Table of contents

• Factory rally machine Speedbrain Husqvarna TE 449 RR Dakar motorcycle tested by MOTORRAD
• Driving report of the factory rally machine
• In general, the photographer saves the situation.
• The rally husky had a difficult childhood
• The hum reveals that the crankshaft is turning backwards
• Although WP Suspension belongs to the Dakar archenemy KTM, the fork also supplies the Husky reserves
• Barreda will prove it: the Husqvarna is capable of winning
• Husqvarna TE 449 RR
• Dakar 2013- The final

Jahn

22nd pictures

Jahn

1/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

2/22
Wheels: To avoid flat tires, foam rubber rings (mousse) are always used in rallying instead of air hoses. However, the less compressible foams do not absorb hard hits as well and pass the load on to the wheels. The rear wheel of Joan Barreda’s machine is clearly marked by the rigors of the third stage of this year’s Dakar.

Jahn

3/22
Tanks: The three tanks of the Husqvarna Rally hold a total of 30 liters. 8.5 liters slosh in the front, 2.5 liters in the auxiliary tank positioned directly behind the cylinder. The self-supporting monocoque rear frame takes up 19 liters and saves a considerable amount of width compared to a construction with attached tanks. The regulations require a minimum range of 250 kilometers.

Jahn

4/22
The second trip master (bottom left) is used for control, the antenna (bottom right) is connected to the GPS device provided by the organizer. Every driver also has a satellite phone for emergencies.

Jahn

5/22
Cockpit: lawn alone is not enough. For navigation, the rally drivers use the combination of trip master (top left), compass (top right) and the paper road book (center).

Jahn

6/22
The Dakar factory cars from Husqvarna are largely built in the halls of the Bavarian Speedbrain team.

Jahn

7/22
The factory machine is also offered as a customer motorcycle. The price: 35,000 euros.

Jahn

8/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

9/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

10/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

11/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

12/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

13/22
Four stage wins for Joan Barreda: The 29-year-old Spaniard is the most hopeful talent in rallying.

Jahn

14/22
A lot of friend, a lot of honor: it doesn’t happen every day that four works drivers explain the technology to a single driver at the same time.

Jahn

15/22
Carefully get used to each other? Pah, this bike wants the quickie.

Jahn

16/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

17/22
Factory rally machine Husqvarna TE 449 RR.

Jahn

18/22
… With inlet valves operated by rocker arms, the drive, manufactured by Kymco in Taiwan, is considered to be speed-stable and reliable. The peak performance is limited to 60 to 65 hp in favor of greater stability.

Jahn

19/22
Engine: The genes of the unconventional BMW G 450 X are also reflected in the engine of the Husqvarna rally bike. The crankshaft runs backwards, the clutch sits directly on the crankshaft stub, an intermediate gear corrects the direction of rotation. …

Jahn

20/22
According to the regulations, the frame – see the straight tube running from the steering head to the swing arm bearing – has to be similar in its basic features to that of the original basic motorcycle, the BMW G 450 X..

Jahn

21/22
Frame: Apart from the engine delivered by the Husqvarna plant in Italy, the TE 449 RR is produced exclusively by the Speedbrain team in Stephanskirchen, Bavaria.

Jahn

22/22
Fifth victory for Cyril Despres: “The 2013 Dakar was extremely tough – but if it were easy, it wouldn’t be fun”.

motorcycles

Driving report: Husqvarna TE 449 RR rally factory machine

Factory rally machine Speedbrain Husqvarna TE 449 RR
Dakar motorcycle tested by MOTORRAD

Who would have thought? The Dakar factory cars from Husqvarna are largely built in the halls of the Bavarian Speedbrain team. MOTORRAD was allowed to drive one of the Andean strikers.

Peter Mayer

January 31, 2013

Driving report of the factory rally machine

This is the switch to continue rolling the road book … Don’t forget to fix the side stand … Don’t be afraid, you have to steer the bike with the rear wheel … and very important: … “The confusion of voices pushes my brain convolutions, flooded with stress hormones, to their limits. Who should I listen to, who should I look at? Which button do you need to press and which one not? I know, I know, it’s well meant And I should appreciate it. After all, it doesn’t happen every day to be briefed by four works drivers on the peculiarities of the technology of a rally machine at the same time. To be honest: never at all. If photographer Markus hadn’t documented the situation (see photo show) – after such boasting, the grandchildren would certainly apply for the next higher level of care in the distant future.

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In general, the photographer saves the situation.

“Where is the bird – where is the little bird?” Joan Barreda, Alessandro Botturi, Matt Fish and Paulo Gonçalves, said four factory pilots, grin with amusement, adjust their sponsor caps and position themselves as well as for the group picture at the senior prom. The mood is similarly exuberant, now, four weeks before the start of the world’s most popular, longest and most demanding desert rally, the Dakar. Because the dress rehearsal worked. The Husqvarna TE 449 RR by Speedbrain, which is their somewhat awkward name, worked flawlessly. The next time the single-cylinder engines will not bark again until the technical acceptance of the rally in the Peruvian capital Lima.

