In the 60’s, Edison Dye, known by some as the father of American Motocross, convinced management at Husky to build a street-legal dual-sport to compete with the proliferation of similar bikes in the American market, like the Yamaha DT-1. The resulting bike was a high-tech wonder, the Husqvarna 360 Sportsman. But today I’ll do you one better – this Sportsman was apparently the owned and raced by none other than John Penton, and this was the bike he competed with in his last race, the 1970 ISDT in Spain.
Malcolm Smith won a gold medal with the Sportsman in the ISDT, but the high MSRP ($1,089) was too much of a barrier for consumers, and it sold poorly. The bike had a 4.2 gallon fuel tank, 8-speed hi-lo transmission, and only 252 pounds of weight. Want to learn more? Check out a period review of the bike from Cycle magazine in 1969, hosted by Ye Olde Cycle Shoppe.
This specific Husqvarna 360 Sportsman was completely restored 3 years ago and is claimed to be in museum quality. It comes with complete documentation (including an invoice with a note stating that the bike was brought back from Spain by John) – Husky said that just 7 of these bikes were sold into Spain originally. The sale also includes some memorabilia including a original 1970 ISDT riders map and helmet. Penton won a gold medal on this bike – what will you do with it?
Find this Husqvarna 360 Sportsman for sale in Tulsa, Oklahoma with bidding up to $8,200