2011 tc 450

Dunno about that Motosportz. The motor may well be an evolved and updated version, but it has not shone in 2 years. This means that any major surgery performed by Husky has probably already maxed out developmental opportunities. This means a motor that will be with us for 3-5 years with little scope for development.
2 biggest issues are the crank mounted clutch-it has caused major wear problems in the past as it is smaller and spins a lot faster. This means it will get hotter, fade earlier and need replacing more often. The other issue I have read about is that whilst the swing arm/front sprocket arrangement has some real merrit from a traction perspective it has caused chain breakage. This has apparently occured whereby sticks are grabbed and taken onto the front or rear sprocket. With no slack to accommodate the stick the chains can break. I lament the fact that husky built a nice new 250 motor for 2010 and the new 450/510 should be a derivison of that style rather than a 2-3m year old motor made in Asia.

There are some valid points made by people here but let's not loose sight of reality. I assume there is no way Husky has the $$ flow to fund the R&D for a 450 engine considering the poor economic times we're are in. I applaud them for doing as much R&D and incorporating as much innovation as they have in the 2011 450. For all those purest folks who want a Husky engineered motor hand made in Italy to be stuck in the brand new frame, let's talk $$. I have no idea what the incremental cost would be but I'm sure it would be significant and if they have to price the bike above it's Japanese and Austrian counterparts, you've just turned the economics of making money on bikes upside and BMW is in the business of making money.

$$ talks and at the end of the day, if Joe public walks into a dealer and sees a shinny orange bike for $7,500 and a shinny red bike for $8,500, guess which bike he's going to take home? I buy Husky's because they are good value, ie, equivalent components and slightly inferior build quality as a KTM but can be bought for significantly less $$. I think they look nice and I've been quite loyal for a few years now but if they price them out of the market, I'll look to one of the many other companies that make great bikes, there are plenty of options out there!

All of the speculation aside, I can't wait to see some more race results and rider feedback on this bike!

The original BMW engine had no lack of power. In race mode they hauled along quite nicely. I rode one briefly last fall and didn't feel it was lacking power wise. Felt a bit odd to ride it due to the chassis & how it was setup, but somewhat ok otherwise. Certainly wouldn't buy one though. Along with the early clutch problems & the stupid cable actuator design, the frame is a total abortion- looked to me like it was designed by someone who didn't know anything about bike frame engineering and chassis dynamics. Whoever designed it should go back to building quads or something. Nuff about that tho.

Just like a couple clicks here and there can sometimes make all the difference on a bikes suspension, changing it from a clumsy pig to a graceful dancer - the same could be true on a bike like this; just a couple tweaks here and there, with the better frame design, may make all the difference..... We'll find out soon enough....