Riding Buddy Just Bought a Husaberg 570

[Jeff Higgins]

I just checked this thing out the other night. It's a pretty cool concept, with Husaberg's new "upside down" engine. The cylinder is darn near horizontal, or at most about 11 degrees up from horizontal, like the "horizontal" front jug on my 900 SS. The crankshaft is directly above the countershaft. In other words, the engine and tranny are stacked, with the tranny under the engine. It makes for one very short, very compact package.

I was rather surprised at what constitutes a "DOT knobby" these days. In my dirt biking days, these would have been full-on race knobbies. They'e huge and quite widely spaced. I'm not sure I would even ride on the road with them. But, then again, I don't think that is what they had in mind.

This thing is an all-out offroad race bike with just enough lights and a horn to make it "street legal". Coupled with Husaberg's choice in tires, its frame and steering geometry just screams "offroad only". It must have 12" or more of suspension travel at both ends. I'm 6'0", and I cannot touch the ground with more than both big toes. Anyway, it strikes me as a dirt bike that one could pop out on the road with in an emergency, but one certainly would not want to make a habit of it.

Problem is, I've known and ridden with this guy for 20 years. It's not the kind of bike he was looking for at all. With the big Beemer at the other end of the "dual sport" spectrum, wherein it's a street bike that you can hop offroad with in an emergency, he should have purchased much more in that direction. He has grand designs of riding from here to Montana, then heading for the hills. Or all the way to Arizona to visit his daughter and grand daughter, and take in some desert riding while he is there.

He ain't gonna make it on this bike. He'll wind up trailering it, just like a dedicated dirt bike. I think he'll find over the next few months that he has a dirt bike with lights that he cannot ride on the freeway, or make good time with at all on the back roads. It's a great bike for dirt riding fanatics that don't want to get tickets on public roads. It's in no way suitable for a guy who plans to commute, take long trips, and mostly ride it on public roads.

I think he made a big mistake. But, alas, he's a stubborn Norwegian. Only guys worse than us Irish/Germans. "You can always tell a Norgegian, but you can't tell him much..."

[scottmandue]

I'll take it off his hands when he gets tired of it...

I think I'm at least 1/4 Norwegian

[Tim Hancock]

As long as it is geared to run at highway speeds, it will get him from point A to point B just as easily as a crotch rocket and possibly even in more comfort. I grew up riding dedicated MX race bikes on rural public roads from the age 10 on up to 16 (probably averaged 200 days a year riding up to 10 miles visiting friends rain, snow or shine and riding to various off road riding places). I NEVER went down on the road in all those years while riding all sorts of MX bikes with knobby off road only tires.

The Husaberg would not be competitive in MX racing, but it would do a better job off road than most of the traditional "dual sport" type Honda/Kawasaki/Yamaha/Suzuki bikes which would be left in the dust by true off road "race bikes".

I am 100% sure I could hang much closer to a similar HP crotchrocket on the Husaberg on twisty road than the crotch rocket could hang with the Husaberg off road.

I love all kinds of bikes (except Harley types), but I think your opinion on the Husaberg being uncapable on the street is just plain wrong Jeff.

[VincentVega]

Now I want one! No idea what I would do with it, but it sure looks cool.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

As long as it is geared to run at highway speeds, it will get him from point A to point B just as easily as a crotch rocket and possibly even in more comfort. I grew up riding dedicated MX race bikes on rural public roads from the age 10 on up to 16 (probably averaged 200 days a year riding up to 10 miles visiting friends rain, snow or shine and riding to various off road riding places). I NEVER went down on the road in all those years while riding all sorts of MX bikes with knobby off road only tires.

The Husaberg would not be competitive in MX racing, but it would do a better job off road than most of the traditional "dual sport" type Honda/Kawasaki/Yamaha/Suzuki bikes which would be left in the dust by true off road "race bikes".

I am 100% sure I could hang much closer to a similar HP crotchrocket on the Husaberg on twisty road than the crotch rocket could hang with the Husaberg off road.

I love all kinds of bikes (except Harley types), but I think your opinion on the Husaberg being uncapable on the street is just plain wrong Jeff.

I respect your opinion, Tim. I know you've been at this a long time. I too grew up riding dirt bikes all over God's creation and back, with a lot of time spent on pavement (illegally, of course, but they still had to catch us). Actually, to be fair, most folks out where I lived could have cared less in those days, and the cops had bigger fish to fry. They knew all of us anyway...

I never had any problems with the tires, either, but I certainly never went all that fast on pavement. Or all that far; mainly just heading to the next riding spot to meet my buds after school. I didn't have a driver's license, so legally trailering it wasn't an option, so we did what we did.

