flat track

is any body out there flat trackin there vintage bike?

I have not seen a lot of Husky's at the track, (a few) which is stange because they have such potent and reliable motors with a decent spare parts situation. I see mostly Bultaco's in the vintage 2 stroke classes followed by Yamahas and Hondas in Champion frames or not. Husqvarna was involved in FT for a few years in the late 60's and early 70's and there are a few of the original factory bikes floating around. They are fast and pretty for the most part. #6 below is one of the original Husqvarna factory FT bikes. The photo was taken at the SCFTA short track in Perris late last year.

Regards,
Paul

I have been curious about this too. I was an AMA pro flat tracker in the 70's The Yamaha's and the Bultaco's were the hot ticket Very fast, reliable, and parts were widely available. By the time Suzuki started getting their TM/RM's together, the rules changed to 360's. Suzuki had the 370 so they couldn't run. The early kawasaki's were just dogs in performance and reliability. The original honda CR was tried with little success. However the later models with, espcially those with watercooling were a fine ride. Remember one guy got his junior points on a CZ. It was weird. Can Ams came along and were/are very competitive. Harley imported the MX250, and that was a fine engine for flat track.

One of the issues I would imagine is that to be competative, you needed to have a flat track frame like a Trackmaster, Champion, or Starracer. And the didn't make the frames for these bikes because of demand. So if you wanted to race one, you had to have one custom made. Stock MX frames were way to dangerous.

I always assumed that the Husqvarna engine wasn't up to the constant high RPM generated on long oval tracks, or fast enough. But that's just a guess. My thinking is if it were fast enough, somebody would have been riding it.

Different engines track differently on a oval track. The Harley design in the 750's is a classic example. People tried every engine that they could put in a frame. These bikes were certainly faster then the Harley, but they were unable to get the power to the ground.

Currently, I see no reason the Husqvarna would be competative in the pro sport class. They'd be running against 450 Suzukis, Yamaha's, and Kawasaki's.

Anyway, these are my thought.