It feels like supermoto has fallen out of favor a bit lately, but these dirt bikes on street wheels are still about the most fun you can have with your pants on, and Husqvarna has just updated its race-ready track weapon, the FS 450, for 2020.
We're not talking a massive upgrade here – the compact, thumb-start, single-cylinder motocross motor still makes the same impressive 63 horses it used to, and weight remains at the same 227 lb (102.8 kg) it rolled out at last year. Wheels are still Alpina lace-ups, with Bridgestone slicks, and a savage Brembo brake on the front for your stoppying pleasure.
The main thing that's changed is the suspension, which gets a similar refresh to everything coming out of KTM or Husqvarna to the latest and greatest WP gear – in this case, 48 mm XACT upside-down forks and shock, offering 11 and 10.5 in (279 and 267 mm) of luxurious travel, respectively.
The FS 450 runs traction and launch control, as well as multiple engine mode maps to help keep it as controllable as possible.
If you haven't experienced the exhilaration of riding a supermoto on a tight track, you really owe it to yourself to find a way to get yourself onto one. So light, so squishy and so prone to wheelies, stoppies, slides, blackies and all manner of other shenanigans, they bring the constant frenetic activity of dirt bike riding onto the tarmac with supernatural levels of grip and flickability. That is to say, more thrills per mile than a superbike, in a cheaper, lighter package that's also a ton less expensive to crash.
The track-special FS 450 is, Husky says, the only supermoto you can race straight out of the box these days, and it looks the absolute bee's knees. If you buy one, we'd love a few laps.
Source: Husqvarna
