• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • 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.

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"This Bike is faster than that Bike"

1981 KTM 495 article http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/vintage-the-fastest-stock-dirtbike-ever-built-23650.html
They went to extreme lengths to raise the gearing, but would the world record
1981 KTM 495 pass a mythbusters test?
gearing calculator is here where you can plug in a 1983 ktm 495
http://www.gearingcommander.com/

Note: Cycle World magazines from 1980's quoted actual top speeds and many big bore huskies were pretty impressive right around 100 mph and up to 105 mph - stock bikes with stock gearing.
 
A 81/495 holds the Australian land speed record for a dirt bike.
Record was set in 1981 so there's been plenty of time to beat it.
One guy went faster on a KX500 BUT it's not recorded.
Apparently the rules have changed now and fairings are ok.
Not quite the same as a 495 with a normal MX front guard on it doing 123mph.
http://bioflexbeast.com.au/inspiration.html
While my 85/400 will go near 100mph , 123mph is just dreaming.
 
I have seen this maico 700 on you u tube before, just seems like a big hype to me. The team at bioflexbeast kinda dropped the ball too.

Why can't someone replicate the 81 495 ktm run?
Same bike, same mods, same weight, same fuel, and the same kind of way of measuring mph. What did they use one of those old point and shoot radar guns that Buford T Justice used against the Bandit...
 
I am a little skeptical about the Dirt bike magazine version Land speed record. A true land speed record is an average of 2 runs in opposite directions. For all we know they may have had a really stiff tailwind.

Also in the Feb 1991 Dirt bike magazine They tried to beat their previous "self proclaimed world record" with a KTM 540 and could only hit 109 mph using 16 front 40 rear sprockets.

Also look at the actual dyno horspower of open class bikes from Cycle Guide magazine, May 1983

HP at the rear wheel!
Can-Am 500MX ~ 45.0 @ 6000rpm
Honda CR480 ~ 43.8 @ 6500rpm
Husqvarna 500CR ~ 46.0 @ 6500rpm
Kawasaki KX500 ~ 48.8 @ 6500rpm
KTM MC495 ~ 41.7 @ 7500rpm
Maico 490 Spider ~ 43.8 @ 7500
Suzuki RM500 ~ 41.3 @ 7500
Yamaha YZ490 ~ 44.7 @ 8500
 
i know hoosks arent really tuned for peak power but i have a hard time believing a liquid kx or cr wouldnt beat the old ktm in a test like this. the old dirt bike "speed record" does kind of sound odd.
i guess when they did this test in '81 the husky 500 didnt exist yet and perhaps some others. would be interesting to run the xc500 hoosk against it. i know the xc500 has the gearbox to do it, thats for sure. ive personally witnessed an 83 500 walk right past 100 a few times. not sure about 120 but 100 is easy for it.
 
justintendo said:
i doubt it. a 400 doesnt put the power out a properly tuned 500 does...the 500 is a step up from the 430 that is easily felt.
Click to expand...


It might be about the higher RPMs?

The 125's beat 250's.

My son's first bike was a Suzuki 400cc bandit. It redlined at 17,000rpm. At red lights the Harley guys made fun of the egg beater. But when the light turned green it was a different story. GSXR400 in Europe. Sleeper.

Smaller engines rev higher. We need a 90lb jockey.
 
Bigbill said:
It might be about the higher RPMs?

The 125's beat 250's.

My son's first bike was a Suzuki 400cc bandit. It redlined at 17,000rpm. At red lights the Harley guys made fun of the egg beater. But when the light turned green it was a different story. GSXR400 in Europe. Sleeper.

Smaller engines rev higher. We need a 90lb jockey.
Click to expand...
rpm is a big factor im sure but what you are talking about is power/weight ratio. the harley is very poor at that, while the bandit was pretty decent with it. my first streetbike was an 86 yamaha radian 600, air cooled 4. would also thump harleys badly and many bigger bikes in the turns, all 65 horse of it. being half the weight of a big cruiser was a big help.
 
84scrambler said:
I have seen this maico 700 on you u tube before, just seems like a big hype to me. The team at bioflexbeast kinda dropped the ball too.

Why can't someone replicate the 81 495 ktm run?
Same bike, same mods, same weight, same fuel, and the same kind of way of measuring mph..
Click to expand...

My point exactly 84.
All those people with faster bikes should just go out and beat the record.
It's easy you just ride up and back and it's only 123mph.:D
End up with your name in the record books as a bonus.

By 1983 KTM had detuned the 495 because it was a bit much in it's original form.
I saw a 81 one once in the open class at a local enduro.
Flag dropped and it was gorn.
Every one else was still thinking about it.
Guy here in AUS drag raced one with some success.

