Fowlers Motorcycles, in Bristol, will host a 120th anniversary celebration for Husqvarna later this month.
The anniversary event, set for 15 July, will provide attendees with the opportunity to test ride Husqvarna’s current street motorcycle range, including the Vitpilen 401, Svartpilen 401, 701 Enduro, 701 Supermoto, Norden 901, and Norden 901 Expedition.
Lyndon Postkitt, the adventure ace and rally rider, will also be at Fowlers, hosting Q&A sessions from 13:00 as well as telling stories of his exploits on the famous Dakar rally and talking of his experience working with Husqvarna on the aforementioned Norden 901s.
Test ride bookings can be made on the Husqvarna website. Find out more about Fowlers, including where to find it, on the Fowlers of Bristol website.
Husqvarna - a bit more than 120
Husqvarna itself is much older than 120 years. In fact, the Swedish company was founded 334 years ago in 1689 when it made firearms, something it didn't stop doing until 1989.
Sewing machines and cast iron kitchen equipment were also produced by Husqvarna from the 1870s. By the end of the 19th century, the company took its first steps into the mobility market, with its first bicycles being produced in 1896.
Seven years later, the first Husqvarna motorcycles were built, and by 1959 the Swedish brand was Motocross World Champion with the rider of the same nationality, Rolf Tibblin, in the 250cc class (then the lower of two classes, below the 500cc). Tibblin would race the 500cc class with Husqvarna the following year, in 1960, and finished third in the championship, but Bill Nilsson ensured that year's top class title went the way of Husqvarna.
Tibblin got his own 500cc title in 1962 with Husqvarna, and defended successfully in 1963. In the 250cc class in those two years, Husqvarna won with Torsten Hallman.
The arrival of Belgium’s first motocross hero, Joel Robert (riding a CZ), bumped Hallman off the top step of the 250cc championship in the years that followed, but the Swede got the better of Robert in 1966 and 1967.
500cc titles followed for Husqvarna in 1969 and 1970, and then again in 1974, which is notable as Husqvarna’s only top class title won with a rider not from Sweden (instead, it was Finland’s Heikki Mikkola, who also won the 1976 250cc title with Husqvarna machinery).
By the mid-1970s, the Japanese manufacturers had arrived to dominate the Motocross World Championship (and the US scene, of course, which was producing the best motocross talents a decade later), just as they had done in the Motorcycle World Championship, and Husqvarna’s final world title came in 1979 with Hakan Carlqvist, who won that year’s 250cc crown.
Lucas Coenen, 2023 MXGP of Sumbawa (MX2). Credit: Husqvarna/Full Spectrum
More recently, since 2013, Husqvarna has shot back to prominence in the motocross scene under KTM ownership, winning premier class Grands Prix with the likes of Gautier Paulin, and MX2 GPs with riders such as Thomas Kjer Olsen, Thomas Covington, and, more recently, Kay de Wolf and Lucas Coenen. The 2018 AMA Supercross 450SX title was also won by Husqvarna with Jason Anderson.
Thanks to its aforementioned KTM ownership, Husqvarna has also become prominent in the Motorcycle World Championship (MotoGP, by now) scene, with race wins coming from riders such as Romano Fenati and Ayumu Sasaki in the Moto3 class. In 2023, Husqvarna has made its debut in the Moto2 World Championship.
