125-200cc 2012 Husky 144XC

In my opinion, THIS is the bike that Husqvarna should be making for the American public. It's been a long journey. This bike (WR125) was purchased from Motoxotica Dan in Vacaville, California last year. It was virtually unridable out of the box. The lean carburetor needle and poorly adjusted power valve linkage gave it no power at all until about 8000 RPM and then it all came in at once! Lucky for me, the Husky god Walt came to visit and helped me install the 144 kit, hand filed my power valves and advised me on jetting my carb properly. Now it was rideable! I did get an opportunity to ride his 165 but decided it was not for me. All grunt and no rip.
Thereafter I sent my carb off to RB Designs where Ron did his magic with the divider plate and idle circuit that made it actually idle properly and pull much stronger from the bottom to the midrange. I rode many events last year and the bike worked well and always finished. After the 2 Day ISDE event at Gorman, California last year, the CDI died. I could have just replaced the unit and gone on but I ordered the CR ignition instead. So glad I did. Instant throttle response. No more waaaaaaaWAHHHH! Now it's all WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Now you're talkin'!
Then I rode an enduro in Nevada that blew out my right knee in October so I was down for a while. More time for screwing around in the garage. Walt did a posting about being busy putting some real wide ratio gears in his personal bike so I PMed him to find out what he was up to and he said the earlier pre-2003 bikes had a real wide ratio gearbox but they were really hard to find. Well...in about a week I received a box from an E-Bay vendor with a perfect set of 2002 gears. I really like this motor because it is so easy to work on. You do have to watch the center case gasket because it is very brittle as I found out. A little RTV holds it in place. Anyway, today I finally got to try it out with my new Scalvini exhaust. The first run wasn't that great because since I now have the "Official Factory Service Manual", I used that to set the power valve. I pulled the pipe and reset the power valve setting the way it should be and Woo-Hoo! It's finally come together. The Scalvini pipe really makes the 144 come alive from mid to top and doesn't take anything from the bottom. Wheelies at command and more power than I have ever felt from this motor. I don't currently have a speedometer but I am running a 13 tooth countershaft sprocket with a 47 tooth rear sprocket. It runs through all six gears very quickly. It will pull everything from a slow walking pace to where the blurry fence posts are flying by. I finally have a Husky 144 Cross Country.

Nice - sounds like youve got it just about sorted - just dont sell it now... whats your power valve linkage setting ? Whats next?

Good job! You have it well sorted for your needs and they really have a lot of great potential. Regardless of the area it just takes some well thought out massaging to get the most out of them and I agree the factory has all the makings of a truly great bike and it's a bit of a bummer that they don't take advantage of it from the get go. Thank goodness for all the good info on here and elsewhere that helps us get it to the finish line.
Enjoy it and a job well done.

Powervalve setting is easy. Loosen both bolts, rotate lever to the bottom and tighten. Forgot to mention that I raised the jet needle two notches yesterday becuase I had some mid range pinging. That cleared it right up. I am looking at the Lectron and APT carb debate but I can't really complain about what I have now. I do think Husky needs to put the wide ratio transmission back in the WR.

Yep it sure sounds like you have yours sorted and they are a ton of fun when you get them that way. I have the APT and I don't miss trying to sort the Mikuni and after I did I still had to re-sort for the weather changes. The APT was my last missing link; the cherry on top.

Hey Celtic Dude, could you provide some detail on hand filing the power valve please? I assume we are trying to match some elements up or remove casting marks.

Actually you shouldn't have to do that with a full 144 kit. Mine came with two valves from the same side. Luckily, Walt was there and he hand filed my 125 powervalves to fit the 144 bore.