• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Can-am, who had one?

Motosportz

Motosportz

CH Sponsor
Staff member
I always drooled over the Can-am Qualifiers as a kid. Anyone own one of these machines? Lets hear it.

Yummy

1982%20can-am%20Q%20250%20%202.JPG
 
Yes! Actually, it was the last bike I owned before I bought my Husky in 2009. And, it was exactly the bike you have pictured. 1982 Qualifier IV 250. Really had some balls, too. I think I sold it around 1998, along with a nearly complete parts bike for $1000. Was sad to see it go, but I needed the money at the time.

It was sooooo easy to work on. One of the cool features is that it had a hole in the front of the case that you take a bolt out of, and insert a longer bolt with the end ground down to somewhat of a point. It would thread in and lock the crank in place when tearing it down. Is that a current bike of yours? Stunning condition, whoever it belongs to.
 
Shoot...we have a 400, 280(my favorite) and a 560....not too bad of bikes for about 500 pounds(kidding)
 
Didn't Can am use the kicker and shifter shaft concept. Both neighbors raced the older ones and I think had constant trouble with 2nd or third gears?
 
My Uncle had one. I drooled over it as a kid, but as I recall, it was a tempermental booger. Lots of issues with the motor. Starting it was a pure beeotch.
 
Never owned one, but got to ride a Can-Am 250 quite often back in the late seventies.........think it was a '76? White w/yel-org tank stripes.
Strong engine in it's day.
 
Kelly thanks for the trip down memory lane ****************************************

Those Disc valved rotax motors went like hell ****************************************

early ones had oil injection in the downtube and a small filter in there would go to mush and the bikes would sieze if you didnt catch it in time

the shaft within a shaft..was a interesting way to save space...but it was a bugger if something went wrong there

last one I had was all orange 80 'MX6 250 went like hell marzocchi forks..girling shock with orange springs....went well in a straight line....some what harder to turn

COOL
 
Had several...still have one! 1981 MX 6 250 B. Fast is an understatement. Ohlins just rebuilt too by WER. better than the Girlings which would fade on a busy bar front door!
 
Friend still has his bought new '80 250 Qualifier. I always thought it was an awesome motor, but a Husky 250WR could and can still out handle it all day.....
 
Im not sure if it was a cruel joke on Can Am's part....but the magura throttle tube had two separate cable attachments to hook it up for 1/8 turn if you wished ..just in case the power didnt arrive quickly enough for you :eek:
 
Troy F Collins said:
Im not sure if it was a cruel joke on Can Am's part....but the magura throttle tube had two separate cable attachments to hook it up for 1/8 turn if you wished ..just in case the power didnt arrive quickly enough for you :eek:
Click to expand...
I think it was 1/2 turn or 1/4 turn. I don't remember there being 1/8 turn.
 
I had I think it was a '79 250 Qualifier, I'd like to have that transmission in my Husky. Super low 1st gear, nice high 6th.
 
I've often thought (in 20/20 hindsight) that it would have been good if Bomdardier could have stuck it out a few more years with Can-AM. By the early 90's the Canadian Dollar was starting to slide significantly against the US and Euro currencies. It continued that downward slide until about 6-7 years ago. Keeping Can-am production in Quebec and continuing development could have created a brand that could have gone on to own one of the biggest chunks of the market, as few others would have been able to compete on price. That along with the continued innovation that Can-Ams were noted for, could have created a very strong and popular brand. If only........(rose coloured 20/20 hindsight.....:))
Instead, the Japs went on to own the MX market and KTM eventually controlled most of the Off-road market (til recently)

At the Corduroy Enduro this fall there were 2 significant Can-Am related stories:
1. Jeff Smith, Who joined Can-Am in the 70's and helped run the company til it sold to Armstrong, was the Guest speaker. One of his memorable stories was about when they developed their 500cc 2t in the eighties. When the first prototype was ready for demonstration(after waiting for the first motor to come from Rotax) to the Bigwigs, Jeff told his crew to not ride the bike til he could show it to the bosses. When that day came, one of the guys told Jeff that 'the motor is quite strong'. Quite strong? Jeff replied. OK. So in his business suit on the street in front of the offices in Valcourt he hopped on the bike to do a demo run for the bosses. He starts the bike up, warms it up a bit and the eases off in 1st gear. He putts along in 1st for a bit, then puts it in 2nd and decides to give 'er a bit. Immediately, as he put it- "The bike went over top of me!":lol:
Imagine a former world champion in a business suit goon-looping a prototype 500cc mx bike in front of his bosses.........:D

2. Blair Sharpless ran the 86? ISDE in Poland on a Can Am 250 & silvered. After getting back, he gave the bike back to CanAm & the bike was then sold off thru their dealer network. Fast forward ~25 years to mid 2011. Blair happened to stop in at the Headquarters of TekVest in Kinmount Ont, which is owned by Steve Brand. Steve had an old, somewhat faded & beat up Can Am 250 sitting in the showroom & he said to Blair- "take a look at that bike" It turned out to be the exact bike he rode the ISDE on. He then told Blair, "it's yours" & gave him the bike.
At the Corduroy, there is always a tire change competition. This year, for fun and demonstration, Blair used the old Can Am & proceeded to do a rear wheel tire change in about 1min and 50 sec. (IIRC on the time)
 
Close but no cigar, owned an ATK 406 with the bullet proof same as Can-Am Rotax (piston port/reedvalve) motor.
And rode other owner's ATK 250 with the same as Can-Am disc valve 250 motor
Those Rotaxs are Austrian farm tractor tough, everything is HD(heavy duty)
Can-Am would be a great name to revive. (the other orange)
 
When I was about 12 or 13, a neighbor kid about 15 or 16 had one like Chilly's photo above. It was gorgeous.
 
All I can remember about my Uncle's Can Am was the white paint and striped tank and the left kick (similar to the bikes in Chilli's pic). I think it was an enduro with lights and a plate but I'm not 100% sure. I can also (vividly) remember him kicking the living daylights out of it to get it started... he cussed like a sailor when he was trying to start that thing.
 
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