Author Topic: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?  (Read 27430 times)

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Offline JohnnyO

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #15 on: September 28, 2012, 10:14:07 pm »
Strange about the Husky team. I was at most of the southern state rounds but either I wasn't interested or didn't pay notice to the Husky guys. For a very short period of time I helped Stacy Alderman on a Husky 610 till he went back to his bad ways and they took the bike back from him.

I was lucky enough to be involved (in the distant background) with Jacky Martens when he was team manager for the Husky factory team at the time that they competed at the Aussie MX GP. Even then I still didn't warm to the brand, I guess I was already DNA'd with the Bergs by then.
I always had an interest in Husky's and spent 5 years working in the national race team up til recently so I guess I took more notice than you. I went to a few of the early races with Dave Armstrong and he was beaten in the series by Heffo on the big TC610..
« Last Edit: September 29, 2012, 07:21:05 am by JohnnyO »

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #16 on: September 29, 2012, 06:20:40 am »
Re the forks they refer to, i have a set of those Marzocchi forks and corresponding tripple clamps and they are/were a disaster and not much better than the WP Extremes which I also have a set off, both fitted to my motocross Husabergs and the bloody things leak oil just looking at them.

Funny you should mention that, I'm rebuilding a 97 ktm300 at the moment, and the new seals in both forks started leaking before I've even ridden the bike. I'm hoping that changing the acme brand seals I put in to All-Balls seals will fix the problem ???

Offline Davey Crocket

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #17 on: September 29, 2012, 08:47:12 am »
Who could not love those Bergs...that 98 Smets is on is my fav and I wish I never sold mine.....but I had to too get my 2000 model...which will never be for sale.....even Yamaha where impressed as they bought a 501 and a 400 and then proceeded to pull them apart and see what made them tick....then wha-laa....lets make a YZ400....I guess because they had pulled out of the 500 class many moons before, when they came back they copied the best (as they always do). JohnnyO is right about the Huskies....they where at the top here and on the GP stage....the Cunninghams where punting them around in the Thumper Nats and enduros along with a heep of fast guys. If you havent riden a Berg FC 600 or a Husky TC610 then you havent lived....any gear, any time will bring the biggest smile to your face....every time!!!....even the early Vertimaties used Berg engines and KTM where so impressed they bought the company. I still remember the last round of the Thumper Nats at Dargle in 98 (The T Nats where bigger than the Aussie Titles by then) when Darryl King and Joel Smets (#1 and#2 in the world) showed up and totally wiped/wipped  every bodies arses so bad....Aussie MX then realised how far off the pace they where and from then on have lifted the bar to be competitive in the US and GP's (although we havent had anybody for a while on the GP scene).
QVMX.....Australia's #1 VMX club......leading the way.

Offline JohnnyO

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #18 on: September 29, 2012, 09:07:35 am »
Davey i was riding the twinshock class at that '98 race at Dargle and the show that Darryl King and Smets put on was unbelievable. In one moto Smets crashed and Darryl slowed and dropped back through the pack waiting for Joel to catch up, then the 2 of them motored through the field of top Aussie pros and disappeared into the distance.
Darryl King was 2nd in the world that year and at his best on that big works Husky.

Offline Davey Crocket

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #19 on: September 29, 2012, 09:57:30 am »
I thought it was Darryl who crashed.....gee there where alot of QLDer's there that weekend.....I still have my Tee shirt I got off Darryl that day....Husky history.
QVMX.....Australia's #1 VMX club......leading the way.

Offline motomaniac

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #20 on: September 29, 2012, 10:49:27 am »
How many events did they do ? Must have been just before or after the ISDE that year.

