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Can-am / Husaberg hybrid

T

The Benz Master

Joined Jul 2016
59 Posts | 53+
Qc, Canada
This is the Can-am/Husa i've been working on in the last year. All the mechanics is done, just needs to make it look like a real can-am now.
Long story short, my dad used to race a sonic 500 and 560 so i wanted one to build as a supermoto + snowbike. After searching for over a year without finding ANY Sonic for sale, i decided to build myself one. Went for something more modern and EFI for ease of use and reliability.
So i found this beat-up Husaberg 570 with badly damaged engine and managed to swap in a Can-Am DS450 engine (and repair the rest of the bike in the process too of course) Long term plans will be to build a stroker crank that will run on plain bearings and turn this into an extremely powerfull and reliable 500.

:D

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Can you clarify how stroker rotax 500 is more powerfull and more reliable that stroker 660? Just asking. Personally I'd do 700 pre 70 degree with mikuni carb to complement largest possible valves. Ideas being prepared listed in my post 104mm piston group buy.
 
If it's better, i don't know, but financialy it makes sense for me to go that route. I have a bunch of Aprilia RSV parts already and the DS 450 engine has the same cylinder head as the Aprilia. And i work at BRP (can-am) so having a rotax powered bike makes sense too.

Were those older Husabergs ever imported in canada anyway? Never seen one... so getting parts could be problematic and they would not be street legal. On the other hand, plenty of DS450 quads around and the 570 shares lots of suspension components with KTM which are plenty around here.

I hate carb to death, it's never tuned right, always something wrong. Since i will also run as snowbike, EFI makes things a lot more simple since you don't have to change the jets all the time. The DS 450 head has 31/36mm valves and you can just swap the head for the newer aprilia twins which have 33/38mm valves and larger ports. These aprilia made 145 crank hp stock so it's minimum of 70 crank hp if i just go for a 500 stroker with stock aprilia cams. Big bore RSV (1100cc) usually put out around 140 wheel HP+... so if i do a big bore+ stroker i can get a 550cc with 70 WHP... not bad at all.

I'll be at about 4500$ total for the project including 2 sets of new plastics, 1 stock engine, one stroker engine and with the supermoto set-up. Of course i'm not counting the amount of time i'm spending to build it.
 
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Nice looking job.
Take it to work and show it to the BRP brass.
The world is waiting for BRP(Can-AM) to re-enter the motorcycle business.
I know that BRP(Rotax) are selling tons of power trains to BMW and Aprilia but really. What are they waiting for?
 
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Yes very interesting stuff you got going there. I'd definitely show it to your boss. You never know meybe you get some money out of your idea and we get another choice. Ya older Husaberg were in Canada. I got 3. 650 big bore into 700 go over 80 rwhp with carb sorted out. Their advantage is mainly lightweight and excellent torque. We gladly welcome you here among like minded group of guys. We're excited to see your contribution to our group for shure. Many tinkerers here but you working at BRP is an asset. Welcome!
 
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I know its a pain, but If you have pics detailing the build, I would be interested in seeing those.
 
I have most of my build pics on photobucket, but now it doesn't work anymore, i have to find an other host to post pictures of that on forums i guess.
 
Sorry for the long wait. Been busy sorting out little problems on the bike and getting the snowbike kit ready.


So it all started off by chopping the downtubes to make more room for the std engine. It's a little bulky too compared to the ktm 505 i had...
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Then test fit the engine and build a new craddle
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And build engine mounts too (cardboard mock up in the picture)
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And build upper mount too
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Then i built a cardboard mock-up of the oil tank (ds engine is dry sump)
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Then i made the 3D cad of the tank and had the alumimium laser cut. Welded myself
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Looks great you have some mad skills .You could make an aluminum subframe with tank inter grated init for fuel . It would solve two problems for husaberg adv riders fuel and subrame strength for bags or passenger.
 
I would actualy like to make an aluminum tank that replaces the stock one AND the subframe. All in a large single tank assembly. But that would be one hell of a project. Just that small tank was like 2-3 complete week-ends of work. Replicating the awkward shape of the stock tank and the complex shape for the rear fender to fit properly would take huge amount of time to get right.
 
sorry guys, Flickr wasn't cooperating and been busy finishing the snowbike build !!

So i was saying: Custom fuel rail to have fuel line straight from the tank and down to the TB. Fuel line is about 4 inch long.

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Then i used duct tape to make the mold for the air box. used some kind of epoxy filled tape for that duty hoping it would remain somewhat flexible, but it's not very strong, result is kinda sketchy. And i had to coat it with rubberized paint because it was porous too.
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Then modified the swingarm to fith the KTM 640 caliper bracket on the left and i've cut all the other (now useless) brackets.
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modified the 640 brake pedal and made a 90 deg adaptor for the brake hose
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Then i managed to merge the two wire harnesses together to get the bike harness to power up the ATV's fuel injection properly... countless hours in there too. No pictures worth showing, just a bunch of wires everywhere.

Just missing some brackets for the hand guards and chain guard to pass tech inspection for on-road duty but it will wait for a few weeks still because it's got the snowbike kit on right now.
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So looooots of work!! and still more to do, because it only has 45 HP stock and it's damn slow!!! :cry: But working on the engine will be the fun part :)
 
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P.S. Got a friend and colleague at work to design me a wrap kit for the bike, inspired by the original Sonic 500.

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So i'll be wraping my black plastics in red and the whites ones with those decals... can't wait to get these done.
 
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This is one cool looking bike! Looks like factory built from the pictures. You have some good skills. Next put those skills to the engine because 45 hp won't do. For supermoto looking this good and awesome snowbike you need at least say 75-80??
 
Thanks. I am putting lots of efforts to make it look pretty stock. Apparently people get around 55hp with very little mods to these engines.

last year i was running the snowbike kit on my KTM SXF 505 (apparently 66hp from factory) and it felt pretty good power wise.

So my guess is that anything above 65 would be enough to have good fun on a snowbike. This bike is quite heavier than the ktm 505 so my goal of 70-80 hp sounds realistic to keep a similar power to weight ratio to the 505.

I weighted it in at 295 pounds full of fuel and all, ready to ride with the supermoto set-up. The KTM 505 was 251 pounds with the supermoto set-up but it had race slicks which were much lighter, smaller magneto, smaller battery, no external oil tank (1.2L less oil), no thermostat, no speedometer, etc etc.
 
i realize i didn't put up the "almost final" pictures just before i instaled the snowbike kit on, only missing chain guard and master cyl reservoir mounting bracket. Yes it's low, i lowered the suspension 2 inches so i can touch the ground :p

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