Automatic registration

Hi Terry
Thank your story is very interesting !
I did not understand all the technical changes because my English is bad
But congratulations for your proto 500 half automatic
Especially if it goes faster than an automatic 500 driven by T.Cunnigham!
Did you talk with him to your bike after the race ?

Me too I would like to see your TC Replica

Here are a couple of pics of the 430 4speed bike TC told me that they only sent two lower ends set up for the 430 cylinder from Sweden in 82. We built this one by reverse engineering one of his old race bikes. Boise was the first race on this setup and it was very smooth and fast thanks to Teddy at Boyko Racing.

Very interesting ! Thanks
with the same bottom (420) , could this company repeat the same operation ?

The swedishes just change the stroke from 71 mm to 74 mm on the 420 , and put a 430 top end on it, I think ! No ?

If you know Terry C, could you ask him if he remember the article about automatics ?
The 2nd link works no more. He talked about riding an auto , and about maintenance.
Thanks

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/terry-cunningham-and-automatics.25509/

http://www.offroadmotorcycles.ca/journal/2011/3/6/looking-back-at-huskys-effective-automatics.html

Michel, I can't find the article for the link that doesn't work, the owner of the site and author of the story has taken ill and no longer maintains the site. But.... I came across notes that the article was written from. Dan Paris, the author had an idea for a story about Automatics because at the time he was restoring a Rokon automatic. He contacted myself and Michael Murphy for info on our two very different bikes. The following are the questions from Dan and my responses.

Enjoy, Paul Andratis.


Hi Paul, Michael
I've been brainstorming on some ideas for an interesting tech story in offroadmotorcycles.ca. Michael and I have been talking about Rokons and Paul and I have been talking about the Husky Automatics recently. When we are doing bike tests we are always talking about 'smooth' power delivery, which of course brings around Rokon's CVT transmission and the Husky Automatic, which seem to be two completely different approaches to the solving same problem. Anyway, I think this might be the making of a very interesting story our readers will enjoy and will open the door to all sorts of discussions amoung our readers.

Since you've both had great success racing your respective auto trans dirt bikes I wonder if you'd help me put something together by providing a static shot or two of your old race bike and an action shot, as well as answering a few questions?

1.What inspired you to chose to race an automatic transmission enduro bike?



By 1985 I had been with Husqvarna for 2years and had heard stories of the old Husky ‘Auto’ bikes. For 1986 Husqvarna had updated the Auto to the new single shock and water cooling. Some of the top American Enduro stars of the day (Terry Cunningham and Mike Melton) were have great success on the early release in the late summer of ’85. I was curios to try something new.

2.Did people greet you in the pits with skepticism or curiousity?



Curios, everyone was. Most people were somewhat skeptical and voiced concerns about reliability. Also some would say that part of racing is manual gear selection, I was focused more on which was faster. Funny story: On several occasions after races or out riding I would offer friends or fellow racers to take it for a ride. My main rival at the time refused to take up the offer, and wouldn’t give a reason why. I think he didn’t want to know what advantage it offered.

3.Describe the basic design of the transmission of your particular bike.



The Husky Auto had three gears, all centrifugal clutches like a chainsaw (what else would you expect from a chainsaw company). First gear engaged just above idle, as engine speed increased the next gear would take over, you could feel the shift points, but there was one continuous roost from a stand still all the way to top speed.



Technical explanation is in the service manual.


4.Was there a long learning curve when you first rode an automatic, or were you comfortable and fast with it right away?



The Husky Auto had no clutch lever and no shifter lever. The right side of your brain the controls the left side of you body had nothing to do. So all that free brain resource was channeled into one thing: reading the terrain. Learning to go fast became second nature. To take full advantage of the auto treat the throttle as an on/off switch and don’t let off until you are ready to bake for a corner. There is no engine braking at all. So naturally if you’re not on the gas, what else is there…. braking. With the technique you couldn’t help but be aggressive and the speed just came.

5.What were your top results racing the automatic transmission bike?The two years I raced the Auto I had the best results of my career. Two National and Provincial Enduro Titles, a Hare Scrambles Provincial Title. Overall winner at numerous events including the Corduroy Enduro in 1987.

6.What did you feel were the automatics biggest advantages? Disadvantages?



Advantages: It naturally made you an aggressive racer. You could be tapped out in top gear and come up to a sharp first gear corner, brake as hard as you needed lock the rear wheel with no fear of stalling, made your turn, gas it and you are ‘Auto’maticly in the proper gear. It was less fatiguing in long races with no clutch or shifter. Most would say lack of engine braking was a disadvantage however I saw it as an advantage in more precise braking.



