• 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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!

Poll - Are you planning to buy a new KTM based husky?

Will you be buying a KTM based husky soon?

  • Total voters
    158
Looks like 80% won't be getting a new Huskaberg any time soon. I really think the higher than KTM pricing is going hurt their sales even more if the latest "premium" bike thing is true.
 
IMO the huskatooms will be more expensive and will not be discounted like we are used to. If they were discounted the KTM crowd would jump ship since they are nearly identical. Or scream foul and cause turmoil. No way they will be affordable for my limited finances. Sad
 
Some of this will depend on where you are located. When my favorite dealer sold Hondas and BMWs then I rode Hondas and BMWs. Now I live where my favorite dealer sells Husqvarnas....and I ride Husky's.

I doubt that I am going to develop a sudden preference for KTMs (though I do like orange as a color).
 
reveille said:
IMO the huskatooms will be more expensive and will not be discounted like we are used to. If they were discounted the KTM crowd would jump ship since they are nearly identical. Or scream foul and cause turmoil. No way they will be affordable for my limited finances. Sad
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with buying the one/2 year old bike all modded for half the cost on craigslist later . There's always someone getting a divorce, getting married, getting a kid, buying a house, moving, going to college, ...or .need money for something..even another bike...just have to squirrel money ahead of time for the deals later.
 
I'm staying away from the new bikes as long as I can if not forever. I had a newer husaberg and its a good bike but not worth more money than an already over priced KTM. The bikes handling is vanilla at best with awkward ergos for the average person. The motors are butter smooth but no kicker on most including the one I had leaves you on the starting line for way to long. They say the rear subframe is for saving weight yet still comes in heavier than most of their KTM equivalents. None of these things add up to a great hare scramble bike for me. I was drawn to husky in 2013 because an average person could have the opportunity to own a new motorcycle at a working man's price while being competitive with any other bike out there and this idea makes husky great and unique to me. I feel the market needs a bike like this and roughly 9000 or so people a year, more so than husaberg, bought these bikes thinking this as well. I'm done with my rant but that's my take on the whole deal.
 
All good points Chums...weve proven that these underpriced Husqvarnas are fully competitive with anything else on the market, which is going to make the berg-to-varna thing a challenge. I hold out some hope that there will be some 'introductory' pricing to help the uninitiated find their local Husqvarna dealer next spring.
 
I've mentioned this before... Heavily discounted Husky prices, are the dope, that killed the Brand. I enjoyed as many new discounted Huskys, as anyone. My new just released, not leftover '09 WR125, with Heros Ride Huskys Rebate and dealer discount, cost little more than retail price of a '92 125 WXE! Try buying a new pickup, for close to what they cost 12 years ago. Buy up the remains and enjoy them, but I'm kind of wishing more of us, myself included... were willing to pay, what they were really worth. If we valued them more, Cagiva might still be building them!
 
Norman Foley said:
I've mentioned this before... Heavily discounted Husky prices, are the dope, that killed the Brand. I enjoyed as many new discounted Huskys, as anyone. My new just released, not leftover '09 WR125, with Heros Ride Huskys Rebate and dealer discount, cost little more than retail price of a '92 125 WXE! Try buying a new pickup, for close to what they cost 12 years ago. Buy up the remains and enjoy them, but I'm kind of wishing more of us, myself included... were willing to pay, what they were really worth. If we valued them more, Cagiva might still be building them!
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Problem was, that they weren't marketed like a premium brand, didn't get enough press, and often had QC problems. It's hard to demand big money for a product under those circumstances. Italia Husqvarna was (and is) a lovable "misfit" machine with great styling, fantastic handling, and a big heart, that not too many people paid attention to.

The new ones will certainly have all the marketing and development tools behind them to make them a household word.
 
nope not this time around, it would be great to have a new blue husky but the wife would pretty much kill me. besides my 11 tc449 is a great bike and a new 14 won't make me any faster, i'm to old to think what everyone else thinks about what I ride, besides it is still great fun to race and beat everyone on a bike that is not suppose to win
 
This is the transition year. Of course it's basicly a ktm but lets see in a few years what will evolve. ..But so what. Bottom line is Husky is alive and the bike is beautiful and a great bike. I'd rather buy this bike than a ktm. That's big in itself to me. The price is what current 300 2 stroke enduro bikes go for. That's normal.

It's basicly this bike right.. and that's an awesome bike.. I think guys are going to buy it and that's what Husky needs.. people to buy.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x62h1lw57c
 
I am still adjusting to the KTM acquisition and recall that prior to 2010/11 Husky's were only at a $500 discount to KTM's but had a whopping 2 year warranty V's KTM's 6 months.
The recent discounting has simply been a deck clearing exercise imho. That said and particularly in Oz, we pay a ridiculous premium for bikes. I know that we account for 10% of KTM's global market. With the other brands now in house they are probably looking at circa 15%. For such a chunky market share I really do feel screwed over. We would probably pay in the vicinty of $3000 to $4000k above the US price.
 
Dirtdame said:
Problem was, that they weren't marketed like a premium brand, didn't get enough press, and often had QC problems. It's hard to demand big money for a product under those circumstances. Italia Husqvarna was (and is) a lovable "misfit" machine with great styling, fantastic handling, and a big heart, that not too many people paid attention to.