Except for one. Two hours – as long as are planned for lunch and the final group meeting – gives us team boss Wolfgang Fischer time for a joyride. So, slider, switch, side stand, how was that again? It doesn’t matter, press the electric start button and the single shoots off. Ballert? No roar! What’s in the Akrapovic titanium silencer? Probably not much.

Small inset: Six weeks later, the Yamaha rider and then overall leader David Casteu would have wished for a few more decibels. The Frenchman lost the lead on the ninth stage due to a collision with a cow surprised by his motorcycle.

Jahn

Much friend, much honor. It is not every day that four factory drivers explain the technology to you at the same time.

But back to the southern Spanish hinterland, where the husky’s powerful bass doesn’t bother anyone. Not a soul far and wide. We roll along a dry river bed, following in the opposite direction the tracks that the four had cut into the sandy subsoil shortly before during training. Do motorcycles also have a memory? You could almost believe it. Like a hunting dog following the track, the bolide steadfastly pulls straight forward a couple of hands next to the extended tracks. Careful getting to know each other? Get used to each other? Pah, this bike wants the quickie.

Stand up, upper body forward – and accelerate. Forgotten is the airy seat height of just under a meter or the massive instrument tower towering behind the front shield with which the bike initially earned so much respect. Any doubt about mutual cooperation dissolves faster than a mirage in a solar eclipse.

At full speed with a little gas, lift the front over a few bumps, if necessary help a little with the clutch, which can be pulled as light as a feather with a single finger – not the slightest problem. Or, even better, let yourself be catapulted by small edges over transverse lanes or rivulets – with your left. No kicking rear, no front plunging downwards. The Husqvarna is perfectly balanced, lies like the proverbial board.

The rally husky had a difficult childhood

Jahn

The tank holds 30 liters: 8.5 liters at the front, 2.5 liters directly behind the cylinder and 19 liters are stored in the monocoque rear frame.

Which is not a matter of course in rally technology in general and with the TE 449 RR in particular. After all, the still young desert fox looks back on a difficult childhood. Five years ago, in the 2008 season, the current rally husky’s 450 cc single throbbed in the first sports enduro built by BMW, the G 450 X. Whether it’s the reverse engine, the relatively flat cylinder angle, the concentric the output shaft supported by the swing arm or the delicate stainless steel frame, the courageous and unorthodox project was not very lucky. Neither does the current TE 449 sports enduro from the BMW subsidiary Husqvarna, which is powered by the same engine.

Perhaps it is the family relationships that have become orderly in the meantime that steer the former problem child in the rally garb on the path of virtue. Because while Husqvarna continues to tune and deliver the estimated 60 hp engines, the rest of the hardware is produced in-house in the former headquarters of the BMW Superbike World Championship team in Stephanskirchen, Bavaria. Speedbrain is the name of the company owned by Wolfgang Fischer, the owner, mastermind and team boss of the rally project in personal union. With six employees, the former professional sailor designs and builds the rally fleet by hand from the first drawing to the finished motorcycle. Whether the tubular steel frame, the deflection lever, the plastic rear frame, the cladding made of carbon-kevlar composite or all milled and turned parts – everything is created directly by or on behalf of the self-made team.

The hum reveals that the crankshaft is turning backwards

Jahn

The genes of the BMW G 450 X are in the engine. So here too the crankshaft runs backwards.

The sound of the 450cc single still echoes from the vertical edges of the river bed – engines with larger displacement have not been allowed at the Dakar since last year. Further ahead, a scree path has bitten its way through the bank. Turn. One finger is enough to firmly anchor the 298 disc in the front wheel. Wouldn’t have expected otherwise.

More like how the TE pans its way up the slope. Instead of throwing the stones away furiously with the rear wheel spinning, the bolide climbs stylishly up the embankment with a few thrusts like a trial bike that has gone out of joint. Only now can you hear the hum of the intermediate shaft timidly reminding you that the crankshaft of the short-stroke lift is turning backwards. The concept of the chain sprocket concentric with the swing arm axis was deliberately discarded due to the motor being moved forward. Obviously it didn’t hurt.

Although WP Suspension belongs to the Dakar archenemy KTM, the fork also supplies the Husky reserves

And anyway: where are those 150 kilos hiding? After all, the 30-liter tanks – 8.5 liters at the front, a small 2.5-liter tank with a fuel pump directly behind the cylinder and the 19-liter monocoque rear frame – are half full. Only now, at a slow pace, does the tight suspension set-up become apparent. The shock absorber and the 52 mm factory fork from WP Suspension – which, by the way, belong to the group of Dakar arch enemy KTM – unabashedly pass on small edges. There is no other way if Messrs. Barreda and Co. still need reserves with full fuel barrels and top speed 170.

What did Wolfgang say? Two hours? Better turned around. Uiuiui, whether the tight steering angle is enough to turn in narrow Chile within the national borders? On the way back, the adult program runs: speed and orientate at the same time. The core competence of a Dakar driver. Fifth gear, sixth gear. The existing lanes reduce the navigational demands on crawling group level. Nevertheless, looking for the current position in the rolled up road book on the side is beyond my coordination skills. The GPS shows just 90 km / h.