Disadvantages: The tranny ran very hot you would burn your finger if you touched it. It was noisy, not the exhaust note but the tranny with the first gear clutch mounted on the crank with all the springs and moving parts clanking around. I had to wear ear plugs. It was very expensive and maintenance intensive to race. The tranny needed a complete teardown after every race or ride. It could be done in an hour or two as the entire transmission can be taken out with the engine still in the bike. Every thing came out from the side covers. The first gear clutch was a high wear item, it needed replacing every 3 or 4 races. First gear clutch was its week point, not only was it costly to be replacing so often but all the wearing of metal floated around in the tranny prematurely wearing out other expensive parts. In the 2 years I raced that bike I probably spent the equivalent of the bikes original purchase price just in tranny parts. It was worth every penny for the performance that it rewarded.


7.Do you think the transmission of your bike would have adapted as well to 'new school' enduro with all their extreme and motocross-type elements?



I think it would be great, it worked best in technical terrain.

7.They must have been interesting bikes to ride. Did you need to learn any special techniques compared to racing a 'normal' dirt bike?



See #4. Also the fastest way to turn was to brake slide the rear end into the corners with no fear of stalling then early on the gas so when the rear brake was released you could rocket out of the corner.

8.How were they for reliability?


I raced the same bike 2 full seasons 30+ races with only one broken primary spring which was replaced trail side, other Auto owners did encounter mechanical failures, most due to not following the maintenance schedule and riding technique. The transmission worked best and ran cooler in full throttle situations, trail riding just above idle was hard on it due to heat build up with the slipping primary clutch.

9.Aside from the transmission itself did other parts, like engine top-ends or brakes, wear faster or slower than normal dirt bikes? How about chains and tires?



Every thing else was the same, it may have seemed less at the time because the main concern was the transmission.

10.Most race bikes these days, two and four stroke, have very smooth powerbands compared to pipey vintage race bikes. Do you think an automatic transmission of some type would still benefit a modern fuel-injected four-stroke for example? Any opinion why the manufacturers haven't continued to pursue the concept?



I think the auto concept would mate great with some new technology. The ultimate would be have a crank mounted primary clutch similar to the BMW inspired TE449 that incorporated a Reklue/Revloc automatic design in a powervalved direct injected two stroke.



As to why the manufacturers have not pursued the Automatic is just as baffling as why some manufacturers have not advanced the two stroke, political reasons I suspect.


Thanks so much for your input!

Paul, I will contact you for a pre-season race interview once the Ontario schedules are finalized.

Micheal, I've been learning all I can about Rokons and am looking forward to continuing our discussion on possible purchase and restoration of your 340 Cobra! I'd like to do an in-depth tech feature on your ISDT Rokon this winter as well.
dan
Dan ParisEditor, www.offroadmotorcycles.ca

Also check this site: http://www.vintagemxracer.com/rokonrenew1.html

A story I recently wrote about restoring my 'Auto'

Back to the Future: by Paul Andratis

It was a typical Saturday afternoon getting the bike ready for another race just like I’ve done a couple hundred times before. This time it was a Cross Country race at Codrington, the last race of the 2014 season. I was running behind schedule and still had the tranny parts out on the bench and it was already 9pm.
It seems lately I park the bike after a race until the next one then scramble like a mad man washing it and doing maintenance the day before the next race. This was no exception, however this time I was prepping my recently restored 1986 Husqvarna 430AE Automatic.
First a little background on the bike. For those who aren’t familiar the 1986 Auto, it is a water cooled 430cc non power-valved 2-stroke single, with a fully automatic 3-speed transmission. Front had a disc brake, rear was a drum brake. It was Husqvarna’s first attempt at single shock rear suspension.
When I was rebuilding this bike, I wasn’t interested in racing it in a vintage class. I wanted to prove that it was competitive with anything new out there now. I know the chassis is dated, but that Auto motor was its secret weapon.
This is the bike that I won two Provincial and two National Enduro Championships on in 1986-87 and won the Corduroy Enduro overall in 1987. I have my best racing memories aboard this bike and never sold it thinking I would race it again someday. Every few years I would dream of racing it again like in the good old days. The only problem was it needed a lot of work and where do you find Husky Auto parts 10 years after they quit making them, then 20 years went by, then 25.

