Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2005 Husqvarna SM61 0 Bv AwaCA"riicMt PHoTOs aT K'rbIctI NAKa..... -'"--':' Husqvarna's comeback continues on the asphalt as well as the dirt t took five years of Duke domination for dirt bike demon Husqvarna to come up with an answer back in 1998 to its KTM rivals' best-selling street rod single, the ultimate hooligan bike that takes no prisoners on city streets or urban highways. Even then, the rollercoaster financial frolics of Husky's MV Agusta parent put the brakes on evolution of the transplanted Swedish marque's first stab at an all-out road bike since it moved south to Italy a decade and a half ago. Then, two years later, limitltd-edition lust arrived in the off-road arena with the launch at Intermot 2000 of the first highspec dirt-derived motorcycle to be built in individually numbered, restricted quantities for customer sale: the Husqvarna Nox. Just 300 examples of the sinister-looking, all-black dirt devil developed from the SM610 base (but replete with carbon fiber and titanium, and powered by a full-on factory Supermoto race engine) were built in the MV Agusta off-road race shop, with the 10,000 euro Oust over $12,000) hyperHusky sold exclUSively over the Internet via the model's dedicated website. Now, fIVe years on, Husqvarna has introduced a much-improved version of the I SM610, targeted at the opposite end ofthe Supermoto spectrum from the Nox. It's a more street-focused package that's nevertheless more worthy of the SM sticker than the Supermoto-lite XT660X and FMX6S0 offerings from Yamaha and Honda. The new SM610 may be more tailored for the tarmac than either of its HVA predecessors, but this Supermoto Strada is far more faithful than the J-bikes at the competition-created concept of turning your ride to work into a 20minute heat race, each stoplight into a staging area, every roundabout a chance to hang the rear wheel out, and all road junctions a stoppie arena. Yet, the 'OS model SM61 0 is still a practical everyday motorcycle, even if the hard, narrow seat will send your bum to sleep if you try sitting on it for more than an hour and a half, inviting you to stand on the footpegs now and then to scope out the traffic. Or, best of all, hang it all out in the winding country lanes where it's most at home, with your boot sole scraping the ground in a dedicated if desperate attempt to emulate Husqvarna's 2003 World Supermoto Champion, Eddy Seel, in powersliding around turns and backing it in under braking. Well, we can all dream, can't we? 50 AUGUST 3,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Not that the SM610 as a whole isn't hard-core, too. It is - very - especially in the gaunt gray livery of the test bike awaiting me in the summer sunshine outside MV Agusta's Varese factory. (It's also available in HVA's traditional, Swedish blue-and-yellow colors.) Situated midway between the Japanese pseudo-Supermotos and a full-on racer-with-lights paying lip service to street use, like the Nox, this is a faithful tribute to the Superbikers scenario that began in the USA a quarter-century ago, then got adopted by frantic French supermotards. Such a bike sits you high enough to deliver a commanding view over traffic-choked streets, is slim enough to let you squeeze through gaps between cars that a person might have trouble walking through, and is agile enough to let you crank round improbably tight turns. It also has enough suspension travel and even more ground clearance to lend new meaning to the term "curbhopping," allowing you to shortcut your way out of trouble when your chosen path to your final destination becomes blocked. Supermoto singles are the ultimate street scooters. In concocting the Evo SM610, Husqvarna has produced an SM racer-withlights not so distantly derived from Eddy Seel's World title winner, complete with purposeful stripped-out styling emplOying the same big front mudguard used on its TE/TC competition range, suspended some way above a much smaller, 17-inch front wheel with its wire-laced 3.S0-inch Akront rim holding a fat 120/70 Dunlop D208 road tire. This is matched by a 160/60-17 rear tire mounted on a 4.2S-inch wheel. These give a footprint any street Single would be proud of, removing any pretense of off-road capability for the SM61 O. Hard-looking, yes, but also hard-road hardware, though with a well-damped soft-riding Soft Damp suspension that makes it a great tool over the less than perfect tarmac of city highways anywhere, let alone the cobblestones that still adorn so many Italian towns and cities. The fat 4Smm leading-axle conventional Marzocchi fork fitted to the SM61 0 soaks up the rough stuff, offering a slightly reduced but still compliant 2S0mm (10 inches) of travel, with fully adjustable damping; ditto the preload for the triple rate springs, which give enough resistance to stop the front end from diving when you squeeze hard on the Single, big 320mm Brembo disc. At 142 kg (312 Ibs.) dry, the Husky also weighs 8 kg (17.6 Ibs.) less than the old model - and a

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