My Husaberg 501 Supermoto
Well I loved my XR650, it was a fantastic road bike with a fearsome top speed
(unlike many motards) but since I seemed to be using it less and less on the
road after buying my VTR, and doing more supermoto tracks instead I was starting
to lust after something lighter, more agile and less top-heavy once on the
loose stuff. One sunny day I called round to a friend's to get a tyre swapped
over and he had swapped his Husaberg 650 for a brand new 450 model. I sat
on it and could not believe how light it was there was just no weight whatsoever!
How they can make a bike so light is a mystery. The XR650 weighs approx 142kg
dry, the 650 Husaberg for comparison weighs 114kg! 
In
fact there is only 5kg difference between the entire Husaberg range, from
the 450 to the 650, enduro models included.
That was it. I HAD to have one!! 
Well plans were put in motion, I managed to source one of the last 2003 501's
at a heavily discounted price so I reluctantly put the XR up for sale and
cleaned her up. Even after 18 months use in all types of weather and conditions
she came up practically like new. Compared to most other XR';s mine had had
an easy life, I have too much mechanical sympathy to ride it like it should
be ridden I guess... A friend of a friend heard it was for sale, came round
and we haggled out a deal. From then on it was just a case of waiting for
the 501 to have it's 17" wheels sorted out. 
Eventually the wheels were sorted, and I took delivery. It was a week before I could ride it because it was registered on an 04 plate, yet there was still a week to go before the 04 registrations took effect.
One of the reasons I chose a 501 was because it’s a happy medium of power
and reliability. The 450’s are proper rev-monsters but that might get tiresome
on the road, and even singles that are designed for high revs don’t like being
held at high rpm’s for long – especially Husabergs. On the road you’re much
more likely to keep it pinned for a few miles compared to track use and it
had to be happy in either scenario. The 650’s are a beast, loads of grunt
but with less top end, some might say too much of a handful for most people.
Also because all the engines in the range use the same crank & case design
(the engine was designed for a 400cc capacity then bored & stroked out for
the bigger capacities) the 650s have been known to go BOOM every now and then.
So a 501 or 550 sits somewhere
between the two. Enough usable grunt for most situations, yet it can rev hard
too.
On the first ride I basically went about 20 miles with occasional bursts
of throttle (not full throttle though) then went home and dropped the oil.
If anyone’s wondering about the best way to run an engine in I strongly suggest
you read the articles here I then started to use it progressively harder over
the next 40 miles but never holding it at high revs. Initially I was surprised
at how tame the power was low down in the rev range, there seemed to be not
much power there at all really. However once I had a few miles on it and gave
it some more throttle you soon find out that it’s very tame on the first 1/3
throttle, but once beyond that the power comes in anywhere and at any revs.
In second gear it just wheelies if you wind it on too quick, and in third gear it’ll wheelie on the power happily with a tug of the bars or if you bounce the forks a little. I wouldn’t be surprised if it would lift in fourth with a bit of clutch either.
Around where I live there are some new houses being built and plenty of loose-surfaced
construction roads, some are concrete but covered in dust and debris, and
some are pure gravel. The lack of weight became instantly apparent the moment
I got the 501 onto the dirt. Whereas the XR felt top heavy in this situation
the 501 actually felt lighter than on tarmac! It just encourages you to get
your weight forward and get on the gas to get some nice powerslides going.
Also the Maxxis Goldspeeds work really well on loose stuff, better than any
other tyre I’ve tried yet, plus they’re faultless on tarmac too and they last
quite well – what more could you ask for??
Also around this time the Beringer brake setup really started to bite nicely.
I’ve never been able to do much more than pull a standing stoppie, but within
5 minutes practice I could hoik a stoppie up in 2nd gear (20mph or so) and
hold it to a standstill. 
Forget two-finger braking, one finger is usually enough on this setup!
The 501 just after delivery...
Beringer 310mm disc and 6-pot caliper…by eck these babies stop ya...
Here's the spec when I bought it:
2003 Husaberg FE501 on an 04 plate
Behr / KTM 17” rims – 3.5” front and 5” rear (allows better tyre choice)
Talon gold-anodised hubs
Beringer 310mm disc
Beringer 6-pot caliper
Brembo master cylinder & braided hoses
Maxxis Goldspeed Streetsports – street legal intermediates (Silver compound)
Going off the stock figures & dyno charts, weight is approx 112kg and power should be around 46-48rwhp
So far I’ve only added the tripmaster switchgear, nothing else. It’s basically
a 3-button gizmo that mounts on the bar and plugs straight into the loom behind
the headlight, and effectively ‘unlocks’ lots of features of the stock digital
dash unit such as avg speed/max speed/trip meter/clock etc I don’t see much
point in bolting on loads of goodies that will just add weight and cost money
if they get broke in a tumble. Also 48hp may not seem a huge amount but with
the light weight it’s plenty enough to get the job done. Given Husaberg’s
reputation for (lack of) reliability I think I’m just gonna leave the carb/engine/exhaust
setup as it is. More and more supermoto tracks are coming under fire for excessive
noise so at least this way I know I won’t have a problem using it on track
or get hassle from the police.
The factory digital speedo unit...
From another angle...