Then in 2012 something happened, well two things happened. First my mother’s sewer backed up into her basement and I helped with the cleanup. It’s amazing what gets saved living in the same house for 45 years. Two dumpsters later, we got on a bit of a roll and cleaned out the garage and most importantly my old dirt bike shed. It is only 10’ x 12’. Funny but it seemed bigger 25 years ago, when I must have been smaller I guess. In the corner was a bin containing my old 430 Auto motor, all be it in pieces. Further searching found the frame and wheels in the attic of the garage. The only thing missing was the seat and tank which I had given away years ago. This rekindled my dream.
The second thing that happed was the Internet. Throughout the years I made several attempts to restore it but didn’t think any parts existed any more. It never ceases to amaze me what a google search brings up in the internet nowadays, motorcycle wise that is. I was able to find all the Auto transmission parts necessary to get the motor put back together. I even tracked down an OEM that still produces the specialized one-way sprag clutch bearings. Let me tell you, if I had a time machine, I’d go back and stock pile dirtbike parts. The return on investment seems to be about 500% if I remember what I paid for parts back in the day.
With the motor side of things looked after, I still needed a seat and tank and various chassis parts that had been lost. A search on Kijiji found me a donner bike and a name from the past: Jamie Stevens. Jamie was a Husqvarna dealer in the eighties in the Niagara Peninsula, Winona to be exact. One of his employees had a 1986 WR400 up for sale, chassis parts were the same. This was everything I needed to complete the restoration.
Without much work I was able to track down all of the 1986 Automatics that were sold in Ontario back then. You see when you bought an Auto you were kind of stuck with it for one of two reasons. First, it was the coolest thing you ever rode even though it was expensive and time consuming to maintain, you may have ran out of parts and money but you just can’t let go of the dream. Second, you couldn’t sell it even if you wanted to, because of the above reasons no one in their right mind wanted it.
There were four Autos sold in Ontario back in ’86 that I know of, three of the four were still owned by the original purchasers: myself, Steve Tustin and Dave Cockayne. All that remained of the fourth was the motor, and it had changed hands about four times and was that of Craig Kennedy’s. It was a real basket case by now and picked it up for next to nothing. Steve or rather his son Zack still had dreams of restoring his, which he later did. And I was able to buy Dave’s motor for spare parts as it was in excellent condition.
So, I had everything I needed to complete the project. And then some. You see I was not really interested in restoring it to original ‘vintage’ status. My idea was to build ‘my’ ultimate race bike. I also enlisted an old 1998 Husqvarna WR250 that I rode until the motor just plain wore out. I would use the front end off of it with its “newer” disc brake. Also from the ’98 I fitted the rear wheel and disc brake with a few modifications. This allowed for a left hand actuated rear brake which I unsuccessfully tried to do back in 1986 but being cable operated it wasn’t practical.
It was later that year that I saw Warren Thaxter at a race and mentioned what I wanted to do. I have known Warren for longer than I’ve owned the Auto, he always tells it like he sees it, and doesn’t hold back on his opinion. So I told him my story and how I wanted to rebuild the Auto and he listened intently and when I finished, without any hesitation at all he said in that authoritative tone of his “well that sounds great, but you’re going to spend a pile of money rebuilding it and when you finally get to ride it, you’re going to hate it after riding modern bikes for so long.” Well I thanked him for his opinion, and left thinking: I’ll show him, I’ll prove him wrong. I was even more determined now to finish this project.
It was getting late in the year and I wanted to finish it off and get a few rides in before winter, so with many a late night and my friend Jack Daniel to guide me, I was able to piece it all together. Now the moment of truth: would it run. From a bit of a basket case, to six months of sourcing parts and doing the rebuild, I was nervous. It was late at night so I wheeled it out behind the shop to shield to neighbours from the noise if it fired up. It has probable been close to 25 years since I had left kicked a bike to life, so here goes. I folded out the kick start lever with my left hand, raised my left booted foot and slowly stroked the big 430 piston to the top, then brought the lever back to the top and kicked it through. Nothing happened on the first kick, but it felt natural kicking left, just like meeting up with an old friend. I repeated the same procedure and on the second kick it roared to life. Not bad at all, after 25 years. I let her warm up for a minute or so then shut her down. After parking her back in my shop and locking up I crawled into bed all tingling with excitement to take the next afternoon off work and go for a test ride.

