Our feature story about the old Rokon Automatic motocross and enduro bikes was a huge hit with our readers. /journal/2011/2/13/looking-back-at-rokons-amazing-automatics.html

It was so popular that we’re back at it again this month, this time digging into the guts of another forgotten gem of moto-technology.

In the ‘70s the concept of dirt bikes with automatic transmissions was all the rage. Magazines proclaimed this was the wave of the future! Rokon was achieving success with their automatics at international enduros and motocross nationals, and even Honda released a street bike or two with automatic transmissions.

Husqvarna went about developing an automatic transmission version of their enduro bike for the Swedish army, only rather than take the ‘simple is good’ American style of engineering employed by Rokon the Swedish company took a more technical approach. They developed three and four speed automatic transmissions, and between 1976 and 1988 their effective design remained essentially the same with only minor improvements.

But how did the Husky automatic work? Drive was taken up by a centrifugal clutch, then a series of a dog clutches were engaged sequentially to shift to higher gears. It was simple, effective and fairly reliable. Downshifting? When you chopped the throttle the transmission went into free-wheel mode, and when you got back on the gas the gearbox determined which gear to engage by the speed of the rear wheel.

Neat stuff like this Cycle World cover from 1976 is available from www.dadsvintageads.com

Initial reports from the motorcycle media varied, but Husky did sell their army machines to the Swedish military for twelve years and serious enduro riders learned to accept the AE line of race bikes. As the years went by the Husky Automatics created a small but loyal following of top riders, but outside of that clique they remained controversial and were rarely seen.

The ultimate Husky Auto was perhaps the 1988 430AE. It’s torquey water cooled engine pulled hard through a three-speed automatic transmission and was mated to a good handling chassis.

As a teenager in the mid-80s I remember seeing photos of Terry Cunningham racing a Husky Auto in U.S. motorcycle magazines. During that same era I watched Canadian Paul Andratis destroy his competition at our local CMA National Enduros and Provincial Hare Scrambles. Curious to learn more about the Husky Automatics I contacted Cunningham and Andratis, finding them happy to discuss these unique machines and the stellar careers they had racing them.

Offroadmotorcycles.ca: What made you decide to race a Husky automatic enduro bike?

Terry Cunningham: It happened by fate really. Bob Popiel told me if I ever wanted to try an Auto that I could use the one we had sitting in the Husqvarna East warehouse facility. Well, after a DNF on Saturday in Alabama I drove 13 hours back to Ohio, and since that was the only bike available on such short notice I took it and won a mud fest enduro by a 13 point spread! Then, four championships later, you have history!

Paul Andratis: By 1985 I had been with Husqvarna for two years and had heard stories about the Husky ‘Auto’ bikes. For 1986 Husqvarna had updated the Auto to the new single shock chassis and water-cooling. Some of the top American Enduro stars of the day, like Terry Cunningham and Mike Melton, were having great success on them in the late summer of ’85 and I was curious to try something new.

What kind of reaction did you get from other riders when you showed up with the Husky Auto? Were they sceptical about the bike or curious to see if it was actually competitive?

Cunningham: There was some scepticism, but at the end of the day and by the last Enduro National in Oklahoma that all went away quickly.

Andratis: Curious! Everyone was. Most people were somewhat sceptical and voiced concerns about reliability. Some said that part of racing is manual gear selection, but I was focused more on which was faster! Funny story: On several occasions after races or out riding I would offer friends or fellow racers to take it for a ride. My main rival at the time refused to take up the offer, and wouldn’t give a reason why. I think he didn’t want to know what advantage it offered…

How did the Husky Auto tranny work? Can you explain the basic design of the transmission? I’ve learned from researching there were four-speeds at first and then three-speeds later…

TC: It has three brass weights, or shoes, that are held back by springs of different tensions. Once centrifugal force takes over they hook up with the steel drum they reside in, and thus engagement is done. The gears have what is called a one-way bearing which locks in one direction and slips in the other. This allows the bike to drive forward or to free wheel whenever you’re off the throttle. As far as the four and three speeds, the earlier models, 360/390/420, were four-speeds and the 500 was a three-speed.

PA: The Husky Auto had three gears, all driven by centrifugal clutches like a chainsaw, but what else would you expect from a chainsaw company? First gear engaged just above idle and as engine speed increased the next gear would take over. You could feel the shift points, but there was one continuous rooster tail from a stand still all the way to top speed.

Was it hard to adapt to riding with an automatic transmission?

