For those of you who don't know, there was at least one year, maybe two, that Husaberg imported a street legal version. I think it was 98, and I believe it was an ES designation. Not that, that, has any bearing on the future, just wanted to make sure everyone knew it had happened in the past.
There's no doubt in my mind that KTM will be delivering street legal DIRT bikes possibly in the next model year, and for sure by the next. No, I don't have any inside info, it's the fact that most all of the Husky street legal bikes can't be kept on the showroom floor. And for that matter, are already sold before they're even un crated.
As pointed out earlier, the Husky's are still carbureted, and they have jumped through all the whoops and paid Uncle Sam all the money to get the job done. As DL pointed out it's very expensive, but, I guess Husky saw/believed that they're market share would make up for the expense. And it would appear that they are moving a lot of units.
For those of you who would like to have your bike made street legal here in Kalifornia, there is still a loop hole that can be exploited but, you have to have the pink slip to get it done. I see a fair amount of bikes at the desert races that have a license plate in lieu of a green sticker. If you want to make this happen check out
http://www.joeracerproducts.com/ and go to manuals/forms. Disclaimer: I have not done this myself, but, I have heard of several who have and are living happily everafter. Give them a call I hear they are very helpful in this endeavor.
For the record: I have dual (no pun intended) registration on my 2001 501, and just keep the street license PNO (planned non operation). And just use the green sticker as I don't ride it on the street.
As far as having to put CAT's on your lawnmower, well I doubt that's very far off either. Two days ago I heard a commercial here in so cal on the radio talking about how your old lawnmower makes more pollution than 4 cars, and the commercial was encouraging you to buy an electric lawnmower to replace it. Never mind the fact that a large portion of our electricity comes from coal fired power plants beyond the state lines, just a little unknown fact.