RDING THE HUSKY FE501S HERITAGE EDITION DUAL-SPORT: THE WRAP

Last week we took delivery of a beautiful new bike. It’s the 2025 Husqvarna FE501s Heritage Edition. This is at the very top of the dual-sport food chain. It’s fully legal in all 50 states and, at its core, it isn’t that far removed from the bike that Malcolm Stewart just used to win the Tampa Supercross. And, it’s expensive. It sells for $13,499. That makes it the most expensive off-road bike that Husqvarna offers–the only model that costs more is the Norden adventure bike.

What makes it the “Heritage Edition” is a blue cosmetic treatment that adds $300 to the price of the standard FE501S, which is the second-most expensive Husky in the off-road line. There are no mechanical differences. The FE501S got a major change last year. The frame was redesigned, the angle of the motor was altered and a long list of other changes brought it to the same page as the 2024 motocross bike.

Here’s a weird fact: the FE501S dual-sport bike has more rear suspension travel and a taller seat height than the FC450 motocross bike. That’s because the motocross bikes in Husqvarna’s line carry the distinction of having reduced suspension travel compared to KTM and GasGas MX models. This was done to lower the seat height and provide brand differentiation. That distinction does not extend beyond the motocross models. The Husky has the same suspension travel and seat height as the GasGas EC450S dual-sport. It gets a little confusing if you want to compare it to a KTM. The EXC500 has a taller seat height than any of them because it has PDS rear suspension without linkage. Up front, the FE has a WP Xact coil-spring fork. This replaces the earlier Xplor fork and is a hit. Also, the Braktec brakes and hydraulics that came on earlier Husqvarna dual-sport bikes have been replaced with Brembo components.

In absolutely stock trim, the Husky is a great off-road bike. You could take it right out of the crate and ride a National Enduro with nothing more than a change of tires. On our scale, it’s 253 pounds without fuel but with mirrors, lights and everything. Even with EPA mapping, the FE runs clean and crisp. There’s no backfiring, no hesitation and very few of the glitches that define bikes with U.S. emissions equipment. It will occasionally cough if you run the motor too low for too long, but it’s otherwise very smooth. The only real penalty for the EPA stuff is outright horsepower. For a bike with 511cc of displacement, the 501 isn’t especially powerful. On the trail, of course, no one wants a full-blown motocross bike. It would be unrideable. It has all you need riding, but if you go hill-climbing or desert riding, it could use more steam. If you want more power, it isn’t that hard to find. JD Jetting, Athena GET and Vortex all make stuff that will turn the bike into a closed-course competition bike. Before you do any of that, you need to swap out the street-oriented stock tires for full knobbies (DOT approved or not).

You probably won’t have to spend anything on suspension. The fork and shock are perfect for brisk trail riding at moderate speed. The previous generation was far too soft, particularly in the front. It was good for plonking through rocks in first gear, but beyond that, it would dive and bottom. The new coil-spring Xact fork is still pretty good at the low-speed stuff, but its true calling is apparent when the pace picks up and you start play-racing with your buddies. The current chassis compliments the suspension by providing a very level platform. Among the changes that came last year was the repositioning of the countershaft sprocket relative to the swingarm pivot. This reduces the see-sawing that comes with acceleration and braking. Another characteristic of that chassis is increased vertical rigidity. That doesn’t sound like something you need for a dual-sport bike, but if you compare the new 501 to the previous one, the increase in overall stability is undeniable. Is it too stiff? That’s impossible to say because the new suspension is so much better that the chassis rigidity is effectively hidden. The production motocross chassis has actually been altered once more since this generation to offer a little more flex. Husqvarna says they won’t update the FE until the next major model change, which is years away. For now, this FE501 has a far better chassis/suspension set-up than any previous generation. You can read the full test in the May, 2025 print edition of Dirt Bike.

HUSKY E-BIKE UPDATE

You probably saw this bike in reports right after the EICMA show. It was said to be a new electric dual-sport bike from Husqvarna called the Pioneer. KTM also announced its new Freeride E at the same time–it’s based on the same bike. The story was that it was a completely new bike that shared  nothing with the previous Freeride E, which was mostly outsourced by KTM. Both bikes were supposed to arrive soon in the U.S. Well, with the shut-down at the KTM factory, that project has been delayed. As if KTM/Husqvarna didn’t have enough trouble, Honda called up to report that the “Pioneer” name was already taken–a Honda Utility side-by-side has used that name for years. The bikes are still coming, but maybe as 2026 models. The Husky will definitely have a different name. You can check out all the other 2025 dual-sport bikes in our 2025 Dual Sport Buyer’s Guide here.

2026 BETA DUAL-SPORT

Also arriving late will be the Beta dual-sport bikes, which are about two months away. With the delay, Beta management decided to skip the 2025 model year and simply call the bikes 2026 models. There will once again be four models; a 500RS, 430RS, 390RS and 350RS. They look virtually identical but have distinct personalities. Pricing is to be announced.

BETA 450RC

Here’s a bike that you can get right now. Beta has a new model called the 450RC. It’s a cross-country bike designed to compete with the Honda CRF450RX, Kawasaki KX450X and KTM 450XC-F. All those bikes have taken heat for being little more than motocross bikes with 18-inch wheels. That’s true of the Beta, as well. It’s very much like the 450RX motocross bike, but with a larger tank, an 18-inch wheel and handguards. We’re okay with that. It sound like a good bike for the NGPC races out west. We already have on in the shop and will be testing it very soon.

That’s all for now!