Although Husqvarna’s origins have become blurred across three different borders—born in Sweden, built in Italy and now owned by Germany’s BMW—the company’s identity has remained as true to itself as ever. The famous marque continues to build beautiful off-road, motocross and supermoto machines, but now with better resources, quality control and in a brand-new assembly plant in Varese, Italy.
Big news from Husky in 2010 is a pair of 600cc Singles called theTE630and SMS630, replacing the 576ccTE610/SM610Rmodels. Key to the redesign was an effort to broaden the appeal for a larger range of uses. The idea was to make the bikes more versatile and comfortable for riders who are just as likely to commute on their bikes as they are to spend all day riding off-road or blasting apexes.
New from the ground up, both bikes share a significantly updated engine. Bore has been increased from 98 to 100mm (stroke remains at 76.4mm), but more important is the redesign of the cylinder head, which now has double overhead cams in place of the previous engine’s single cam. The Mikuni fuel-injection system has been upgraded with a new 45mm throttle body in place of the 610′s 42mm unit. The combination is good for a claimed 20 percent increase in horsepower. For increased durability, a third bearing has been added to the crankshaft and the cooling system was completely revised.
At the new 630′s late-March launch in Italy, we started our day with a tour of the Varese plant and came away impressed. The influence of German upper management was obvious compared to what I’ve witnessed in other Italian factories. The German plant manager stressed that the company’s biggest goal was to improve quality. All bikes go through a series of stringent quality control checks, including multiple dyno runs (bench and chassis). Bikes are then randomly pulled off the production line and inspected part-by-part for flaws. All these are efforts that—I would bet my house on—didn’t happen prior to Bavarian ownership…
A small group of us—including multi-time off-road champion (National Enduro, WORCS, Hare and Hound), 1990 125cc West Coast Supercross champ and four-time Baja 1000 winner Ty Davis—headed out from the factory on our morning test ride aboard the SMS630, followed that afternoon by a ride on the TE.
Like all bikes in the category, the SMS is of the narrowest focus. If going fast on super-tight winding roads is what you like to do, you honestly can’t have more fun than the SMS offers. With 12 supermoto world championships to its credit, Husky knows a thing or two about this kind of machinery. Key differences compared to the TE include 17-inch wheels shod with Dunlop sport rubber (120/70 front, 150/60 rear), a radial-mount Brembo front caliper biting on a 320mm disc, reduced seat height (35.8 in. compared to 36.6), less travel front and rear, and a slightly shorter, 58.8-in. wheelbase (59.3 on the TE).
Riding on twisty mountain roads around Lago di Varese, the SMS was a blast. Lots of leverage from the wide Magura bar makes flicking the bike into apexes easy and instantaneous, while the SMS’s steeper rake (by 1 degree) and reduced trail (3.27 in. compared to the TE’s 4.53) favors snappy handling. With taller final-drive gearing but shorter internal fifth and sixth ratios, the SMS was ideal for quick riding but wasn’t great when lugging through villages at low speed. As an urban commuter and weekend carver, the SMS is awesome, but for more versatility, the TE proved its worth on our afternoon ride.
Full disclosure: Europe does not have an abundance of legal off-road riding. But we did get an opportunity to ride a very loose, rocky, wet, leaf-strewn two-track that provided a good indication of the TE’s dirt disposition. I instantly noticed its shorter gearing via four additional teeth on the rear sprocket; and that, combined with its claimed 10-pound lighter dry weight compared to the SMS (318 lb. to 328), made the TE feel much more lively. The gearing also seemed better suited to urban situations, and the TE shifted a bit more smoothly than the SMS.
The TE carries its weight well and never felt like a handful, even when making tight-pivot U-turns for photo passes in the dirt. The 45mm Marzocchi fork and Sachs shock were a bit on the soft side, but I’m not one to complain about plush. Handling was very good; really, the only thing holding the TE back off-road are the dual-sport Metzeler Karoo tires. But then again, they are a good compromise between asphalt and dirt. Power is abundant, even though the fuel-injection mapping has a slightly rough transition just off idle when picking up the throttle; it’s bothersome at times but not a deal breaker.
On the road, I enjoyed the TE just as much as I did the SMS. Sure, the tires are somewhat limiting at a sporting pace, but not by as large a margin as you might suspect. Both bikes have far more comfortable seats than most competitors in either the supermoto or hardcore dual-sport categories. Also, Husky has designed a line of accessories, including exhausts, engine guards and even a tail rack, to make these bikes more versatile for everyday use.
The SMS is a niche model for riders looking for pure corner-carving excitement, but the TE is a bike that can literally take you anywhere, anytime, and is just as much fun as its 17-inch-rubbered brethren. If you can’t have a good time on one of these bikes, well, consider yourself hopeless.
