CUSTOMER ENJOYS 3 DAYS ON A 2008 HUSKY TE450
2008 Husaberg Dealer Meeting
SupermotoUSA comes to town to hold a race for their series...thanks to the following sponsors:
Bike Barn Motorcycles, Oregon Motorcycle Adventures, Rogue Regency Inn & Suites, CAT Equipment Rental, the Motorcycle Riders Association, Motorcycle Superstore, Naumes' Oregon Motorsports.
Great weather, despite the forcasts...Great People and lots of loam...
MRA CLEAN-UP DAY!
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2008 HUSABERG DEALER MEETING
I’m sitting here in the Hotel lobby at 1 am. We are leaving Salt Lake City, UT at about 4 am with the hopes of making it home between 4-5 pm… I CANT SLEEP! Too excited about a few things: 1st: I can’t wait to get home. 2nd: I got to ride the all new 2009 Husaberg and so my brain won’t stop replaying the small off-road loop over and over again. 2009 Husaberg: an amazingly agile, smooth yet powerful motorcycle with loads of innovation, but we’ll get to that later. We left for our dealer meeting at about 6 am and carpooled with the local KTM dealer: Oregon Motorcycle Adventures-KTM. This not only helped us save some travel expenses, we also had a great time because we are such good friends. The drive was long but broken up with some interesting events. Lets see…we almost hit a dear, a few donkeys and we almost hit Jesus…well, two Jesus’…well, not really Jesus’, but two guys that looked just like him, strolling along in the middle of nowhere, with robe-like clothes, long hair and a long beard. With excellent navigational skills and a bit of yelling from back-seat drivers, we finally arrived in Salt Lake City, UT. As we pull into the Hotel loading area, we noticed a nice KTM Supermoto 690, but no Husabergs…that’s ok; they will be inside the lobby…just like 2 years ago. Wow, this lobby is nice, great big KTM banners hanging from the 2nd floor, lots of Orange and Black, but no Husabergs…that’s ok, we’ll see some at the dealer meeting set for tomorrow after breakfast. Up bright and early, excited about the official dealer meeting, we hastily made our way to breakfast at the convention hall close by. Once we served up our grub, we strolled into the large ball room filled with Tables, Chairs and Orange and Black balloons. The stage had the latest Street and Dirt offerings from KTM but not a single Husaberg…not even a Blue and Yellow balloon. OK, now I feel out-of-place. Not sure we were supposed to be here, I decided to ask some people and it turned out, yes, this was for the Husaberg Dealers too. Not knowing what to expect, we sat quietly, wanting to scream out HUSABERG!!!!, but knowing that would not be good, Dave and I played it cool, almost took a nap until FINALLY, after about 45 minutes of an hour slide show with Orange this and Orange that we finally come across a slide that has a picture of a HUSABERG!!!...YES! finally, our time is now, now we can show KTM only dealers what they are miss…CLICK…ing! On to the next Orange slide…WHAT! 30 seconds talking about their “other brand” and the rest on how we should all bleed Orange? Oh well, that’s ok, I figure the less other dealers know about how good the Bergs really are, the less likely that Husabergs will be over-populating the planet and soon we would all be bleeding green. Granted the information provided was pretty interesting and showed some insight on KTM’s direction (just glad in includes Husaberg) and what’s in store for the people that do bleed orange…pretty amazing stuff. The new KTM RC8 Street Bike looks crazy and there are some pretty cool dirt models too…in fact, I can’t believe how many models they make…its insane…I don’t know how dealers decide what to stock…too many options.
On to Miller Motorsports Park…WOW, what an amazing place.
They had everything you ever needed to enjoy 2-wheeled racing. From MX tracks, Supermoto Tracks to an off-road loops and a beautiful Road race track. Of course, Dave and I really only cared about the off-road portion of this day, so we geared up and took the tram to the demos.