The next day was a bright sunny day with a high of about 8 degrees C. It was the end of November so it was a good day. I unloaded at one of my favourite spots five minutes from work. She fired right up again, and I hit the trails. Suspension seemed pretty good for a start, as it was all tight woods and black loamy soil conditions. The power deliver and the way that the Auto finds traction everywhere all came flooding back from a distant memory. The raw power of the old school big bore and hero dirt were a perfect combination. I rode the whole trail once through and took a farmers lane back to the start. I want to stretch its legs a little to see how the three speed Automatic tranny was working. I got going a good clip and had to brake for a sharp right hander. There was only one problem, it had been in the shade all day being on the north side of the woodlot. There was a lot of moisture in the ground that time of year and it was consistently below freezing every night, so the corner had frost in the ground with a thin slippery layer on top. I may have been a bit too hard on the brakes and the front washed out while I was still travelling at a high rate of speed. I was down in a flash sliding along with the bike miraculously still hanging on to the grips. As everything came to a stop I somehow found my footing on the ground and in one fluid motion righted the bike back up and twisted the throttle without missing a beat. As I continued on, I couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear and laughing out loud. From going down in what was essentially top gear to getting going again in a split second with the only input being throttle. That is what the Auto does flawlessly. I knew right then and there exactly why this bike was worth all the effort.
I could go on and on explaining the virtues of the Auto, but in a nut shell the beauty of my set up is that there are only three inputs to bike control, throttle, front brake and rear brake. All of these are hand controlled. Clutch and gear selection is removed from the picture. This leaves more focus on reading the terrain, line choices and body positioning. Feet are free to use equally in cornering left or right, or grip the bike for better bike control. Working through traffic at the start of a Cross Country race is easier, just follow close and you are always ready to pounce when the rider in front bobbles or misses a shift, the Auto is always in the right gear to rocket past. And best of all, when conditions get really slick the Auto is like cheating against a standard bike. Oh, and hills are a piece of cake, the Auto handles gear selection seamlessly powering all the way to the top.
The next spring and summer were spent fine tuning the suspension and working on the transmission for reliability. When I first race the Auto I want it all sorted out.

Back to the 2014 Codrington race, because of working on bike late Saturday night, I forgot to fill up the gas can for Sunday’s race. I like to only use Shell V-Power premium gas and I left at 6:00am and the local Shell station wasn’t open yet so I would just have to stop on the way. I was on the lookout for a Shell station all the way from Simcoe through T.O. with no luck. I knew where there was a Shell station in Ajax, so I pulled off the highway. As I pulled into the Shell station I noticed a DeLorean filling up next to me. I stuck up a conversation with its owner. Something like: “there’s something you don’t see every day” and his reply was “I do, see it every day that is”. We had a short conversation on the history of his DeLorean and how I was racing a restored dirt bike from the same era. Then I was on my way.
I arrived at the race at about the time that the morning race was being started. Finding a parking spot was a bit of a chore, I ended parking near the OO sign up tent. I unloaded and proceeded to field a continuous barrage of questions and comments about the bike and vintage bikes in general. Everyone wished me luck, but somehow I think they actually thought I was some sick bastard for racing such an old bike alongside the new stuff.
Race time was approaching quickly, so I got in my usual routine and got to the start line with plenty of time to spare. I practiced a few successful starts. Starting the Auto for a dead engine start is a little tricky. The engine will almost always fire up on the first kick just like any other bike, which is good. Being an Automatic transmission it can only be started in neutral, then you need to reach down and select the drive setting but only when the engine RPMs come down to an idle. Well that takes way too much time for a dead engine start. So back in 1986 with the help of my Husqvarna dealer Dave Armstrong, we devised a cable operated drive engagement system. The trick was I still had to start it in neutral, but if I released the drive engagement lever on the bars at exactly the right instant while kicking it over, just as it fired but before the RPMs increased. It would rocket away and then just hold the throttle full on to the first corner. Sounds simple enough?
So all the classes line up in their respective lines for the 1:00pm start time. But we have to wait there because they hadn’t yet cleared the course from the morning race. So with everybody nervously awaiting the start, Lloyd Heacock who was doing the start, gets on the loud speaker to entertain us while we wait. He explained the situation and what the holdup was about. Then he proceeded to give us a nice family history of the Heacock’s dirt biking legacy, how he raced then his son Dustin and now his grandson Ryder who was on the Expert starting line. It was a really nice touching tribute, great to see the different generations of families involved in the sport. Then with more time to kill, he’s looking my way and sure enough he says: “There’s a 30 year old bike on the line today, Paul Andratis’ Husqvarna Automatic.” He asks me to identify myself by raising my hand, which I do. Well I generally prefer to just blend into the background, but here he was drawing attention to me. So everybody turns my way and I feel I am required to say something. I felt like a bit of a celebrity, being centered out like this, so my reply was “you can all have a free selfie with me after the race if you wish”. That got a huge laugh. And with that, it was now time to go racing.
My class, Vet A, starts in the third wave. When it was our turn I was all set with my special starting procedure. When the flag drops I flub the start. The engine started ok but I didn’t get the timing right and the RPM’s rose to the moon before I engaged the lever. So I had to wait for the revs to come back down to an idle before I could properly engage drive. Well everyone in my class was long gone and I felt like a bit of a dork leaving the line all alone in last place. But I managed to work my way past everyone in my class and came through scoring in the lead after the first lap, the Auto was working great. This venue has a lot of long hills and technical sections that the Auto works great on.
The race went great, and I won my class by over eight minutes. The Vet A class runs for 2 hours, whereas the Expert and Pro class goes 2 ½ hours. At the 2 hour mark when they stopped our class I was running 6th overall amongst the Expert and Pro’s. All in all a good day at the races.
I was hoping to see Warren that day but he was on a trip out west at the time. I just wanted to see what his thoughts were now. That would have to wait until the muddy Free Flow race in 2015, where upon finishing with the Auto, gave me the thumbs up and a pat on the back saying “you got that Auto working good”. He was partially right though, bikes suspension plushness has come a long way since then. But the whole Auto package still has me grinning ear to ear every time I ride it.
Well I was on a bit of a high after the race, and the drive home through the heavy Toronto traffic didn’t even bother me.
Upon arriving home I backed up to my shop, unloaded and cleaned out the van. I grabbed my first place plaque and headed for the house. I recalled the events of the day with seeing the DeLorean and racing my old Auto to first place and all. I pause briefly to look back at the van, you see I started to drive a diesel van a few years back, and I was tempted to pop the hood and figure out with one of those strange looking devices under there was the ‘Flux Capacitor’ that transported me back to the ‘80s for the day.
Over a period of three seasons, I have raced the Auto 7 times in the Vet-A class of the Off-Road Ontario Cross Country series and except for the second place on its’ first race back, it has won each time since. I am now quite hesitant to race it again, I don’t think I can keep the Auto’s undefeated record going much longer. But it is so much fun to ride when the conditions are right, so I am sure I’ll be out there racing it again soon. It really was worth all of the effort, and I proved something I knew all along: the Auto was built ahead of its time.
Paul.

