VOLUME 59 ISSUE 15 APRIL 12, 2022 P115
J
ust before the start of the
2022 Supercross season,
Husqvarna invited Cycle
News and a few other media
outlets to Florida to attend boot
camp at the Baker's Factory. While
we were there, the team unveiled
the all-new FC 250 and FC 450
Rockstar Edition motorcycles. It
was our first up-close and person-
al view of these highly anticipated
new machines. At that time, in De-
cember, however, the bikes were
still limited in quantity, so we had
to patiently wait for our first chance
to ride the new Rockstars. That
chance came a few weeks ago at
Glen Helen Raceway, where we
spent the day with the techs from
Husqvarna and rode both models.
We first focused on the FC
250. (We will talk about the 450
in a future issue.) The smaller of
the two Rockstars got a whole
host of new hardware versus the
standard FC 250. Upgrades to the
engine, suspension and chassis
highlight the refinements, and the
bike looks much different at first
glance. The powerplant is shorter
in length and height for a more
compact center of gravity while
being rotated two degrees to com-
bat squatting under power. Inside,
there's a shorter stroke and larger
bore to match, aimed at giving the
bike more grunt down low while
still retaining that 14,000-rpm rev-
limiter that we've come to know
from the Austrians.