HEY, WHAT DO YOU KNOW, A BLUE AND YELLOW TENT and some BLUE AND YELLOW BIKES!!!! WOW…very cool…but still, a bit out-numbered.
What was also, pretty cool was that current Husaberg Dealers got to ride the Bergs before anyone else. And every time a rider swung a leg over a Berg, you could see 80% of the KTM dealers looking down the row of tents at these awesome machines. I think even the Orange bikes were a bit jealous…can bikes be jealous of other bikes…this is my article, so I’ll say YES!
My turn is up…Oh Crap, don’t screw up in front of all these people waiting to ride Bergs and KTMs. Don’t run into anyone, don’t hit MIKE LAFFERTY!...what!…WHOA, that’s cool, Mike Lafferty is manning a checkpoint…sweet! HEY LOOK, there’s NICK FAHRINGER too!...sweet…ouch, nice knee brace (torn ACL).
The beautifully dusty FE450 is handed to me running and the Outside Temps are in the high 80s. I decide to kill the motor and start it myself. Hey, I found Neutral easy enough, hit the kill button, waited a few seconds and pushed the start button…right to life, no backfires, no excessive cranking, just started right up with a nice Quiet purr. Blip the throttle…Revs smoothly….Blip the throttle more….Revs smoothly, nice…no hesitation or stalling. I ease the all new Magura Clutch assembly out and roll onto the off-road loop. WOW this stuff is silt, dusty, rutty, flat, boring…oh well, make the most of it. Lots of turns, a few small ravines, a few small jumps and some surprise off-cambers had me breathing heavy but having fun too. The ruts created from the riders before me were deep and silty, some hidden from sight and some you couldn’t help but look at, but the bike handled them perfectly for my unskilled, over-weight ability. No weird flexing, excellent feel, similar ergos (peg height) from what I remember from the previous models but with a narrower tank/shroud section with no edges to snag boots and excellent leg gripping surfaces. The bumps were soaked up nicely; the bike helped me correct my mistakes and kept me from crashing when I found myself pushing my abilities too much. About a 3 mile loop ended with some tight twisty turns that allowed you to really feel the bikes agility and smoothness, One Corner, lean and BRRRP…Next Corner, lean and BRRRP, next corner, next corner (two from the demo tents) lean and COUGH….it died, what did I do, I’m sorry!...oh crap…I could hear everyone (mostly KTM riders HOWL)…hit the button….crank, crank, crank…hit the button…crank, crank, crank. Pull the Gas Cap….HAH!...only out of gas…whew…I didn’t run into anyone, but I still was probably the only Husaberg tester who had to push his bike back to the demo tent. The test loop was too short and flat to get a real good impression from any of the bikes offered up, but from that loop, I now can’t wait until our demo arrives. Our testing ends without having the time to throw a leg over the 570, but we ordered a demo, so I’ll test it then…yee haw! Dave and I take the tram back to watch our friendly Orange counterparts take demo rides on the all new KTM RC8…wow what a beautiful Street Bike…Dave and I relaxed as we drank some much needed water, watching the road riders take their turns. KTM N/A President can really ride!...I guess he’d better with a last name of Burleson…Our time is up, we decide to head back to the Hotel and get some rest for the long drive ahead… So, to sum up our test ride day: We rode the all new Husaberg…AWESOME! We saw old friends…met some new ones…AWESOME!, we had a great Lunch…AWESOME! Dave got to ride a KTM Quad (sorry, no photos to prove it)…AWESOME!, someone threw-up on me…NOT AWESOME!, I never bled Orange…what?… yes, that’s what I said, someone threw up on me…sorry no photos to prove that either…one word…Jalapenos…AWESOME! I do appreciate you reading my article, and I hope you have the time to check out the all new 2009 Husabergs when they arrive in dealers in October, they are truly amazing.
More pictures...
Berg apart
Our KTM Counterparts, making Dave sit at the back of the bus.
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