Husqvarna Motorcycles

Prior to 1987

Husqvarna was founded near the town of Huskvarna in Sweden in 1689. The company started out as a maker of muskets, and the Husqvarna logo still depicts a gun sight viewed from the end of the barrel.

As with many motorcycle manufacturers, Husqvarna first began producing bicycles in the late 19th century. In 1903, they made the jump to motorcycle manufacturing. The first "Husky" motorcycles used imported engines, and it was not until 1916 that Husqvarna began producing machines built entirely in-house. Around that time they secured a contract with the Swedish Army, and also began entering cross-country and long-distance motorcycle races. In 1916, Husqvarna established its own engine factory and the first engine to be designed was a 550 cc four-stroke 50-degree side-valve V-twin engine, similar to those made by companies like Harley-Davidson and Indian.

Husqvarna competed in Grand Prix road racing in the 350cc and 500cc classes during the 1930s and was Sweden's largest motorcycle manufacturer by 1939. All of the racing bikes were based on a 50-degree V-twin prototype built by Folke Mannerstedt in 1931. The company team beat the Norton works team at the Swedish Grand Prix in 1932 with a 1–2 finish by Ragnar Sundqvist and Gunnar Kalén. This and the next year's success led to a full commitment to the Grand Prix tracks with Stanley Woods and Ernie Nott joining the Husqvarna riding team. That year, Nott finished third in the 350cc Junior TT and Woods ran out of gas eight miles before the finish of the Senior TT.

In 1935, the company withdrew racing support, but new bikes were still produced and raced privately, while the company focused on producing a new two-stroke, two-speed commuter bike. That year, Woods won the Swedish Grand Prix (marking the fourth year in a row that a "Husky" had won) on a 500cc Husqvarna motorcycle that weighed 279 pounds (127 kilograms).

With the rise of motocross as a sport Husqvarna focused on producing light weight racing bikes. They adapted their lightweight single cylinder bike to racing and delivered the Silverpilen, meaning 'the silver arrow' in Swedish. At 75 kg and designed for racing it gained widespread popularity. Sporting many innovations like telescoping front forks and hydraulic damped suspension it became an international success.

The 1959 motocross championship went to Rolf Tibblin and his 250 cc Husqvarna. The 1960 world 500 cc motocross championship was won by Bill Nilsson on a four-stroke Husqvarna. In the 1960s, their lightweight, two-stroke-engined off-road bikes helped make the once-dominant British four-stroke motorcycles obsolete. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Husqvarna was a dominant force in the motocross world, winning 14 motocross world championships in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 500 cc divisions, 24 enduro world championships and 11 Baja 1000 victories.

1983 saw Husqvarna innovate again with the introduction of a 500 cc bike that set new standards for competition four-strokes. It was lightweight, air-cooled, easy-handling and changed the future of off-road racing motorcycles. It was the predecessor of the Husaberg brand.

Ownership changes and acquisition by KTM

In 1987, the Husqvarna motorcycle division (not the other arms of the brand such as chainsaw production) was sold to Italian motorcycle manufacturer Cagiva, and years later became part of MV Agusta. A group of the company's managers and engineers were not willing to move to Italy and therefore founded Husaberg – which was acquired by KTM in 1995. Husqvarna motorcycles were then produced in Varese, Italy.

Current models

Model naming conventions

Husqvarna names many of their motorcycles according to a nomenclature of engine cycle ("F" for Four-stroke, "T" for Two-stroke), application or type ("C" for motoCross machines, "E" for Enduro motorcycles, "X" for Xcountry machines, "S" for Supermotos), and engine displacement. Some models of two-stroke machines formally had the suffix "i" included to indicate that these models have transfer port injection, rather than carburetors, but Husqvarna has since changed nearly all large-displacement two-stroke models to fuel injection. For example:

FS 450 - a four-stroke supermoto with 450 cc engine displacement

TE 300i - a two-stroke enduro motorcycle with 300 cc engine displacement and transfer port injection

TC 125 - a two-stroke motocross machine with 125 cc engine displacement and carburetor