Husqvarna
The very first Husqvarna plant was established in 1689 as a weapons factory, the company produces an array of products from chainsaws to sewing machines and, of course, motorcycles.
It wasn’t until 1903 when the first Husqvarna motorcycle was produced in Sweden. The successful bicycle manufacturer started by installing engines from other suppliers into their own bicycle frames and it wasn’t until 1920 when they made their own.
The first engine produced in-house was a 550cc four-stroke V-twin and by the end of the 1920s, Husqvarna had developed a racing program and became quite successful both on and off road, even racing at the Isle of Man TT.
However, in the 1930s the market for large capacity motorcycles declined and the firm pulled out of road racing and changed focus to concentrate on lightweight two-strokes.
After World War II, Husqvarna produced the Svartkvarna in 1946, which was built to comply with the Swedish ‘light motorcycle’ legislation which meant a weight of no more then 75kgs.
1957 saw Husqvarna produce the Silver Arrow 175cc bike, still weighing in at under 75kgs the bike had a top speed in excess of 62mph. Later a 200cc version, dubbed the Golden Arrow, was released but this started to upset the Swedish authorities who limited Husqvarna to 75cc for their ‘light’ motorcycles.
Realising they wouldn’t face these restrictions off-road, Husqvarna began development to convert their lightweight road bikes in motocross bikes. This is where the firms long and successful association with off-road competition begins.
The first European Championship win arrived in 1959 and the World Championship followed in 1960.
Throughout the 60’s, 70’s and into the 80’s Husqvarna continued producing championship winning motorcycles.
The world began to take notice, not least of all when Steve McQueen rode a Husqvarna in the movie ‘On Any Sunday’.
In 1978 the Husqvarna company was sold to Electrolux who where mainly only interested in the non-motorcycle arm of the company and, by 1986, the company was sold to Cagiva.
Cagiva Group, who later became MV Agusta S.p.A. integrated their existing Cagiva off road range into the Husqvarna line up in 1990 and continued development of both two and four stroke off road bikes under the Husqvarna brand name.
World Championship racing was still important to Husqvarna, winning the 500cc World Championship in 1993 with Jacky Martens on the new four stroke bike, which effectively restarted the dominance of four strokes in World Championship racing.
Two stroke development continued at the same time resulting in winning the 1993 125cc World Enduro title with Paul Edmondson (who also won the British Enduro Championship in 1991, 1992 and 1993 on the WR125) and Alessio Chiodi who took the CR125 to World Championship victory in both 1998 and 1999.
The first Supermoto World Championship came in 2000 with Thierry Van Den Bosch and this is a sport in which Husqvarna continue to dominate to the current day, winning 3 out of a possible 4 World titles in 2009.
In October 2007 Husqvarna was sold once more, this time becoming part of the BMW Group.
Since then, BMW have invested in a new factory to house production, design and administration as well as research and development, in the Varese region of Italy.
New models such as the ultra light TC250 have been developed and the racing tradition of the brand continues with race campaigns for MX, Enduro and Supermoto.
HusqvarnaHusqvarna UK is pleased to announce a partnership with South Wales based Off Road Skills 
Husqvarna, now owned by BMW, has launched the first of its forthcoming range of road motorcycles
These shots appear to show the new, and much talked about, Husqvarna 900 that is set to appear at EICMA in Milan later this year
See the first sketches and drawings of the new Husqvarna 900cc motorcycle
Oberdan Bezzi shows us what he thinks the new Husqvarna 900cc motorcycle should look like
Husqvarna has reached a significant milestone in its long history by developing a street bike that will create an innovative new riding concept
Husqvarna customers aged 25 and over, purchasing selected 125cc models, are now eligible for FREE Third Party insurance
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