Lindström motocross

Lindström motocross racers were a type of motocross motorcycle developed by Göte Lindström .

Göte Lindström started a motorcycle repair business in the city of Limhamn in the southern province of Scania, Sweden. He started to tune the native Husqvarna brand of motorcycles, and soon developed a reputation as an expert tuner.

In 1955, with the advent of the lightweight (75kg,165lbs) Husqvarna 282 Silverpilen, a 175 cc, 2-stroke, 9.5 HP motorcycle geared towards young riders, he got a material that would respond well to his tuning efforts. The success, in 1959, of a factory modified 250 cc motocross version demonstrated the potential of the new design, but no racers were sold to the public at this time.

This opened an opportunity for aftermarket tuners, such as Flink and Lindström. Based on the stock Husqvarna 282 engine, Göte Lindström cast larger bore cylinders of his own design and production, that resulted in a 236 cc displacement with the stock crank. Stroking the crank resulted in a 246 cc displacement, just under the 250 cc class limit. The engines also featured high compression heads, higher crankcase compression through the use of round balances, a larger bore, 32 mm, Bing carburetor and a custom made, dynamometer tested expansion chamber exhaust system. The chassis was custom made by Egon Gustavsson, who crafted light yet rigid double cradle frame with a rear swingarm sprung by two Girling units. The front fork was a Ceriani motocross telescope-type, an improvement over the earlier "Earls type" swingarm front forks, that had previously been favored by light weight motocrosses. What remained of the stock Husqvarna were the wheel hubs and the engine cases.

The Lindström custom motocrosses competed directly, and sometimes successfully, with the Husqvarna factory motocross racers. The Husqvarna 282 Silverpilen went out of production in 1965, but much of the parts that went into the road motorcycle continued to be used in the form of a dedicated motocross, the Husqvarna motocross.

The last year for Lindström motocross racer production was 1967. At that point Göte Lindström faced a decision between a costly expansion of production, or to stop production, and was now also facing competition from the Husqvarna factory which now, after 8 years, had started to sell motocross racers directly to the public. Göte Lindström desided to stop production, and returned to servicing road motorcycles.

Meantime, with the more rigid motocross frame and the enlarged engine, the Husqvarna motocross was a huge success, including in the United States, where World Championship rider Torsten Hallman helped a dealer to popularize the sport of motocross and espescially the Husqvarna motorcycles. The Husqvarna motocrosses continued to use the same basic engine as in the original Husqvarna 282 Silverpilen from 1955, but with four speeds instead of three and with larger displacements, 250 cc, 360 cc and finally, in 1969, 400 cc. The final year for the original 1955 engine design was 1971, now producing over 40 HP, more than four times the original design.