Barreda will prove it: the Husqvarna is capable of winning

My hastily changing gaze from the furrowed terrain to the Instrumentengebirge cannot capture any more. Press the button, switch the switch, read the road book – again my brain is drowning in adrenaline and Co. Until the multitasking works, the pace has dropped even further. The race management would presume that I would go on a slow strike.

Star pilot Joan Barreda certainly can’t do that. Because six weeks later, the Spaniard will have whipped the Husky to an impressive four stage victories at the Dakar 2013 – despite a violent fall, a defective rear wheel and an engine change including the loss of time. And he will have proven what had to be proven: the Husqvarna is capable of winning. There you are. I said it right away, there, in the middle of the Spanish river bed.

Husqvarna TE 449 RR

Speedbrain

Husqvarna’s cockpit: two tripmasters, a compass, a GPS device and a paper road book are required for navigation.

cockpit
Lawn alone is not enough. For navigation, the rally drivers use the combination of trip master (top left), compass (top right) and the paper road book (center). The second trip master (bottom left) is used for control, the antenna (bottom right) is connected to the GPS device provided by the organizer. Every driver also has a satellite phone for emergencies.

Tanks
The three tanks of the Rally Husqvarna hold 30 liters. 8.5 liters slosh in the front, 2.5 liters in the auxiliary tank positioned directly behind the cylinder. The self-supporting monocoque rear frame takes up 19 liters and saves a considerable amount of width compared to a construction with attached tanks. The regulations require a minimum range of 250 kilometers.

bikes
In order to avoid flat tires, foam rubber rings (mousse) are always used in rallying instead of air hoses. However, the less compressible foams do not absorb hard hits as well and pass the load on to the wheels. The rear wheel of Joan Barreda’s machine is clearly marked by the rigors of the third stage of this year’s Dakar.

frame
Apart from the engine delivered by the Husqvarna plant in Italy, the TE 449 RR is produced exclusively by the Speedbrain team in Stephanskirchen, Bavaria. According to the regulations, the frame – see the straight tube running from the steering head to the swing arm bearing – has to be similar in its basic features to that of the original basic motorcycle, the BMW G 450 X..

engine
The genes of the unconventional BMW G 450 X are also reflected in the engine of the Husqvarna rally bike. The crankshaft runs backwards, the clutch sits directly on the crankshaft stub, an intermediate gear corrects the direction of rotation. With inlet valves operated by rocker arms, the drive, manufactured by Kymco in Taiwan, is considered to be speed-stable and reliable. The peak performance is limited to 60 to 65 hp in favor of greater stability.

Motor protection
In order to create space for the voluminous tanks, the exhaust manifolds on rally bikes have to be led to the rear underneath the engine. The exposed position requires stable protection of the titanium elbows. A water tank fills the cavity between the carbon-kevlar protective pan and the engine. The regulations stipulate a minimum of three liters of drinking water.

Dakar 2013- The final

Jahn

Fifth win for Cyril Despress: “The 2013 Dakar was extremely tough – but if it were easy it wouldn’t be fun.”

Revenge in orange

After the first half of this year’s Dakar Rally in South America, the KTM works team – company color orange – looked like the big loser. But it is hardly surprising that it did not stop there.

Unexpected interim result after the first of the two Dakar weeks in 2013: David Casteu, more of an outsider on a Yamaha, in first place, defending champion Cyril Despres from the KTM factory team, which has been unbeaten for eleven years, only in fifth position, Javier Pizzolito as the best representative of the with great effort Honda factory team that returned to Dakar was only in tenth position – there was a little sensation in the air?

No, the result after the eighth of 15 stages was just a snapshot. At the finish, five KTMs took first places, above all Despres, who celebrated his fifth overall victory. Yamaha rider Casteu had retired, his brand colleague Olivier Pain was able to save sixth place. Even the unlucky Honda works driver Helder Rodrigues had made it into the top ten. Joan Barreda from the Speedbrain Husqvarna team was unable to do so, although he was one of the most successful motorcyclists of the Dakar 2013 with four stage wins – technical problems had thrown him far behind after the fifth day.

Ingo Zahn came in 85th place at the destination Santiago de Chile and was satisfied. “With around 70 drivers in the elite class, a private driver is no longer an option,” said the only German starter in the field – and is already planning for the 2014 Dakar.

Final result of the Dakar Rally 2013:
1. Cyril Despres (F), KTM, 43:24:22
2. Ruben Faria (P), KTM, +10.43 min
3. Francisco López (RCH), KTM, +18.48 min
4. Ivan Jakeš (SK), KTM, +23.54 min
5. Juan Pedrero (E), KTM, +55.29 min
6. Olivier Pain (F), Yamaha, +1: 06.30 a.m.
7. Helder Rodrigues (P), Honda, +1: 11.22 h
8. Javier Pizzolito (RA), Honda, +1: 26.07 h
9. Frans Verhoeven (NL), Yamaha, +1: 26.35 h
10. Paulo Gonçalves (P), Husqvarna, +1: 28.20 h
85. Ingo Zahn (D), KTM, +15: 56.07 h

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