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/128110
IIIIIIRIECJ By KIT PALMER PHOTOS BY BR YAN NYLANDER/DIRT R IDER MAGAZINE AND PALMER here's only one thing better than watching races, and that's racing races . At the recent World Off-Road Championship Series round in Wash ington, where I was set to cover the rac ing action for this publica tion , I found myself sitting on the sta rt li ne aboard a Husaberg thumper, ready (well , sort of) to do battle in the Open Amateur class. This all came about thanks to Hu sab erg ' s Chuck Sun , who had, a few days earlier, offered me a chance to r ide his machine , which , of course, I gladly accepted. The bike I was about to race was the FC470, one of two MX models that Husaberg offers (the other is the FC550 ) . For this race , which wou ld ut ilize Washougal 's infam ous Nation al motocross track and roughly five m iles o f single -trac k trails throug h the woods that encase the fac ility , Sun thought that the FC would be th e best ch oice , as opposed to the com - T 2001 Husaberg FC470 pany 's seem ingly more appropriate off-road F E ( end u ro) or FX (c ro ss country) models. Considering the MX track, Sun figured that the Fe's closer -ratio transmission and stiffer sus pension would be the better choice, especially for Sun , who was going to co m pete in the 30 + A class race . The enduro suspension wo uld certainl y be too cushy for him; after all , he is a former 50 0cc National Motocross Champion (1980) , and he still knows how to get arou nd an MX track really well . T he Swedish -bu ilt Husabergs are interesting machines , espe cia lly their four -valve , wate r -coo l e d mo to rs , wh ich have been c o mp l et ely redesigned for 200 1. For exa m p le , the cylinder and crankcases are no w j oi ned as on e, wh ich Hus aberg claim s improves eng ine cooling and increases reliabil ity , since there's no base gasket to blow an ymore . If the cylin der walls are ever damaged or wea r out, you simply rep lace th e slee ve . The eng in e also features counterrotating balancers , which are said to sign ificantly reduce vibration, as well as keep the gy ro effect down to a minimum , which , in theory , makes the b ike easier to maneuver. To make starting a little easier, the eng ine uses an automatic decom p re ssi on system, but rep o sit io n i ng the kickstarter to th e rig ht side of the bike would be an even bette r idea . The engi ne is also extremely narrow ; its widest point is only 10.4 inches . While other m an u f a c tur e s are going to detacha ble rea r sub -fra mes , Husaberg went back to a solid , onepiece frame , claim ing th is des ign is lighter and im p ro ves stability. And , the wa y the fram e is designed, access to the air fil t er couldn't be easier. No tools are requ ired to get to and clean the fo am fil t er. Suspens ionwise , Husaberg fea tures WP components and a un ique one -p iece, weldless swingarm, which Husaberg cla ims is 30 -pe rcent lighter, but stronger. The FC4 70 that Sun and I rode at Washougal was slightly modified. To l e ss en th e c h a nc e of flats , Sun swapped the 19-inch rear wh eel with an 18 - in ch re ar wh eel fr om th e FE m od el , a GPR st eer ing d amper was in st all ed, Wash in gton -based D ic k 's Su sp en sion tu ne d up t he fo r k and sh o c k , a n d a B i g G u n muffl e r replaced th e stock unit. I must admit m y first lap on the bike was not a pleasant one . I sim p ly (Left) The author aboard the FC470 Husaberg at the WORCS rou n d at Washougal. Too bad he didn't perform as well as the ' Be rg. [B elo w ) The exotic-looking Husabergs are about as pretty as the)' geL 54 J UNE 27,200 1 • cue I e n e .... s felt awk wa rd on the 'Berg, as if I had never ri dden a motorcycle before. I was having a hell of a ti me controlling the motorcycle, keeping it out of the ruts and bus hes an d on the tra i l. Although I wanted to blame the bike for my poor riding, I knew this wasn't the case. It was my fau lt. A ft er all, I ha dn't ri dden in w e ek s , and I was rusty, the terrain was radically different from th at which I've been used to rid ing lat ely (mostly desert stuff), I had only one lap of practice on the bik e, and the rear suspension was a li ttle ( o k a y, a l o t ) too stiff for my 16 5 pounds. Since I was fighting the bik e so much at first, m y arms quickly turned to junk and my lungs were already gasping for air halfway through the first lap. How was I going to last a full hour of this torture? I thought. That's when I de cided to take it easy and let the Husaberg do all of the work. One of my first lessons in the race was to stay away from the rear brake, wh ich I felt was a little too touchy and grabby for Washougal's slicker-thanyou- know- what mud. Not only did the back end tend to want to squirt out to th e sid es wh en ev er I u sed i t, but I also took consi de rable risk of st alling th e eng ine . On ce I learn ed how to t a k e ad v antag e o f t he thumpe r 's engine bra king and fi gured out just how far I could let the ' Berg's Rs drop be fore th e piston st o p p ed moving , th in g s started improv ing rapidly. I soon discovered that the Husa berg could chug quite well off the bottom, and if you gently rolled on the throttle , the ' Berg's torquey four -stroke motor would pull me nicely - an d