The new ones will certainly have all the marketing and development tools behind them to make them a household word.
Click to expand...

I agree marketing was the biggest problems for the Italians, for them you are just supposed to see the bike and fall in love with it. Many of us did fall in love with the bikes with no marketing and we found out they were a way better bargain than the ktm. If you want the non thinking follower masses to buy your product you need to market things.
 
Dirtdame said:
Problem was, that they weren't marketed like a premium brand, didn't get enough press, and often had QC problems. It's hard to demand big money for a product under those circumstances. Italia Husqvarna was (and is) a lovable "misfit" machine with great styling, fantastic handling, and a big heart, that not too many people paid attention to.

The new ones will certainly have all the marketing and development tools behind them to make them a household word.
Click to expand...


I somewhat disagree with this. The press has always hated the huskys and promoted KTM. I know this first hand by dealing with the geniuses at the mags. Was eye opening. They did not give a rats ass about husky press and thats the attention they got. Mags get bought out by advertising and are all Honda, Yamaha or KTM depending on who pays more and has more media gigs to grease the skids. Like any other biz. Not hating on them just telling the truth. Husky told the mags to F-off a log time ago and it stuck. Add that to KTM massive advertising budget and bam, no husky coverage. Interestingly the second BMW and their big money came into play all of a sudden the mags had several huskys in each issue. BMW did a pretty good job advertising them. The issue was they did not promote them the right way and then did not come out with exciting new models which KTM does all the time.

As for QC problems have you ever been to KTMtalk? KTM's have lots of issues, just like any brand. Starters that don't work for years, 125/150 blowing up at an alarming rate, 4 stroke motors that need a seal replaced deep in the motor that keeps the trans and motor oil separate, broken swing arms, broken triple clamps, very spotty EFI (still so on the 350).

I think they are just a brand that is (or was) caught in no mans land. Not big enough to compete with the big 5 but not small and nimble enough to be a Beta or TM or GG. What I do know is they built some amazing handling machines and the 125 motor is a gem of power and reliability. This poll shows many people love huskys because of some great traits they have. It also shows, like Norm said, the discount pricing was a big draw but also like he said unsustainable and part of the death of the brand.

My opinion only.
 
rancher1 said:
I agree marketing was the biggest problems for the Italians, for them you are just supposed to see the bike and fall in love with it. Many of us did fall in love with the bikes with no marketing and we found out they were a way better bargain than the ktm. If you want the non thinking follower masses to buy your product you need to market things.
Click to expand...


Yep and lots of huskys are sold because someone rode someones husky on the trail and realizing they are great bikes with a lot to offer no matter what the mags say or in this case ignored. And, this is kinda a USA thing (media shunning husky) because I look at Europe and Australia and other markets and look at that, gobs of huskys at the line and mags full of tests on them.
 
Motosportz said:
I somewhat disagree with this. The press has always hated the huskys and promoted KTM. I know this first hand by dealing with the geniuses at the mags. Was eye opening. They did not give a rats ass about husky press and thats the attention they got. Mags get bought out by advertising and are all Honda, Yamaha or KTM depending on who pays more and has more media gigs to grease the skids. Like any other biz. Not hating on them just telling the truth. Husky told the mags to F-off a log time ago and it stuck. Add that to KTM massive advertising budget and bam, no husky coverage. Interestingly the second BMW and their big money came into play all of a sudden the mags had several huskys in each issue. BMW did a pretty good job advertising them. The issue was they did not promote them the right way and then did not come out with exciting new models which KTM does all the time.

As for QC problems have you ever been to KTMtalk? KTM's have lots of issues, just like any brand. Starters that don't work for years, 125/150 blowing up at an alarming rate, 4 stroke motors that need a seal replaced deep in the motor that keeps the trans and motor oil separate, broken swing arms, broken triple clamps, very spotty EFI (still so on the 350).

I think they are just a brand that is (or was) caught in no mans land. Not big enough to compete with the big 5 but not small and nimble enough to be a Beta or TM or GG. What I do know is they built some amazing handling machines and the 125 motor is a gem of power and reliability. This poll shows many people love huskys because of some great traits they have. It also shows, like Norm said, the discount pricing was a big draw but also like he said unsustainable and part of the death of the brand.

My opinion only.
Click to expand...

Amen.....:) Geniuses is being kind.....
 
Motosportz said:
Well are you? Just wondering how many will make the move.
Click to expand...

I'll probably stick with Beta. I like my TE310 x-lite and hope to keep it also but no need for something in the near future.

Honestly, I would talk with George on buying things moto related ....might get a side by side in the next year if the wife has any interest.
 
I certainly will not ride one for quite sometime. With minimal time for tooling would like to see where it may go in the years to come. Beta maybe. But for some sick reason I keep holding on to the dream that Cagiva may be reborn and take off where Husky left off. Stranger things have happened!(Like your ARCH RIVAL motorcycle brand buying you out and throwing your precious crown on there own motorcycle. Sorry but I'm off to the toilet for now.........
 
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