2010 TE250 Power Up and Protection (and my Introduction)

I just got a new 2010 TE250 last week. It's my first real dirt bike. I'm a rather experienced road rider, who did some racing back in the day and now fuddles with vintage bikes. A couple years back I took Rich Oliver's Mystery school as my into to dirt riding and then bought my first dirt bike, a Honda CRF150F. It was just a “play bike” but I spent some fun time on it at Ocotillo Wells. Eventually I ended up riding with some friends, and I tried a buddy’s Yamaha WR250F. I was shocked at what a difference the bigger wheels and real suspension made! And yes it had alot more power, but it was the suspension and wheels that sold me, I had to get a real bike.
The other thing that happened is my old truck was totaled when we were hit from behind. I ended up getting a 4WD pickup and took it through the Anza Borrego desert wth my wife. Wow, there were some great trails there, and all off limits unless you had a street legal vehicle. Hmm.
And so I started looking at plate-able dirt bikes. And found there appeared to be only one good one the Husqvarna TE250/310. Since I didn’t need the power of the TE310, I was sold on a great deal on a leftover 250.

First I have to thank Coffee and everyone on this forum, it has been a great help for me. And an special thank you to Dan and this thread:
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/living-with-a-2010-husky-te-510.6249/
That's a great thread on setting up your TE and much applies to the TE250.


So here we are. My first “mod” was an hour meter. Then I put 4 hours on the engine and about 120 miles on the bike. As it had the throttle stop, I just kind of rode it, with some effort to keep the revs below 6k most of the time. It wasn’t hard as it didn’t rev very well with all the anchors on it. And it tended to stall when warm, and was also sometimes hard to start when warm. I’m one of those who doesn’t believe in babying the engine too much during break in. I know others feel a full 600 miles of slow poking is best, but I’m not going that route. So today I derestricted the bike and installed some protection on it. I thought the following pictures might help the next guy to do this, so here they are with my comments.


One comment first at the beginning. Having dine this, I’ve found the bike runs much better, even without updating the ECU with a flash. No more stalls, much easier starting and the bike runs much more smoothly. If I was going to do this again, I’d derestrict the bike right out of the box. Maybe I’d leave the throttle stop in place just to keep me in check for the first miles, but that’s it. I can’t see how pulling the other stuff could hurt the bike.


So after the initial 4 hours and 120 miles I changed the oil and filter, and cleaned the oil trap screen. And then I moved to the power up kit.

Here’s what I got in the box for the power up kit.



On the top left is a cable, that I am pretty sure is for the tailight on other models and is unused with the TE250. All wrapped up on the right is the chain. There was other stuff in the box, but it wasn't for the power up.


First thing to go was the charcoal canister. Too ugly.




And the valve on the tank vent can be a problem. It only lets air into the tank, so if your tank swells in the heat, this valve holds all that pressure in. I tossed it in the bin.



Here’s a shot of the pretty side with the charcoal canister removed.



And a pic of my vent tube routing.



Next up I pulled the throttle stop. Note that it was required to remove the cables ends from the disc. I photographed it close up first and that made it easy to count the threads on the throttle cables to put it back them exactly where they where.

Next I moved onto the exhaust. I like quieter bikes these days, and I noted Dan's efforts with a special quiet baffle he ordered. That unit is in the TE250 parts book too, so I ordered one from Halls. On the right is the spark arrestor that came on the bike. In the middle is the baffle that came in the kit, and on the left is the dB killer I got from Halls (8000H0827).


And here's a pic from above showing different openings on the ends.


I put the middle one in, that came with the kit. I want to see how it works. But I note that it doesn't have a spark arrestor screen and I'll need that eventually. Regardless, I want to try all three of these.

Then I pulled the exhaust. That took a bit of persuading. The cat is in the pipe leading to the muffler and fell right out.


Then I pulled the exhaust sensor and put in the plug.


It was handy to safety wire it to the nearby spring mount.


And then I pulled the plug connecting the cable to exhaust sensor to the harness. This is up under the tank. It is possible to lift the tank without removing the shrouds or trim panels on the tank. But it is delicate putting th tank back. You might be better off taking it all apart if this is your first time. You can see the connector here. I then put the plug in and zip tied the wiring back up.

Next was the air filter. Good to wear nitrile gloves for this one! You have to pull the battery first.


Here is the new cage mounted in the filter next to the old one. The difference is incredible.

So here are all the parts that came off. I also pulled the pipe shields as I have replacements coming from P3.

