2005 or 2006 TC450?

Hi Guys,

I'm a newbie to the forum with a couple of question related to purchasing a used TC 450. I have a choice of purchasing a 2005 or 2006 model TC 450, both have the same owner who sounds like a very knowledgeable person who has taken excellent care of the bikes. They have approximately the same amount of use, and both have had rebuilt bottom and top ends. The price difference is negligible btw the two years - it is about a couple hundred bucks more for the 2006.

I'd buy the newer bike except for one thing: it doesn't have e-start (which the 2005 has). Installing e-start is too cost prohibitive so the 2006 would be kicker only. But here are my other concerns, which make it pretty hard to figure out which one I should buy:

• The 2005 has no backup manual kick starter (e-start only); I am worried about battery failure w/o a manual kicker
• The 2005 uses the older graphics

I am leaning towards the 2005 b/c it has e-start, but wanted to have some more seasoned opinions about my choice. TIA for any feedback about the technical differences btw years that I am overlooking.

A little about my needs: I'm getting back into off-road riding, and I will be spending time with a core group of over 40 year-old guys who all are in the "e-start" frame of mind. I'm 6'2" and 225lbs. I do riding mostly on single track and fire roads, in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, which includes high desert shrubs and no forests or any other very technical terrain in my rides. I am not overly aggressive, but I don't need the moto to have any dual purpose features- it is off road riding only.

I have a 2007 that I put an electric starter on, but my friends had a shop so the cost thing wasn't an issue, but normally ran about $1000. I know the 2007 had a kick start problem, not sure about the 06's. I keep one of those small jumper cable sets in my pack incase someone needs a jump, in 2 years never used them. Myself, if I were just trail riding I'd look at the 2005. If you wanted it to look like an 06, you could go to Motoplastics for your plastic and Guts for your seat cover. I love the button!

Thanks Oregontrail. Did you remove your 2007's kicker once you installed the magic button? It seems that to have both would be the max amount of extra weigh, i.e. the e-button system and the kick start lever (with gears, etc.); however, to have both would also be the safest way to be sure you can get the beast running.

I've never had an off road motorcycle with e-start only. I'm worried about taking a hard fall and having the battery system fail on me way out in the boonies

I don't know why you'd by a purpose-built motocross bike with electric start to trailride anyway. You need a TE.

I'd get the 2006 or just steer clear of the Husky all together and get a motocross bike that works better out of the box than the Husky will with a bunch of work done to it.

Hi Dirthead,
The reviews of the 2005 TC450 generally reported that it wasn't as much of a short-track mx bike but more like a track/enduro mix. That sounded good to me Of course, the lack of e-start/kick start combo and having a 5 speed gearbox do indeed put it in the category of track use.

I realize that it was not marketed for off-track use, and that the TE was built for the trail niche, but I thought that the TC might be a good buy for me since I believe it to be in such good shape, and it is a light and nimble 450.

I'm assuming these friends ride KTMs?

I guess my point above is that, having actually owned a 2007 TC450, which is pretty close to the same bike as those you are looking at, the TC doesn't do much really well in stock form. I just wouldn't recommend it as a "do everything" bike.

But if you change the gearing with sprockets, the bike should work Ok for what you are looking for. It is heavy and I'm mean HEAVY for what it is compared to what you can get. It does handle well and is real forgiving. It rock and rolls through the desert, but the tranny isn't really meant for this terrain. You will be in 5th almost all the time you are even going 30 mph and revving it out when things get over 50 mph.

When you go to check these bikes out, really take a look at all the rubber pieces on the bike and specifically the airbox and boot between the carb and head. The Husky rubber deteriorates real quickly and you will need to replace those pieces if they are starting to crack at all.

I d say you wouldnt have any prob with these bikes iv ridden my 06 tc in the woods here for the past four years in tight and technical rocky on stock gears never a prob one a buddy did break the kick start lever and i found a guy on tt that sold me his start kit for 200 you can always get the parts on ebay pretty cheap and it's easy to do just keep the batt maintained and ur golden good luck

I've been riding with a friend for several seasons who has an '06 TC. We ride single track tight woods and he has no complaints what so ever. I would imagine, like mentioned above, that you will have to play with the gearing to fit your conditions.
I've been a Husky owner since '02 and ride with a bunch of guys who ride Huskys as well. None of their bikes have ever had a major issue. To speak to the electric start, I have only used my kicker twice, since I bought it in '05, just to see if I could. ('04 TE 510) I was skeptical about the e-start at first also, but that went away in the first month. Someone once said to me, "Do you have a kick start on your car?" Couldn't really argue that one. Could the e-start fail? Sure, but so can everything else. Good luck in your decision. If either of the bikes you are looking at are in great shape, you won't be disappointed.
A couple friends of mine took their bikes, '00 TE 410, '07 TE 510, to Baja last Thursday. It'll be interesting to see how they held up.

Thanks for all the input! I liked Ken's quote, "..do you have a kick start on your car?"

On balance, and even with some strong points for using a TE, it sounds like using the TC would be fine for my nascent dirt-devil tendencies as long as I understand its/my limitations and the ways I can potentially adapt to them or upgarde. I'll let everyone know when I am officially part of the Husky family!