Husqvarna CR250 (1982)

		Have you heard the one about the Husqvarna 250CR? Sure you have. Everybody has heard that the Husky 250 doesn't have enough power to ride through a fog bank. In fact, it was slow. Was is the key word.

►Nineteen eighty-two is the year that Husqvarna put the pen to paper and came up with a totally new deuce-a-half mill — a good one, at that. Engine designing is as much a function of bookkeeping as it is engineering, and Husqvarna has utilized all the tools of the adding machine (some new parts and some old), as well as the dyno.

Husqvarna's new 69.5mm bore by 64mm stroke reed-valved, 246cc mill uses last year's vastly improved primary kickstart 430CR cases. Spark is provided by an internal rotor Motoplat instead of the old, sluggish flywheel model. A big, eight-petal reed meters fuel from the 38mm Mikuni into a totally new cylinder. Boost ports, finger ports and fiber reeds show how serious the mill is.

Top-end layout is best compared to a 250 Yamaha; porting, bore and stroke, reeds and carburetion are close replicas, but the power output is distinctly European.

IS IT A SINGLE SHOCK?

No, Husqvarna didn't make the 1982 models into rising-rate single-shocks, but don’t discount them. Husky’s Ohlins-derived twin-shock system is one of the best working suspension systems available. Two shocks or one is a meaningless exercise in arithmetic. All that counts is how it works. Out of the crate, the Ohlins rear suspenders and 40mm Swedish forks are the best mated combo on the market. New damper rods in the forks stiffen the extremes of compression and rebound damping, while the Ohlins shocks are a new series that offer an improved lateral load bearing, and seals. We felt that rebound damping was right for out tracks, while the forks tend to be a little soft. Both are easily dialed in.

THE MASSAGE IS THE MESSAGE

Visually, it will take a trained eye to recognize a 1982 Hooska from the 1981 model. Improved side panels, new, bare-metal cylinder with integral reed block, and 430CR cases are the only eye-grabbers. Detailing has been improved immensely; last year's areas of concern have been given attention. The side panels no longer melt against the pipe; the brake pedal bushing is an all-new weather-resistant material that lessens wiggles and wobble; front brake action has been enhanced by a longer (increased leverage) brake arm; last year's gold-painted rims have been flaked in favor of true-to-life gold-anodized rims; a new pipe fits better and works better than the old 250 pipe; a folding shift lever graces the tranny; the old rear hub has been replaced with a stronger unit.

HOW FAST IS IT?

European engineers believe that motocross is a race across challenging terrain, and they have designed powerbands suited to such activity. The new 1982 Husqvarna reed-valved motor is at least as fast as last year's hopped-up National Huskys. But it gives up some of its legendary, broad, useable and manageable type of roostability.

Making the ignition mass internal has made the 250CR come on the pipe sooner, rev quicker with a lot more authority. Gone is the heavy, flywheel-oriented trail bike low end of old. In its place is a strong, steady pull that makes the six-speed deuce-and-a-half capable of being ready, willing and able at almost any rpm.

It is not the fastest 250 motor on the market, nor is it the easiest to ride. But it has finally become a race engine. It is a good motocross powerplant.

DOES IT TURN?

Right up front it should be stated that there is not a single frame specification that makes any sense on this machine. It is 60 inches long, has one-and-a-half degrees more rake than any other motocross bike (30.5 degrees), and over an inch more trail (6 inches). What these numbers add up to is a stable, slow-handling desert sled. If an aspiring engineer came to you with blueprints to build a bike based on geometries like these, you'd boot him through the door.

So why does the Husky handle so well? Why does it turn with such ease? Why does it confound the slide rule? Because Husqvarna is a motocross company. Slide rules and computers have their place in modern manufacturing, but Husky is made by men —men who ride motorcycles.

The numbers are wrong, but the sensations are right! Riding a 250CR is like flying. It sails over bumps and humps, and glides through ruts. It is predictable and stable. It is everything you could want in a box-stock racer.

HOW DO YOU RIDE ONE?

Forget any hogwash you might read about Huskys being torquey, low-rpm motors. That's so much bull-pucky. You ride a Hooska by singing it to the hilt, grabbing another gear, and using every last rev it has. Sure you can dog it and it will pull, but making time means chopping rods on the high end of the curve. Clutching it and keeping it in the soprano range translates into ultra-fast lap times. The six-speed tranny means never having to say you've bogged.

With 12 inches of Swedish travel on each end, and a dream frame, all the rider has to do is buzz-saw his way through the competition. Part of Husky's turning ability is contributed to the ease in which a rider can

slide forward in the turns and still get back through the whoops.

BITS AND BITS

Pirelli Penta-Cross tires keep the rims from rubbing, but they aren't the hot setup. The 17-inch rear tire should be 18 inches, but Husqvarna believes that the squatter 17 offers a better ride. A new, shorty power-lever is on the right side of the bars, along with an improved Gunnar Gasser throttle.

Motor improvements include a beefed up clutch basket (these self -destructed in 1981) and strengthened cases. Even the transmission vent has been increased in size to eliminate drool. Primary kickstart brings Husky up to civilized standards in 1982.

Speaking of drool, new seals grace the front forks, but we blew them right away. Not just leaks, they came out of the sliders. We Loctited them back in—along with a fork oil change (450cc of 15-weight).

Husky still has the world's fastest quick-change air filter. Neato. More power is available from the motor because the liner isn't well matched to the ports.

THINGS WE'D CHANGE IF VE VAS SWEDISH

From front to back, we'd switch to splined brake cams for more adjustability, new-design front fender, a supercross legal front number plate, more teeth on the brake pedal (any teeth would be an improvement), safety seat, bigger air box, smaller and better mounted silencer, better supported rear fender, 18-inch rear wheel, and a better sealing gas cap.

WHAT WE DO LIKE

We like the 1982 Husqvarna 250CR because it is a fluff-free, uncomplicated racing machine. It's not water-cooled, gizmo-powered, rheostat-controlled, single-shocked or fuel injected. But it is excellent handling, neatly detailed, smoothly powered and well suspended. You could ask for more, but you wouldn't need it.■