in a german forum i have read "husqvarna ceased to exist, and husaberg received a new better-selling brand name". i think that hits the nail on the head.
to me, this means a huge loss for the motorcycle world. i do not mean the discussions about whether and how much husky will lose or change its "identity", and that 240 passionate and competent people will lose their job. those discussions were and are discussed more than extendedly.
as much as i like/adore the new fantic bikes, in the end they are nothing more than "gas gas kit bikes". in zschopau, east germany, some people are just starting to build "retro enduro bikes". they claim to "bring back the good old days of mz" and "the spritit of zwschopau motorcycle building". well, may be. but they are using a 450cc gas gas engine, which in my eyes ruins everything. of course, for very small companies it's the only possibility to actually get a bike to market. but their specific interpretation of the motorcycle topic. the world would be boring without bimota, or borile, or cr&s... but generally, i wish for more engines from more companies.
by bringing husky to mattighofen, the motorcycle world will lose another spice, will be more boring. you could hire totally new people for husky, have separate teams, in "separete" companies and buildings, it does not matter. those two companies and people will be all alike, and so will be the bike (mattighofen is a tiny village of ~6000 people). one might argue whether this is "good" or "bad". if new-husky's winning races, a lot of people will be happy, of course. but from a technical-emotional point of view, it surely is a bad thing.
ktm did a great move with the 70-degrees husaberg engine. even though many parts were taken from the ktm shelf, this engine is reeeeeally different. a great concept, very well done. but then, for cost reasons, they stopped this diversity. even when the bike geometry and suspension are different, they're "ktm kit bikes" now. they even unified their own 450cc engines...
"cost reduction efforts" and "geographical neighborhood" together will not have benefitial effects onto the diversity of the motorcycle world. what this means can be seen in onroad grand prix racing. there, they now even have a "prototype" class where everybody's using the very same mass-production derived engine. damn, how exciting is that? in my opinion, apart from the riders' skills and the tracks, motorsports' essential question deals with "what did you bring? and, is it faster than what i built?". it's a competition of riders just as well as of bikes and engines and the multitude of "how to do things". a competition of concepts and "bike philosophies".
to me, the technical diversity is an essential thing about passion for motorcycles. hardly anyone needs a motorcycle, but we all want them. to me, this manufacturer consolidation and parts unification go hand in hand with less and less people interested in motorcycles and buying motorcycles. it has nothing in common, bytheway, with the "volkswagen philosophy". the 70-degress berg engine, that was volkswagen-like. everything after that isn't.
sad sad sad...
r
