On The Pegs April 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 4 | Page 103

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 4 - APRIL 2020
103
After 10 months of 4-stroke developments, in 1979 the factory made a finan-
cial contribution that enabled the task force to cast a cylinder and buy cylinder
heads from an outside source. But besides getting some experience, the de-
velopment was still lingering. In 1980 a new cylinder-head was formed, but it
wasn’t until 1981 that things happened. Together with Husky’s chief engineer
Ruben Helmin, a new spark was initiated and now everyone wanted to finish the
elusive plus-500cc engine. Thomas Gustavsson had just won the national en-
duro championship and joined the Husqvarna resources. “At last we had a com-
plete team for the final work”, said Urban Larsson with a smile on his face. There
were still outstanding details on the new 6-speed 503cc enduro machine, when
Thomas Gustavsson made his debut. From the beginning, there were things to
be adjusted and improved, but all in all, this novelty promised good results. The
market for enduros was growing and the competition machine had the perfor-
mance to tackle racing off the roads. Then, in 1983, Gustavsson took part in the
International Six Days Enduro, the event now having modernised its name. This
time, it was run in Great Britain and Gustavsson both proved himself and the
novelty big-bore machine by winning the 4-stroke class overall.
The new power plant was offered in three versions, which was an achieve-
ment by Husqvarna. Customers could choose from the Enduro, Motocross and
Cross-Country models. The WR 510TE had a competitive market price and was a
favourable option over the Japanese makes. But although the factory machines
had success in its trail, the production engines suffered from overheating. This
resulted in a difficult starting procedure, especially when the motor was hot. It
was stated that the market would absorb some 18-20,000 units when a lot of
people went from 2-strokes to 4-strokes. However, Husqvarna didn’t make its
homework and launched the 50 HP product before it was fully developed. Be-
sides, one of the disadvantages came from engine vibrations. In a relatively short
period, the market switched to downsizing, liquid-cooling, front disc-brake and
single-shock suspension. By 1985, this beasty 4-stroke showed potential, but
there was never any real Swedish sales success achieved from the old musket-
maker. But in 1985 Thomas Gustavsson won the European Enduro Champion-
ship on his 4-stroke and things looked promising for the future. The Husqvarna
510 machine was further developed and sold during a few years until Cagiva
purchased the company. n