Back to the Husaberg. The bolt upright offroad riding position, the tiny little cheese grater foot pegs, the absolute lack of wind protection or storage capacity, the big thumper vibration, the tiny little 2.something gallon tank, its extreme height, knobby tires, narrow, flat, hard saddle, etc. make it entirely unsuitable for any long distance road riding. Or any sort or really "spirited" road riding. In my opinion, anyway. I just can't see it.

By "race bike" I meant more like enduros, or Baja type cross country stuff. Husaberg certainly has motocrossers that are more than competitive in that venue. I think this thing would make a dandy Baja racer right out of the box, with a bit more lighting and gas capacity.

Anyway, it's clear to me that a full day in the saddle either on the highway or higher speed backroads, like the ones I would be inclined to take if I were looking at gobbling up a state a day, would simply beat the hell out of a guy on this bike. Yeah, the quick jaunts around the local area, with the frequent stops typical in dirt bike style riding - fine. You just can't cover that much ground in a day like that. Not that it is incapable, just that it is far too close to the "pure dirt bike" end of the spectrum to be a good choice for much else. Too narrowly focused.

[Tim Hancock]

Jeff, it sounds like you and I grew up in a similar fashion in regards to riding dirt bikes all over the countryside as kids. Cops left us alone too unless they caught us wheelying down the center of mainstreet in the nearby small town.

No doubt the Husaberg may not be as comfortable as many road bikes, but many would argue that ALL crotch rockets are uncomfortable to ride any sort of distance on (I would not claim that) yet many people enjoy riding them on long trips. I personally find bicycles uncomfortable to go for long rides on yet others think nothing about riding them for hours on end.

Having ridden friend's "traditional dual sport bikes (XL's, KLR's etc)" off road before, I would choose the Husaberg over them in a heart beat if I intended to do some off road riding. Once one is accustomed to riding modern MX bikes at race speeds off road, traditional dual sports just don't cut it IMO. That said, some folks idea of off road riding is ridng down a straight dirt road at 15 mph. I could do that all day on any old street bike.

"Different strokes" I guess.

Having recently visited Arizona, I can understand your friends desire to travel through that state on a Husaberg.

[Jeff Higgins]

"Horses for courses", I guess. We truly are living in the best of times as motorcyclists; as kids, we couldn't even be having this discussion with what was available to us.

Funny you would mention the XL, KLR, etc. connection. A mutual friend, who is also an avid rider, leans much more towards the dual sport end of riding than I do, or than my buddy Bob had in the past. Sam currently has a DRZ that he considers not nearly enough dirt bike for his tastes. He's the kind of guy (along with most of the guys he rides with) that only rides to any given destination so they can check out the trails. The other guys leave him in the dust (or mud, up here) just as soon as they go off road. He doesn't like that. So he bought a Husaberg 570 as well - the perfect bike for him. He was a pretty big influence in Bob's decision to buy one, claiming it is a "great street bike", but his measure of that is different than mine. Or Bob's, at least when considering his stated purposes for it.

Who knows, maybe Bob will start leaning that way now too. He certainly has the machine for it. I do, however, think that his plans for it run counter to its strengths. I would choose something else for day after day, state after state riding. Everything is a compromise. To me, the Husaberg is the perfect dirt-oriented, close to home (or trailered to another state) compromise towards the dirt bike end.

I have to agree on the crotch rockets. I admittedly came to them late in my riding career, so maybe I'm a bit more jaded as to their utility than those who grew up riding them, but they do absolutely suck for that same kind of riding - day after day, state to state. It's a real test of endurance, but for all different reasons than the dirt bike with lights. Close to home, or for a lower milage lots of stops kind of day, they sure are a lot of fun. But definitely built to a purpose, and too far towards that end of the scale to really have much practical utility. And yes, they make horrible dirt bikes...

[LakeCleElum]

Jeff - Maybe I should trade him. I made the opposite mistake this year.....Was in Vegas at Nascar, saw a 625 KTM on Craigslist at home and sent my wife to buy it. Was I shocked to get home and see it was a SMC (SuperMoto) instead of the SXC (Endro).....Put knobbies on those wide wheels, but it's just a duck out of water on the tight trails.....I can't complain as it's really fast and a hoot on dirt roads and tight pavement......Went back to riding the old 650 Honda on the single track...

Let him have fun with it in the trails and buy something else next spring for the longer trips.......(Scottish here)

[Jeff Higgins]

He was actually darn close to buying the KTM SXC before Sam convinced him to buy the 'Berg. Sam didn't think the KTM was hard core dirt enough. I thought the ideal bike for Bob would have been the bigger KTM, the 900-ish twin, whatever it's called. Especially for riding all the way to Arizona.

Bob is the kind of guy who will just keep it regardless. He'll just buy something else once he sees this thing doesn't really satisfy those purposes. He'll pick up single tracking with Sam and his partners and get some use out of it anyway. If those two knuckleheads drag me back out into the dirt, though, I might as well bring a tent. The wife would kill me if I ever came back home.