TC: To make a long story short, the shoe fit really well, so I wore it!

PA: The Husky Auto had no clutch lever and no shifter lever. The right side of your brain worked the controls the left side of you body had nothing to do. So all that free brain resource was channelled into one thing: reading the terrain! Learning to go fast became second nature. To take full advantage of the Husky Auto you had to treat the throttle as an on/off switch. Don’t let off until you are ready to brake for a corner. There is no engine braking at all. So naturally if you’re not on the gas, what else is there…. braking. With that technique you couldn’t help but be aggressive, so the speed just came naturally.

What were your best results on the Husky Auto?

TC: I was a four-time AMA National Enduro Champion, and I couldn’t begin to even think of how many other races I won with it.

PA: The two years I raced the Auto I had the best results of my career! Two National and Provincial Enduro Titles, a Hare Scrambles Provincial Title, plus overall winner at numerous events including the Corduroy Enduro in 1987.

What did you feel was the Husky Auto’s biggest advantage?

TC: The biggest advantage was never having to worry about shifting or stalling! Disadvantages?

Disadvantages were….? Were….? Well, wheelies were hard to do!

PA: Advantages? It naturally made you an aggressive racer. You could be tapped out in top gear and come up to a sharp first gear corner, brake as hard as you needed lock the rear wheel with no fear of stalling, make your turn, gas it and you were ‘Auto’matically in the proper gear. It was less fatiguing in long races with no clutch or shifter. Most would say lack of engine braking was a disadvantage, however I saw it as an advantage in more precise braking. Disadvantages? The tranny ran so hot you would burn your finger if you touched it. It was noisy too; not the exhaust note but the tranny itself, with the first gear clutch mounted on the crank and all those springs and moving parts clanking around. I had to wear earplugs when I rode it.

Do you think the Husky automatic transmission would be effective in ‘new school’ enduros with so many extreme and motocross sections?

TC: I think so, but the new guys don’t! You just had to think ahead some when you wanted to jump it, that’s all.

PA: I think it would be great, because it worked best in technical terrain.

Were they reliable? I have heard horror stories about the cost of maintaining them, that they required teardowns every week…

TC: As long as you rode the Husky Auto HARD you would not have to work on it at all. But, if you just played around on it you were looking for trouble…

PA: The transmission worked best and ran cooler in full throttle situations; trail riding just above idle was hard on them due to heat build up from the slipping primary clutch. They were very expensive and maintenance intensive motorcycles to race. The tranny needed a complete teardown after every race or ride. It could be done in an hour or two, as the entire transmission can be taken out with the engine still in the bike. Everything came out from the side covers. The first gear clutch was a high wear item and it needed replacing every 3 or 4 races. The first gear clutch was its weak point; not only was it costly to have to replace it so often but all that wearing metal floated around in the transmission and prematurely wore out other expensive parts. In the two years I raced that bike I probably spent the equivalent of the bike’s original purchase price just in transmission parts…but it was worth every penny for the performance that it rewarded! I raced the same bike two full seasons, 30+ races, with only one broken primary spring which was replaced trail side. Other Auto owners did encounter mechanical failures, but they were mostly due to not following the proper maintenance schedule and less aggressive riding techniques.

Aside from the transmission did other parts, like the engine top-end or brakes, wear out faster or slower than normal? How about chains and tires?

TC: That stuff was completely equal to other bikes.

PA: Every thing else was the same, but it may have seemed less at the time because the main concern was the transmission.

A beautifully restored Husky Auto VMX bike, from www.vintagemx.us

Modern two and four stroke race bikes, off-road or motocross, have very wide powerbands compared to the old days. Do you believe an automatic transmission would be worthwhile on a new age fuel-injected four-stroke? Why do you think the manufacturers haven’t continued to pursue the concept?

TC: I truly believe in my heart that if the Japanese would have done, or would do, something with automatic transmission technology they would have sold thousands of them! They would still sell thousands if they did it. I have no idea why they would not venture into that market…

PA: I think the auto concept would mate great with some new technology! The ultimate would be to have a crank-mounted primary clutch, similar to the BMW inspired TE449, that incorporated a Rekluse or Revloc automatic design in a power-valved direct injected two stroke! Why the manufacturers have not pursued the Automatic is just as baffling to me as why some manufacturers have not advanced the two-stroke…

Thank you Terry Cunningham and Paul Andratis for providing the photos and so much great information! And ya, now I want a Husky Auto too…will my obsession with interesting old dirt bikes ever end?