SWM motorcycles have their roots set pretty deep in the dirt, having started simply because of a desire to have a competitive four stroke off-road motorcycles.
In the 70s they were the odd one out, with pretty much all the leading brands opting to develop two strokes, especially in the small displacement categories. With their small Sachs engines they were surprisingly competitive, they were well tuned and optimized for the chassis built around the engines. They then started making bigger Rotax powered bikes with improved torque and relatively light weight, and as a result got more competitive, especially in trials competition.
Sadly, like most small companies their success was brief, shuttering in the mid-80s, only to be revived 30 years later in 2014 thanks in no small part to their old rival Husqvarna.
The Competition Days Of SWM
Pretty much the only reason SWM came into existence was for competition. Other Italian bikes were starting to lag behind and to keep up with overseas bikes they had to take matters into their own hands, literally.
They designed and built three models in the early years to compete in the 100cc and 125cc classes. They also made a 50cc two-stroke (which was made by Morini) mini bike. The 100cc and 125cc engines were initially supplied by Sachs and for the most part were competition ready engines. They started well but decided to change suppliers, opting for a wider selection of engines made by Rotax. These would evolve into their most famous and loved bikes, carrying them to several victories and establishing SWM as the perennial plucky underdog.
Sales were in decline by the 80s and the small company just couldn’t keep up with the rapidly advancing and improving opposition, by 1984 they were no more.
A New Era For SWM
When KTM bought Husqvarna from bmwthey left behind a perfectly capable, well tooled factory in Italy, a remnant from Husqvarna’s time with Cagiva.
It gave the Shineray group an opportunity to revive the SWM brand, although you can imagine they could have probably selected any one of the many dead Italian brands, this shoe fit particularly well. SWM had always been 100% focused on their dirt bikes, and with all the tooling for the old Husqvarna dirt and enduro bikes at their disposal, this was a shrewd move in terms of marketing.
Although wholly owned by the Chinese company, everything is still made and developed in Italy. All the current bikes are effectively reskinned Husqvana’s from around a decade ago, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Affordable quality
Ironically, if you want the most original new Husqvarna on the market today, these SWM bikes are actually what might tickle your fancy.
Same factory, same workers, just under new management and obviously some necessary emissions related adjustments. We won’t take anything away from the new Husqvarna bikes, but in truth the only thing they have left is the name, everything else is now already in the past, these Italian made bikes were for a time originally engineered Huskys. With incredible competitive pricing, high levels of quality and some decent components, these old designs still hold up pretty well. They are obviously far from perfect, but if you wanted perfect, you wouldn’t be shopping for anything Italian made in the first place.
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