The 420 lower end takes some extensive machine work and some crank bells from a 86 430 auto

The rekluse number rms 6040

I had the honor of meeting both Terry Cunnigham and Mike Melton this spring when they raced with us at The Racer X Inter Am and Boise. Mike and Terry are both still fit fast and fun to hang out with.
For me it was really special to get to talk with TC about the autos He is a wealth of information and was happy to share any information that we needed. Having the the man who has won more races on an automatic than anyone else in history in our shop and racing our bikes was very special
the photos attached to this post are of the 430 4 speed motor that we built as a replica of his factory engine

I have never had a faster cheering section Mike showing me where to go TC showing me how to go and Robb cheering me on.

next time we speak i will

YES CONGRATULATIONS PAUL
After Terry another Automan rider , I like

But it's not very good for the gearboxe on the sand

Thank you Internet ! Since 79 and my first Auto 360 I had the same problem as you !
In 85 I sold my 500 but I have never forgotten the Automatic's

I start again in 2005 with a new 430Liquid 87 from Canada
In 2006 I bought an old 500 84 from Michigan
Today my really problem it's always to find all the parts for my many autos ...

I have 3 additional interesting informations to your praises of the Automatic engine
- the engine is never over-ridden, the gearbox works as a regulator,
consequently the piston does not wear out or very little ,
- and the fuel consumption is half that of a normal 430, ride with a friend and compare
- it is the only motorcycle that a handicapped person can drive! excepted Rokon

To be less marginal or be more discreet in the races of modern bikes
I know also a HVA Vintage mechanic who did the same with a mid 90 Husaberg

I've ridden that bike, it now has a 500LC 6 speed motor, great bike!
Tony.

great story. I always wonder how a well set up twinshocker with the right minded pilot would do against the moderns in the aorc....im too old to find out

Palito, I've read what you wrote. I've ridden my 510 TE this week-end, and changing gears
is some kind of boring when you are used to ride automatics.

especially when you stall cos you forgot to clutch it

Paul , thank for the interview , in waiting the next with Rokon

Steve , great days for you with this event !
what difference between 430/420 ? did you compare with a 500 ?