As for 130mph in the Dakar:rolleyes:
In 2011 Cyril Despres came here to AUS to race the last Australian Safari , started 8th , got up to 5th then dropped out.
I believe he said it was too dangerous.
 
I am ok with the ktm 495 being the fastest dirt bike, I am just asking why out of all the bikes still out there some one can't replicate the record or beat it by now with all the after market mods available. Correct me if I'm wrong and I really could be here, it looks like all the other records were on asphalt or concrete and the ktm crew did it on dirt??? Seems like the rear tire would still be spinning the whole time on dirt.
 
Anyone ever notice that the same basic KX500 in 2005 or 06 tested on a dyno put out 65HP when they compared it with the newer 450F's?
I have an 89 CR250 Honda and a 99 CR 250 Honda, and for what it's worth, I can't tell which one is faster, they are dead even in a drag, or up a hill. The 99 is supposed to have about 9 more HP than the 89.
The reason the KTM 495 record is there, is that nobody has gone out and tried with the effort that was put into the 495. They didn't just hang gearing on it, there was more tuning than the article led you to believe. Having ridden all those the bikes new back then, the KTM would not be top on the list for high end power. It felt that way because of the short stroke of the motor.
I have seen CR500 Honda's pull in the 10's and 11's at a drag strip, and reach over 100 in the 1/4 mile with just a pipe mod, higher gearing, carb tuning, and street tires. My pro hillclimb championship CR500 is set up for model airplane fuel and goes about 60mph in second gear, and does it in less than 4 seconds.
It's just that the bikes are dirt bikes, so they are ridden in the dirt by average guys. Drag racers and speed searchers tend to want multi cylinder bikes when they want to go fast. They also love to spend money!
 
One thing that hasn't been brought up in this discussion is aerodynamics. The KTM probably has less drag than a modern bike with radiators and shrouds.
 
Just my thought. Two machines of equal horsepower and equal weight with the same aerodynamic drag will be capable of the same top speed. But it is in the gearing. The gearing has to bring the particular machine to its top speed at the same time the RPMs are at a point where maximum horsepower is made. Geared too short and the RPMs exceed the max horsepower point and power falls off, geared too tall and horsepower is not able to overcome drag. Of course weight and drag are variables that are never quite equal, although horsepower may be.
So its an interesting subject, but in the end, for me anyway, no matter how fast I might try to gear my 500, a guy on a Ducati would eat my lunch. But not on an MX track. :D
 
I'm not a pro rider by any means, but I can tell you the fastest off road motorcycle that I have ever ridden is my buddies '83 Husky 500xc with a Pro Circuit pipe....it was so fast that (as someone stated earlier) my eyes watered with my goggles on! The really scary part was realizing that you were quickly running out of real estate and that you would be hauling it down to a stop with drum brakes! That bike was like "Christine" to me....LOL!!
w
 
can said:
I am a little skeptical about the Dirt bike magazine version Land speed record. A true land speed record is an average of 2 runs in opposite directions. For all we know they may have had a really stiff tailwind.

Also in the Feb 1991 Dirt bike magazine They tried to beat their previous "self proclaimed world record" with a KTM 540 and could only hit 109 mph using 16 front 40 rear sprockets.

Also look at the actual dyno horspower of open class bikes from Cycle Guide magazine, May 1983

HP at the rear wheel!
Can-Am 500MX ~ 45.0 @ 6000rpm
Honda CR480 ~ 43.8 @ 6500rpm
Husqvarna 500CR ~ 46.0 @ 6500rpm
Kawasaki KX500 ~ 48.8 @ 6500rpm
KTM MC495 ~ 41.7 @ 7500rpm
Maico 490 Spider ~ 43.8 @ 7500
Suzuki RM500 ~ 41.3 @ 7500
Yamaha YZ490 ~ 44.7 @ 8500
Click to expand...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMrzmrgfaeY


;)
 
It seems like every couple of Years or so the web has another story on the 1981 495 KTM speed record. If I remember correctly at the request of readers Dirt bike ran the test again a few years latter using a newer 495. On that bike the Radiator Shrouds started turning around backwards in the wind and they couldn't get close to the same speed. And there for there really wasn't any point in running the test again as all the bikes were LC by that time.
Whether the 495 really was the fastest or not what I like is the fact that a Vintage Bike holds the record and not the newest creation on the show room floor. But the 495 with that short stroke big bore motor should defiantly hold the upper hand on top speed.
I'm a bit partial to the 495, as I am building a collection of early 80's open class bikes, and yes I have one. This one will not be used to see if the record is true, its still has the original tires on it and the Air in them that came from Austria. And its going to stay that way.
 
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