This is a '79. Personally, I prefer the '80, because the rear fender is better matched to the 12" rear travel, but it's still hard to fault Big Blue. And to top it off, my dad bought the thing for under $700, although of course that was back in the early '90s. The reason he got it was that the bike he had before, a '77 Maico AW250, just couldn't do battle with the mid-'80s 500cc monsters his riding buddies would bring. Or rather, it was faster in the turns but was a joke on the straights. And of course, as soon as he got the 390, each one of the riding buddies, to a man, stopped riding!
And speaking of starting, this particular 390 is a bit funky to start, because the previous owner thought he could improve the kickstarter by making it six inches long. It's less leverage than even my 120, but fortunately it's an easy-starting sweet-heart and doesn't really give much trouble. And honestly, I can't say I've ever seen a Husky kick back very hard. Maicos, though, I've seen them practically launch people into the sky. They say the 501 had a reputation for bending knees backwards.
