KTM Enduro

Andy J

Andy J

Hero member
Location
Isle of Man
I attended the usual Saturday old biker gathering on Saturday and when I arrived at the cafe in St Johns there were two bike magazines on the table. A quick glance and I thought 'they must be for me' as they both appeared to have articles about Laverda. True enough, one had a write up on fifty years since the launch of the Jota, but with the other, Classic Dirt Bike, I had mistakenly thought the bike on the front was an LH when in fact it is a KTM. However, the similarities (to me) seem far too many to be a coincidence, or is it just a case of if different people put the same parameters into a design program it will spit out the same result? And has anyone ridden both the LH and the KTM and how did they compare (accepting the KTM is a larger capacity)?
 

Attachments

  • 234AF7C4-C78E-4985-8BAA-0EA5D2F7CF74.jpeg
    234AF7C4-C78E-4985-8BAA-0EA5D2F7CF74.jpeg
    190.9 KB · Views: 17
I had a ride on one of the 450 4-stroke Enguros a good while back. I didnt gell with it at all. Strong power off the bottom was hard to control. I guess it might take time. Many years back, I tried a KTM air-cooled 250 2-stroke, but it had one of those Lecron carbs fitted. That was interesting, very flat power delivery. It pulled, but in a very un2stoke like way. I guess just like most cars these days, the computer positions where the people go and adjust the rest to fit. Same SAme. Never laid eyes on any off-road Laverda before Yogis Atlas and then mine. I doubt there are any in Oz. The Husky-engined Laverda surprised me. I guess they got engines out of Sweden before Husky got bought and sold a dozen times in the late 1980s.
 
Last edited:
I used to have a 400 air cooled twin shock KTM , mine had a six speed 250 gearbox, very well made, engine was superb. Fibreglass tank .
Husqvarna motor was a game changer , SWM copied it and got a slap, but Honda also copied it which is why early CR500 had a left hand kickstarter! 🤔 Laverda wasn’t a significant player back then like KTM & Husqvarna. My KTM rear shocks springs would close up under the resonance of the revving motor- rev it up in neutral and the back dropped- don’t know if it did that when riding?
 
KTM own Husqvarna ........... the Laverda LH bikes were basically Husqvarnas in disguise ( Laverda Husqvarna ) ......... When Cagiva acquired Husqvarna in the mid-nineties , Husky production moved from Sweden to Italy ....... then with KTM ownership in 2013 moved over to Austria .

Now KTM owned the rights , maybe the early KTM Enduros from that period were based on those mid-nineties Italian Husqvarnas ...... which were also closely related to the Laverda LH series from the `eighties ......... although they would have been an out-dated design by then ......

Or ........ maybe more likely ...... Perhaps KTM had some sort of arrangement with Cagiva or Husqvarna ..... ( back in the `nineties , prior to takeover ) ....... which allowed them to market the Italian Husky / Laverda lookalike bikes with the KTM badge stuck on it .........

( Maybe ...... ) ..........
 
Last edited:
I gave up remembering who owned what after about 4 backflips over those years. Made me laugh though when they would swap the name on KTM 125 GP bikes again back and forth between Husky and KTM.It's a bit sad, really, as Husky is over 100 years old and, like BSA, started as a Gun maker, hence the Tank Badge shape being like a Gun sight.
 
If I recall correctly the LH series were built for a short period around 1977/78. The KTM in the article is from 1979, so they sort of overlap, so could have had some form of cross fertilisation. However, that was years before the KTM/Husky tie up?
And as an aside, it was a LH frame/rolling chassis that was used by Laverda for the prototype GS they built for BMW.
 
When the company was founded in 1689 they needed water power to make weapons. Thus they established in the town Huskvarna where there was a waterfall they could use. The company just took the name of the town. Probably there was already a mill there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top