Offline Davey Crocket

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #21 on: September 29, 2012, 11:14:26 am »
One.
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Offline zorroz

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #22 on: September 29, 2012, 12:30:05 pm »
Works Huskies:




Offline BAHNZY

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #23 on: September 29, 2012, 06:38:57 pm »
Who could not love those Bergs...that 98 Smets is on is my fav and I wish I never sold mine.....but I had to too get my 2000 model...which will never be for sale

Kinda the same situation for me when I sold my 00 FC501/4 for my 04 FE550. Realising I'd made a mistake, some 7 years later I tracked it down and got it back to join the ex Caldecott 98 FC600 and the 99 FC501 in the shed. Bring on pre-2000 classes before I'm to old to race!
Rod (BAHNZY) Bahn

Offline JohnnyO

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #24 on: September 29, 2012, 06:51:44 pm »
Bahnzy you've got some good weapons there if ever there is pre 2000. The first Berg i rode was a FC600 around '96, it was sooooo fast!

Offline BAHNZY

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #25 on: September 29, 2012, 07:36:09 pm »
Most people that ride a late 90's FC600 don't think much of it till you tell them that you can actually open the throttle past 1/2 way. When the get back after giving the old girl some serious throttle they come back white and swear "never again". The way that a FC600 builds speed is like no other bike, other than perhaps a worked KX/CR 500. Whist the current crop of 450's match it in horsepower (and only just) they don't come close to the torque that these monsters put out. Whilst there are other MX bikes of the same vintage, with the same capacity, none way less than 100 kg's so the power/weight ratio and thay way it can move away from low speeds is incredible.

It has been proven time and time again that HP is only a small part of the total equation, hence why the 450's are commonplace as they are more manageable, even more so the 350cc machines on offer today. Even so it brings a smile to a HP junkies face :D
Rod (BAHNZY) Bahn

maico police

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #26 on: September 29, 2012, 08:02:10 pm »
This has been a great thread. A turning point in motocross history. First of the real post 60's four stroke MXers..... 8)

Offline BAHNZY

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #27 on: September 29, 2012, 08:29:12 pm »
Whilst the early 90's Husaberg's started the trend, the late 90's bikes were the most reliable and rideable.
The 98 was the last model with the old engine, i.e. no mechanical oil pump, it used the reed valve system same as the Huskies. Chassis wise it used a WP combination of 50mm extremes up front and a rising rate linkage system out back.

The 99 used essentially the same engine as the 98 model but got a mechanical oil pump along with some other tweaks. The big change for the 99 model was the inclusion of the PDS rear suspension however the front end duties were still controlled by the 50mm WP extremes.

2000 was the launch of a completely new chassis (which continued basically unchanged through to he late 2000's) that saw the inclusion of a fully adjustable WP 43 USD unit with external spring preload adjustment. The bike also scored a titanium/inox ARROWS exhaust system along with items like a switchable ignition map and a Magura hydraulic clutch.

The achilles heel for the Husaberg's was the Dellorto carby and the SEM ignition system. Husaberg continued with this configuration right up to the 2004 model when they added a Kokusan digital ignition and Keihen carburettor. Whilst the SEM was terrible, the Dellorto was pretty good till it got wear in the slide and needle/needle jet then it was akin to taking out a house mortgage to fix it.


1998 FC600


1999 FC501


2000 FC501
Rod (BAHNZY) Bahn

Offline Davey Crocket

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #28 on: September 29, 2012, 08:45:55 pm »
The other thing these bikes have is a huuuuge induction noise that would suck the tits off a porn star. Hey Bahnzy, my 501 was a prick to start if you stalled it so I put a hot start button/mechanisum off a 98 YZ400 Kehin carby....I drilled a hole in the intake manifold , sikaflexed a small pipe in and connected it to the hot start and its a diferent bike...stall it....pull the button and a couple of kicks later your roostin again. I would love to find my 98 and buy it back....the vin number was something like #0000023. Did that Smets replica that got stolen a few years ago ever turn up?
QVMX.....Australia's #1 VMX club......leading the way.

Offline BAHNZY

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Re: 1st 4 stroke to qualify for a supercross main?
« Reply #29 on: September 29, 2012, 09:04:20 pm »
Did that Smets replica that got stolen a few years ago ever turn up?

Haven't spoken to Darren for a while, but last we spoke he was convinced that it was gone for good in his mind. That particular bike wasn't a replica, it was the real deal, an ex race bike.
Rod (BAHNZY) Bahn