• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

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    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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1981-1983 Husqvarna CR's for shorter riders

Greg 79s

Greg 79s

Husqvarna
A Class
Hello. I have been watching for later model dual shock CR Open Class Husqvarnas. They appear to be on the tall side. I am only 5'7" and at odds if these bikes are too tall for me. In the past rode a 1974 WR400 on a motocross track and thought the bike was excellent.
 
Yes after 1979 the Husky suspension continued to grow, as did most manufactures, 81-83 CR's bikes having some of the longest travels of any of the Huskys.
The cheapest & i think easiest way for you to get around this is either race WR, which has shorter suspension, or transfer the WR suspension parts to the CR frame, if you have to have a CR gear box.

Husky John
 
The WR Forks and Shocks Bolt right on a CR of this vintage. Keep in mind that the 83's use a longer shock than previos bikes. On some models the swing arm may also be a bit diffrent, and some they are the same. You can look at the fork leg from the Axel to the bottom and see that the WR is shorter than a CR or XC. The Shocks You will have to measure. Most WR shocks use a spacer inside wich limets there travel, and a simaler spacer could be installed in a CR Shock. However WR parts are avalable and Cheap.
 
I'm 5'7" and have several '82 XCs with the stock suspension. I only notice the tall seat height when I get on them, as soon as I am moving its not an issue for MX. However, I think the best setup is the XC/CR shock and a WR swing arm. The WR shock is shorter, but the lower shock mount is also farther back than the XC/CR. With the longer XC/CR shock and the WR swing arm you get right at 11" of rear travel. I then put the fork damper rods in my lathe and turn off .8" which gets the front to 11" also. I rode a bike with this setup and its way better than either the WR or XC/CR, turns better with the lower center of gravity and still has more than enough travel. The side benefit is it lowers the seat height a little more than an inch.
 
Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Me on my '82 125/175XC

This is the only time the tall seat height bothers me, as soon as I let the clutch out I dont even think about the tall seat:

DSC_0225.jpg


Most of the time even in a cross country event, I dont have a problem with it:

IMG_1425.jpg


Its hard to tell from the picture, but here is a pic of me on Craig Hayes' '82 250WR with the 11" set up I was talking about, XC/CR shocks and WR swing arm. If you look, he also uses the progressively wound ITC springs instead of the stock dual springs, which I really liked the feel.

545148_3760299800411_1649136800_n.jpg


Also, to clarify one point, the gold leg forks do NOT have different lowers with different lengths below the axle on the XC/CR and WR, the 40mm lowers are all the same until '83 or '84 I think. Before that the only difference in the 40mm forks was the damper rod, not the lower.
 
The 1983 RM80H big wheel had a seat height of 920mm.:eek:
I am 6ft and even my feet would not reach the ground on one of them.
 
Just fit the WR damper rods and fork lowers as well as the short travel spacers in the Ohlins, get a seat man to shave an inch of the seat foam and you will be in reach of the ground more often! (Just keep the bike underneath)
 
Thanks everyone for the information. I have been impressed with the availability of parts for them. Very important to me if going to run the bike regularly.

I had vintage huskys years ago as projects which restored a 1970 400 cross 80 percent and sold it. It was nice and would have like to keep it but was into riding bultaco which kept me busy.

About the same time I had a 1967 360 cross split frame project. At the time, Same story, Busy with other bike brand and would probably regret departing with but husky person bought it. I would have spent thousands to put that bike race worthy.
 
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