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Paul Whibley leaves NZ today for Italy to take up his ride with the factory Husqvarna team. Testing starts next week in the south of France, with the first round in Portugal on the 15/16th of next month. He will be riding a WR250 (250 two-stroke).
Go HERE: for the complete 2003 World Enduro Calendar.
Husqvarna will be hoping to enjoy some of the strong growth experienced by fellow European manufacturer KTM over recent years. Husqvarna has a fantastic pedigree in enduro racing with many recent Australian and World Championship wins under its belt.
New Zealand’s Stefan Merriman was at the controls for much of that success and now that Stefan has gone to Honda the Kiwi connection is maintained thru Whibs.
Husqvarna, one of the world’s oldest manufacturers, celebrate their 100th anniversary of producing motorcycles this year.
While they have only been producing motorcycles for a century, the company is actually three centuries old. Electrolux took over control of the company in 1977 and held the reigns for nearly a decade before The Cagiva Group absorbed the brand.
Cagiva shifted production from Sweden to Italy but then the parent company started to enter major financial difficulties. Over the following years the company verged on bankruptcy many times.
They were saved from obscurity late last year by major investment from an Italian banking institution. This has now given Husqvarna the financial stability it has needed to go forward.
For model year 2003 the now Italian produced machines claim to offer lighter weight and improved strength and the factory is now back in production with the 2-stroke models.
Frames have been stiffened and lightened throughout the range. A 10% reduction in frame weight is claimed while the steering head area has been beefed up a little. The swingarm is down 5% in weight while Husky also claims improved rigidity in this area.
Gearbox design on the 125 WR and CR has been revised for better shifting. The 125 bikes also have revised cylinder porting and consequential modifications to the exhaust to suit. The CR scores a new reed valve constructed in carbon fibre, the revised design is claimed to increase both bottom and top end power.
The 250 WR and CR models also have new porting, again the CR gets new carbon fibre reeds.
On the supermoto SM 570R a new piston is claimed to improve performance. In other areas the hot rod SuperMoto machine gains new graphics and a few other minor changes. Later this year Husky will also introduce a new 450 SuperMoto.
The battery on the 250 and 450 four-stroke machines has been relocated and now delivers current through new and improved cables. The four-stroke machines were only available in strictly limited numbers during 2002, their debut year, but for 2003 they will hit full-scale production with the new 250/450 electric start four strokes entering production next month. The electric start four-stroke 250 and 450 machines will be available in both Enduro and MX forms.
