facturer claims to "lower the center
of gravity" or "consolidate weight
distribution." Well, that's exactly
what the Husqvarna team ac-
complished. Lowering the bike
all together really does centralize
the 236 pounds of white-hot fury.
Dropping the FC down helps it
stay glued to the ground, especial-
ly in flat turns. Our testers consis-
tently rated this bike as the best
turning bike in the class. Weight
the peg, pick a line and execute.
WP's new air fork works surpris-
ingly well on both of the Austrian
bikes. The Husky does ride a bit
lower to the ground, but the Xact
fork does a phenomenal job of eat-
ing up any bump in its way. Finding
new lines on the FC 450 is easy.
Riders no longer felt like they were
riding a "one line" track. Rather
they could swing wide, cut down,
and miss the main rut completely,
without giving up any momentum.
Nimble characteristics like these
gave us an extremely well-handling
machine on our traditional hard
pack West Coast tracks.
Okay Cycle News, so why didn't
this bike take top honors? Well, it
falls back on that 10mm difference.
Our three pro riders are all shorter
in stature, while the average riders
are a bit taller. The shorter guys
loved the smaller FC, while the
taller ones gravitated towards the
taller KTM. Nearly all the riders
stiffened the suspension a few
clicks as the shorter stance felt a
bit softer compared to the KTM.
One of our taller testers even
made mention of feeling his heels
hit the dirt on one of the larger
jumps at Cahuilla Creek. This split
decision between our groups
dropped the Husqvarna just two
points off the overall victory.
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 8, 2020 P73
The Husqvarna sits
10mm lower than the
KTM, you would think
that wouldn't make
much of a difference,
but it does.
