After owning my '11 SMS 630 for 5 months I've come to some final conclusions: Fit and finish - good, better than the '09. Seat and riding position slightly better. Engine performance - better than '09 after P.U. installed. The power up and idle adjustment is essential or the engine will run so badly you will wonder how Husky could release this thing to the public ... erratic idling, flame-outs at low throttle opening, stalling, backfiring, jerky throttle response. Riding in stock condition is downright dangerous! Handling - good, better than the '09 with sharper turning yet still fairly stable at freeway speeds. Suspension and brakes - probably slightly better than the '09 but not a huge difference. Reliability - not good and here's why : leaking clutch cylinder seal that resulted in 1 month in the shop waiting for the seal and after complaining the shop robbed one off a showroom bike. REAR SPROCKET BOLTS! every one backed out and two were lost resulting in swingarm damage. Sidestand pops up and hits the swingarm resulting in cosmetic damage. Left side numberplate rubber grommet melted to exhaust pipe and tore off when sideplate was removed. Conclusion - I really like the bike but any potential buyer should be aware that this is definitely not a ride it and forget it machine and he or she will have to make a commitment to learning the bike ... Husqvarna may be BMW owned but it's still an Italian exotic.
Well they are frank and honest opinions so thank you for passing on your learnings. I hope you continue to enjoy the exoctic but flawed beast.
yeah, backing out sprocket bolts on huskys seems to regular. Dunno what going on there but everyone should keep an eye out. Tighten the nut, not the bolt. Just OK EFI seems the norm to. Hope they switch to Keihn for EVERYTHING metering fuel.
Don't get me wrong, the Husky ROCKS! In spite of the flaws I can't wait for the next ride and if I wanted something dead reliable I guess I could have gotten a Suzuki SM400 ... wait a minute! I had a Suzuki and as fun as it was it doesn't hold a candle to the Husky!
Agree ... totally! (Except for the reliability problem ... have inspected for leakage and the sprocket bolts backing out ... but ... no, all ok). If I had to criticize, it´d be that the turning circle is much too large. Was wondering whether I could grind off the stops just a bit. Have read here somewhere that Husky deliver the bike in some countries together with the pu kit. But suppose that it would be against the law over here. With the kit in place, there´s no better roadworthy bike on the market.
I forgot to mention one of the most significant improvements on the '10 over the '09 is the lighting, WAY BETTER! The low beam on the '09 was about the same as a flashlight.
FWIW, a service bulletin was just released in Canada regarding backing out sprocket bolts. The bulletin requests that the bolts be replaced with different ones.
I'm still amazed that it happened in the first place. I replaced the missing 2 nuts and one bolt and secured everything with Loctite 242 Blue. No more problems, but I check them before every ride!
Seems to me I recall quite a few '06 610 owners reporting the same issue with the rear sprocket. Maybe it's time to get rid of Hansel and bring in Grettel.
