First time I’ve been to one of these test day things, and I’ve got to say hats off to St Blazey motorcycles for putting it on, and unlike other rip off manufactures test days where you have to pay for the privilege of actually going on one of their bikes, this was all free.
I got there early afternoon and of course being an enduro bike day there were a few local riders down there, Dan and James Hull, Tom Merrit, Adam Blake, Steve Jose, to name a few all having a go on a few of the range of Husabergs. I first went the 125 (obviously) and set about giving the little strimmer some welly around the short little mx track that St Blazey had set out for the purpose.
I got there early afternoon and of course being an enduro bike day there were a few local riders down there, Dan and James Hull, Tom Merrit, Adam Blake, Steve Jose, to name a few all having a go on a few of the range of Husabergs. I first went the 125 (obviously) and set about giving the little strimmer some welly around the short little mx track that St Blazey had set out for the purpose.
When you ride these bikes that are brand new with very little hours on them, you do have to try and look beneath the obvious. The obvious being every things shiny, it looks good, and everything works as it should! Actually with all the 125’s I’ve had a go on there isn’t that much difference in power between them all (TM excluded), but the way it delivers it is a different matter. I found the Husaberg a tad more friendly than my Gasser, not so ‘toppy’ and certainly less revs were audible when I slipped the clutch exiting a corner to pick up speed. As I nailed the thing down the short straight, again the power I felt was a little bit shall we say ’relaxed’ in the way it delivered itself to get up to the high revs. Whilst the back of the bike behaved itself very well, I did have a problem with the front end as it nearly washed out a few times on me as I was going into the corners. Whether that was down to the suspension set up I don’t know, but it certainly wasn’t the tyres, brand new Metzelers six days, exactly what I use. I've had no problems with them, so there's no reason why a 'Berg' should.
Overall I did enjoy the 20 min session on the 125, in fact I liked it so much, I went and had another session on it later on! Would I buy one? It’s a tough call, I will be looking at getting another bike later on this year, and I’ve still got quite a few choices open to me regarding the strimmers, Gas Gas, KTM, Husaberg, Husqvarna, TM, YZ, RM, so there’s certainly no rush on that score.
I did a bit later on try to have a go on the 250, but just as I got off the 125 again, they were packing up the whole lot of the bikes. Oh well, must try and get down there earlier then next time.
