Husqvarna

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.

​There is no cleaner or easier way to get kids onto a dirtbike than throwing them onto an electric minibike, and Husqvarna has just launched its new EE5, an electric super-Peewee (with apologies to Yamaha) featuring a 5-kilowatt (6.7 hp) motor and some nice looking componentry.​

The Barber Museum Auction held last weekend saw some remarkable motorcycles cross the auction block, some with great celebrity and movie provenance. The results were puzzling, and raise some interesting questions about celebrity provenance, whether it always applies, and whether it wears off.

The Husqvarna 400 Cross that Steve McQueen rode in the movie "On Any Sunday" has sold at auction for $230,500, becoming the most expensive Husqvarna ever sold, the most expensive motocross bike ever sold, the most expensive dirt bike ever sold and the second most expensive two-stroke ever sold.

Motorcycle auctions have always been somewhat of a sideshow during Monterey Car Week, but just the same, some delectable machinery is scattered between the four-wheeled lots and this year saw quite a few remarkable two-wheeled offerings.

The motorcycle auction marketplace evolved rapidly at the year-defining Las Vegas auctions this year, both on a macro and micro level. Mecum's five day sale was the largest motorcycle auction ever held, while Bonhams set a new world record by fetching $979,000 for a 1951 Vincent Black Lightning.

Husqvarna teased fans with a concept road bike called the Vitpilen 701 in late 2015. The production model was recently unveiled at EICMA 2017, along with a flat-tracker styled Svartpilen 701 concept that we'd like to see make the same leap to production.

As India's gargantuan motorcycle market matures, Indian manufacturers are partnering with or acquiring brand names that focus on provenance, heritage and authenticity: Peugeot (since 1901), Triumph (since 1902), BSA (since 1903) and Husqvarna (since 1903).​

Mecum's two-day Las Vegas motorcycle sale this weekend offered an opportunity to take the pulse of the marketplace. A weak market meant many anticipated top-sellers didn't and ​most bikes went for very reasonable prices.​ We have included "no sales" to show what's exciting and still available.

New classes for the Concorso di Motociclette Villa d'Este motorcycle beauty pageant are often conjured up from areas where most concours organizers fear to tread. This year the eccentric category choices all offered an opportunity to celebrate different aspects of transportation heritage.

Kawasaki introduced a full traction control system in last year's KX450F and now it's Husqvarna's turn to follow suit,​ debuting the tech on its four-stroke motocross models for 2017. There's also new WP front forks for the whole lineup and a brand new TC250 two-stroke.

Despite a venerable off-road tradition, Husqvarna is now turning its focus to road-going motorcycles. The Vitpilen 701 concept bike was unveiled at EICMA as a sign of things to come, with the company having already announced that two smaller Vitpilen versions are headed for production.