By far and way beyond all others the 2001 Husaberg 501 was the best and fastest thing I ever had out of the box. I did very little to the bike and almost nothing aftermarket and rode the wheels off it for three 1/2 years. If I had had this bike when I was racing I would have more gold on the mantel than I do now. All the complaints I really had about the brand were due to a poor distributer. My 501 has only been gone 6 hours and the money is burning a hole in my pocket to go get another one the choice is between the 4 fiddy and the 5 fiddy.
HI Bob,
Keeping in mind that you and I have exactly the same opinion of the 2001 501, I think you will find the 550 a good choice. Mind you, I have not ridden the 450 but, I have put 850 miles on my 550 and am totally loving it. I went and rode the Badgers Mothers day cop out yesterday, and the 550 was awesome once again. (I'll do a write up of the race later in the ride report section.) I have found the 550 to have, of course, more low end than the 501, but it's the same in that the power is softer in the low revs, perfect for the tight stuff, and the rock gardens. Once you get it into the midrange, look out! I find the bike to be plenty nimble as well.
If you read between the lines the "Winners" always have to have something done to them like a major suspension job at the tune of $800-1000, different bars, add good wheels,better seat cover, different pipe or at least a different silencer AND spark arrestor, ad vomit . Bottom line no matter if you are a novice or an expert you can take a berg off the show room floor break it in, set the sag, dail the clickers on the front and rear, throw on a skid plate and go race and do well. Why do you think there is not much stuff for the berg aftermarket. There are enough bikes to justify building it but you don't NEED it!
I did however, have my suspension set for me as the stock set up was a bit soft. It cost me $500 for springs and valving but that is all the "after market" stuff I have done so far. But, suspension work is by far and away the best bang for your buck, and this case is no exception. That 3 bushing fork is the best fork I have ever ridden with, gone is the mid stroke "spike" (relatively speaking) of my 2001 501. I don't know if the Husabergs are still coming with the three bushing fork, as KTM dropped the 3 bushing fork for the 2 bushing as it was more expensive.
You know, the mag reviews also just sort of brushed over the outstanding odometer/speedometer that the bikes come with. I have been having a ball with mine. It calculates average speed automaitcally on the first trip meter, and manually for the second trip meter, the second trip meter can be manually reset to the tenth for enduro resets, traps maximum speed, has a clock, a stop watch, a lap timer, and keeps track of engine hours to boot!! ONLY the Husaberg and the KTM come with these odometers. The jap bikes still have the old style odometer with a cable drive and only goes up to 99.9 miles. You know, to buy a good odometer with all those functions would have to cost at least $150 or more.
Another fact that just seems to get little praise in the enduro bike shoot out, is the fact that the Husaberg, and it's off spring are by far and away lighter than the "other" bikes. They seem to make a big deal out of this fact for moto cross but seem to down play this fact when the Honda's et al are way up on the ol scale. Which, when you think about it, is kind of weird b/c you generally are on an enduro bike for many more hours and miles than a moto cross bike where flicking that weight around would be most noticable, IMHO.
Also, there was no Dyno runs with "stock" bikes. This would be a great feature, and then could be used with the accurate weighing of the bikes to provide a power to weight ratio graph, another area where the only two players are going to be Husaberg and ktm, with the Husaberg on top, as usual.
It will be interesting to see Cylce News write up on the Husaberg's this year as they are usally the most unbiased of the dirt bike media.
yes brett, where did they learn math?
