GREAT DEBUT FOR THE NEW HUSQVARNA SM449 IN SUPERMOTO GP The new Husqvarna SM449 made an impressive debut in the first race of the Supermoto GP season that was held on Sunday 3 April at the circuit of Busca in the province of Cuneo.Rider Mauno Hermunen achieved a fantastic second place overall on the new SM449, showing the real pedigree of this new bike. It took Hermunen some time to find his rhythm during Saturday's timed practice and the best he could manage was eighth fastest, which put him at a distinct disadvantage for Sunday's races. However, in the first race he fought his way up to fifth place, which put him on second row for the start of heat two. From there, Mauno rediscovered his form and finished both second and third motos as runner-up, behind winner Thomas Chareyre.With this set of good results, Hermunen finds himself in second place in the overall standings, which gives him plenty of confidence for the first race in the Supermoto World Championship series, which begins this coming weekend.
I know nothing about SM racing but the new 449/511 seems like a real good platform for this as it has great street manners and remains planted at speed.
I'm no SM guy either but this reflects very well on that engine I think ... I don't thnk you can race corner to corner on payment without a quick, powerful engine under you .. If this bike continues the Husky dominance in SM ... its a winner and all na-sayers will bow ... ( even if they don't like the look of the machine )
whatta you guys make of that "H can" on the rhs of the motor? a little xtra fuel? an oil vent catch can? Interesting, the factory effort uses GoldenTyre, the owner is a very savvy biz-man and nice fella. Looks like his brand is growing fairly fast in Italia at least.
http://www.youthstream.org/reslists.aspx?ct=4&c=10 SM is also (like WEC) having a great sampling of moto brands in competion check the top ten TM,Husqvarna,Aprilia,KTM,SUZ,HON,YAM. This is great sign for moto fans. Also not bad for a debut 449 to finish P2 behind the current world champ bike and pilot, pretty good for pos motor in weird chassis
Great debut for the new SM bike! I was on the fence for months deciding between buyting a TC449 or a YZ450F for my MX/Supermoto bike for this year. I went with the tried and true YZ but I'm starting to think the TC449 might have been a better platform after all. Such a shame Husky is so slow getting bikes to market and poor at getting bikes into the media folks hands in the summer/fall when the big 5 do. Getting that magazine and media coverage is oh so important for a lot of buyers to get some comparison feedback on the different bikes. BTW, I think GoldenTyre is a spec tire for the supermoto world championship. At least they were a year or 2 ago.
yep, too bad on getting the bikes out to customers in the states and in the media hands so late ... maybe 2012 will be different and Husky will be stacking the trophy cases full this summer to promote the 012 models that will be out early ... Not sure on the H can ... this is the only model have seen it on I think ... it does have 2 lines going to it ... Do the other model of 449/511 engines have some sort of venting for the engine?
This is great news. A lot of guys on SMJ are on he fence about buying a new Husky. Most are picking up a carry over models instead. That bike is proven in FIM SuperMoto and I love mine. One thing about the new Husky is that it sits a lot higher than my 09'. I'm not a very big guy, this is a turn off for me towards the new model. As the season goes on, the bike should get better.
This bike has been growing on me. Maybe in a couple years I'll pick one up, looks like its doing well so far. Im pretty sure its a catch can for the crankcase oil breather. Oil goes in, condensates, and drips back into the engine. Theres a vent on it as well, but it is moved to the top of the catch can so only air/vapors excape. This system replaces a standard crankcase breather that vents into the airbox and can spit oil into it. All Liquids must be retained in supermoto so they dont get on the track and make slick booby traps!
It's a catch can. I'm trying do make one for my 511, because it'll take too long till I receive the ZIPTY Racing for oil recirculation.
