Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127960
1999 Husqvarn as ........ t's been a long time since Husqvarna's been a co n tender for top motocro ss honors in the two-s tro ke market here in the United States, bu t if the tra nsplanted Swedish co m pa ny (now residing in Ital y under the Cagiva banner ) has its way, this will no lon ger be the case. Witn es s th e C R 125 a nd C R 250 , Husky's latest offerings in the two-stroke MX wo rld . While the 125 has had its share , of changes (w hich we'll get to shortly), it's the 250 that is perhaps most sign ificant in Husky' s two-stroke MX push . Featu ring an all-new 250cc powerplant, the quarter-liter CR is seeing its first yea r in the Stat es. The new eng ine features a 66.4 x 72m m bore and stroke that has a flat-crown, tworing piston slid ing up and down in a totall y redesigned cyli nd er. The cylinder has five transfer ports, as well as featu ring a transfer-p o rt s hu tt er va lve (a ctivated by th e power -valve's cen tri fu gal control mech anism ) that restricts flow of the air-fue l mixture th rou gh the main transfer port, thu s increasing crankcase pr essure (along with a new pressu re- in crea s in g cra n ks haf t and inser ts) at lo wer rp m . Big dea l? Well , accordi ng to Husky it is, s(nce it is said to dram aticall y in crea se bottom-end a nd midrange eng ine response. A new Mikuni TMX38 feeds the port-in ducted engi ne, and new shift forks and shift sha ft (as well as revised ratios) in the five-sp eed tra nsmission smoo th ou t shifting and better mat ch , the character of the new powerplant. A new nine-di sc clutc h is fitted to the 250, as is a new clut ch housing . Like the rest of the Husky competition lineup, the CR 250 is now fitted with the 45mm Mar zocchi in verted fork (in p lace of the pr evious 50m m conventional fork). The CR and TC (four- strok e mo tocross) models get an oversized steering stem wi th new dust seals and bear ings said to increase steering precision. Som e of the other chan ges that spa n the lineup are braid ed-s tee l front brake lin es for the 260m m Brembo d isc; rev ised se tti ngs for th e rear mon osh ock - . which also featu res a longer reservoir for im proved shock cooli ng; new sea ts wit h a narrower rea r sec tion; cast foo tpegs with high er mounting points and new re turn springs; a new rear fender a nd bri ghter gra phics; and Excel alloy rims. The motocross models also ge t aluminu m hand lebars. , CR 2 5 0 ....6.0 46 . . . 360 As for mod el-specific cha nges, the CR 125 has been updated and designed to mimic Chicco Chiodi's cha m p ionsh ip-w in ning mach in e. Design elements from Chiodi's engi ne - slight mot or mods in the form of a new head, new centrifuga lly controlled pow er valve and red esigned cylinder on the 54 x 54.5mm powerplant, as well as revised sus pe nsi on se tti ngs, are the maj or fun ctional cha nges to the sixspeed CR 125. The Jacky Martens-developed TC 610 has been around for a few yea rs now , and while it still uses the same basic 577cc pow erpiant that also graces the and TE 610, severa l changes were mad e to help improv e reliability, changes that also extend to the TE 410. New crankcases featu re a new gea r-driven oil-pu mp - in ad dition to the reed-activ ated oiling sys tem - to help im prove lub rication on the World Champi-