I'm really looking forward to finally getting to meet you. I hope to see many hard other hard core Husky afficianados there as well.
Much as I'd like to I don't think I'll be able to make it to the US launch as it's a bit too far from here, but I'll certainly try to be at any sort of public launch there is in the UK. I'm not sure if they have anything specific planned yet, but I'm at Husky Sport tomorrow so I'll be asking in case I need to get my name on a list (though I think it's safe to say they already know I'm interested!). Just watched the TV coverage of the Italian EWC round tonight, and there was a short but interesting look around the new BMsky and a couple of very brief shots of it in action. They said something about how it would need some work yet to improve it as it didn't finish too near the front, but without the lead rider I can't see how you could expect a podium this time out. Didn't Marko get his best results of the season so far? If so, that can't be a bad start for the bike.
Today's technical tid-bit, the crank on the G450X is a 2 piece crank vs a traditional 3 piece crank. I'm sure production cost probably had something to do with that, but I'm looking into the possibility of being able to recondition the crank rod pin once I press one apart later next week due to a rod bearing failure after an oil supply issue (collapsed filter a while back and it went down hill from there). Good news is BMW will be supplying parts for the G450X for a while and their parts network and ordering turn around for the majority is superior to any other brand I've dealt with, so for most engine parts there will be a more timely alternative.
Juha's foto collection http://juhasalminen.pictures.fi/kuvat/New Husqvarna / somehow I doubled it, note Alex Salvini in one shot cropped but in his blue (azure) jersey and red national MXoN colors and of course the #6 480cc Marko Tarkala bike too
Husky Relic any chance you guys will have the demo ride like Husky had back in 2006 at Mid-Ohio? I was one of the dealers working it for Husky that year and it went over fantastic for us! Lots of riders. We took groups five out what seemed like every 20 minutes for all three days!!! I did almost kill Rob Keith though. We laid out a pretty nice short woods course in the back corner of the camping area. Just a thought. Jeff
The bikes look good. Cant wait to see the final colors/graphics. The clutch slave in it's current form looks to be a disaster waiting to happen. I can't imagine it will stay exposed like that on the production bikes?
Yeah, I was wondering about the clutch slave too. It does have a sort of braced flange in front of it which would hopefully protect it from frontal impacts, but maybe not completely from it hitting something if the bike fell onto that side. I also thought it looked like it might catch your boot when using the brake but it's hard to tell without trying it. I guess if they're racing with it like that they must think it's something they can live with, at least for now. Interesting shape for the kickstand too! Certainly tucked well up out of the way. Now I'd just like to see whether it can actually hold the bike up... Also I checked with Husky Sport and the July launch in the UK is likely to be press only. At the moment they're not expecting they'll have any of the new bikes to ride at the launch anyway. Great set of pictures by the way.
Sweet Jeezus, if nothing else hopefully the kickstand will be unf*cked this go around That's been a fairly consistent gripe amongst the past few years. Screw the engine
Got some new drinks to bust out at the unveiling The "WFO XC500 Baja Margarita" The "Rock Run Rum Runner" The "Mid Ohio Mud Run Mudslinger" Blender was recently ported and some head mods done to get it to run better on straight VP Fuel. Free Samples...stop on by. No "Kool Aide" is used in any of the mixes!
Had several cups on Friday while they sorted out my "Fail" message (turned out to be the speedo display head, which they replaced). I even put some nice strawberry shortbread biscuits out on the counter for anyone to have, but I expect they've all gone by now. I presume there will be a public UK launch of the new models at some point, though I guess it might be at one of the bike shows in which case they may not take the coffee maker. Time will tell. Anyway, you could always pop down to Cheriton just for a coffee... +1, many times over.
One day, my friend, one day! Google tells me it's a mere 142 miles. That's mebbe three fuel stops (if I put the 15 tooth front cog back on). Anyways I'd like to take a close look at the SM630 - and those biscuits!
That's odd - when I look up the distance to Cheriton in Autoroute it only says 22 miles. You need a bigger tank - I get over 100 miles per tank on my TE450 (but I still wouldn't want to do 142 miles on the road on it). Funnily enough I had a look at and sat on two brand new SM630s on Friday, one in the black colour scheme and one in the white. We were trying to work out why the white one doesn't actually say "Husqvarna" anywhere on the side... And why one has molded-in graphics but the other doesn't. Still, they both have the Husky logo embossed into the back of the exhaust around the hole, which is neat. All this and free coffee/biscuits too; you should have been there.
I can see quite a few TE450s (and G450Xs), but I don't know for sure how they'd classify it in the results. Presumably it will still be a Husky TE450, in which case it would be impossible to tell which, if any, of those in the results are the new bikes. I know Andreas Lettenbichler said he was using his EWC ride on the new bike in Italy as preparation for Erzberg, but I didn't see anything which said he'd actually use the new bike there and he's shown as on the G450X in the results. Hopefully someone will know if one of the new bikes was there...
