden in th e sam e category, in some ways better. Bravo, Cagiva. ' The on ly bad news is that Cagiva is not yet sure wh eth er or not th ey will import any of the WMXs to the U.S. in '92. But it is certain th at if they do , the WMXs wil£ o n ly be available in limited numbers. As far as the WXEs and WXCs, Cagiva is hopin g to get back into th e U.S. off-road market and return th e Husqvarna name back to the top where it o nce was. (Above) Cagiva went back to the double-exhaust system to help reduce noise on all the fourstroke models. (Left) All the two-strokes feature " lowboy" exhaust p ipes. (Left) T he seat on all models can be remove d witho ut using any tools. (Right) Quickaccess clutch covers are found on all the '92 Huskys. 24 Wha t saved me was the fact that you could chug the 610 over the rocks and roots wit ho ut the engi ne tryi ng to sta ll. No matter ho w tig ht the trai l got, the engi ne never q uitl Ins tead. you could •• ••• Ob viously, Cagiva is offering firs tra te products for 1992, but bui lding a good produ ct is only half the battle. Many present and former Husqvarnal Cagiva owne rs and dealers will tell you tha t in years past Cagiva dropped the ball whe n it came to good cus to me rl • dea ler relationship. On e Husqvarna deal er in Michigan said , "Getting pa rts was a problem whe n Cagiva took over, and you just coul dn't believe wha t they (Cagiva) to ld you. But th e ma in prob lem was getting the (new model ) bik es o n tim e. By th e time the new mod els came ou t, it was alread y la te spring and summer and we just couldn 't sell the bikes. I sold j ust o ne bike (350cc four- stroke) all year. . "Cagiva has gotten bett er by leaps and bounds, though. They have a better attitude now. Plus, I feel that in the last 10-12 months our parts supply is better than an y manufacturer in th e industry. Very rarely do we have any back orders. The only problem I have with them (Cagiva) now is getting the new bikes on time. If th ey can deliver on that, then everyth ing will be great." According to Cagiva North America's Mark Dwyre , " Yes, getting new models in the U.S. early has been a problem, but this year, every 1992 model (except th e motocross models) will arrive som etime betwe en October and December. " As far as getting parts, I feel parts availability ha s also been a problem but is getting better, unfortunately not with allour deal ers," said Dwyer. " We want to change that all aro u nd, and I think we can do that now because we have bett er co mu n ica tio n with Italy, becau se th~y want to succeed in the U.S. market now more than ever." Dw yer a d de d th at Ca gi va sold approxi ma tely 500 Husqvarna motorcycles in the U.S. in 1991 , and is hoping to in crease th at number by 20' C' 30% in 1992.

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