1966 Husqvarna 250 | The Bike That Changed my Life

Rider: Malcolm Smith

Then: 25-year-old bike shop owner and off-road racer

Now: Legendary star of On Any Sunday and owner of Malcolm Smith Motorsports

“My first motorcycle was a 1949 Matchless single with a rigid frame. I’d ride desert races on that thing and pee blood for the next week. Anything I rode seemed like an upgrade after that! I raced everything: a BSA Gold Star, an old 250cc Greeves… I was racing the Greeves when Edison Dye, the early motocross promoter and Husqvarna’s first U.S. importer, walked into my shop one day looking for someone to ride his 250. He had air-freighted two bikes over from Sweden—the first Husqvarnas in America—and he had one with him that day. This was 1966. All it took was one ride and I was sold. I rode it on a small motocross track we had laid out near my store. It was night-and-day compared to anything else out there. The Husky was so light and so agile compared to the Greeves, and a lot more solid feeling. I came back from that ride and said, ‘Mr. Dye, you have yourself a rider.’ I raced it for the first time the next weekend in the desert and won by 22 minutes. I raced for Husqvarna for 20 years after that, and I was one of their first U.S. dealers, too. I still love riding Husqvarnas, and we still sell them today.”