Next up was some Cycra hand guards. I considered their center mount unit and even ordered it. But I found that it might get in the way if I lowered the bars. The husky has some nice spacers under the bar clamp that you can take out to lower the bars.... and as I might cut down the seat, I expect I might want to remove those spacers. So I got the U mounting system for Magura bars. Here is a shot of the clamps tentatively mounted. You can see they give just enough clearance (I hope!) for lowering the bar clamps later.


You have to cut out the ends of the grips. This is the throttle tube side, and I increased the side of the home in the end of the throttle tube too. I used and exacto nife on the grip and then carefully filed the throttle tube opening bigger. Be careful not to hack up the throttle tube with your exacto knife!


You want to make sure the hole is bit bigger than the inside of the handle bar, so the clamp that inserts in the bar won't catch the throttle tube. This shot shows the clearance.


And a pic of the clutch mounting and cable routing.



Guards installed!

Next up was the new P3 pipe shields. These are nice pieces. Not perfectly beautiful like CF you might buy for a Bimota, but really solid and well constructed, IMO.
Here are the old guards and the replacements.


These are mode with a couple layers and you can see the heat reflective underside.


And the pretty top.


Mounting was no problem, just followed the included directions. For appearances, I would prefer if the pipe guard mounted a bit higher on the pipe. You can see how the top of the pipl=e is visible But maybe it's angled a bit toward the ground to protect better from rocks and whatnot.


Derestricted and guards installed!

really nice work so far.get a brp chain block and an uptite skid plate,put your bigger rear sprocket on and get rippin!dan

Let me know how that mid-size DB killer works for you. I tried it and it barely reduced the noise compared to the spark arrestor, and it made things kind of mushy in the midrange for my engine. I ended up going back to the spark arrestor.

Next up is to bob the license plate bracket and to put on better protected and smaller turn signals with flex stalks. I'll report back on that project.

the euro husky turn signals work nice,look good,are very flexy,and are plug and play.dan

Beautiful ride!

One thing with your throttle side and the cycra mounting. I would trim the grip a little shorter and also slide the throttle tube assembly inward (toward the bar mounts) to give more clearance to prevent the throttle from binding if you fall down on the right side. The expandable bolt that goes in the bar end can be knocked inward on an impact and allow the cycra to contact the throttle in your current configuration. The pic shows my setup using threaded inserts in the bar ends which hold the guards rock solid, no worry of movement in or out. Got about a 1/16 of an inch gap between the throttle tube (black piece) and the guard. Just a suggestion to keep you safe in the event of an oopsie out there in the sticks. Have fun!

for my 09TE450 I made one about the same length and ID as the middle one in the pic- its still "loud" to the ears but dropped my sound test at SAE specs from 99.9 db to 95 db. I did lean out the CO settings slightly to accommodate the change. So I am not as "loud" and pass my 96db tests... still runs like a banshee.

Ioneater, you are right about the bar end, from an impact standpoint your way is better. I ride in the desert a lot, and am somewhat concerned about getting sand in the throttle end, thus I'm hoping my approach protects from that some...

@Dan (MotoXotica) I assume you mean a chain guide, not the adjuster block.... are the stock chain guides that fragile? And is the stock plastic skid plate so bad?

lots of rocks in your part of the country, big, small and medium!the rear chain guide is going to get bent and the engine and frame under the engine will take a beating for sure.the plastic skid plate is all show and no go!dan

Just took home a 2011 TE 310. Your post is very helpful. Thanks. The charcoal canister has a hose that runs to what looks like the intake. What do you do with it? I assume if you simply disconnect the tube it will alter the air flow.

Mkubeja... Look at Dans thread mentioned on my original post. Essentially you plug it with an appropriate size screw.

Thanks. Missed it on the first go round. Mechanic at the local dealer said if you don't plug it you'll toast the intake valves. I'll be looking for that screw when the time is right.

Continued on my protection project. I bought a flasher and LED turn signals from siccassracing.com. Helpful guys there. The KTM flasher plugs right in and sicass put bullet connectors on the turn signals for me. The bullets were a bit small so I crimped the female ends on the bike a bit and no problem, they fit fine.
I bought the smallest flexible stalk turn signals, My goal is to put them in protected locations and have flexible stalks so there is a chance they bend instead of breaking off. Here is the blinkers I picked:
http://sicassracing.com/store/turn_signals/led/amber_lens_led

The flasher plugged right in and I drilled a mounting hole in the existing flasher metal tab.



I spent alot of time figuring where to put the blinkers. The front went in the stock locations and seem pretty fell protected by the forks and tank shrouds.



In the rear I threw out the existing mounting bracket and license plate holder. I fabricated a plate backing from an old number plate and mounted that behind the tail light. And I mounted the turn signals to the sides of the taillighgt housing. This is a pretty protected location and with the flexible stalks hopefully they will be OK in my many crashes.



Rear quarter view.