This is a non bashing pure love thread. Post why you love your 610, how it has been good to you, why it should go down as one of the greatest motorcycles EVER! For me it is how versatile it is, I can do 100 on the highway, then hit a fire road to a single track that makes other dual sports cringe and back again. No I won't be first but it still is a much better bike than I am a rider! Very capable, I've had many people stare at the end of a ride saying "you took THAT there?" I love the six speed WIDE ratio tranny. The comfort, stability ( made even better with a Motosportz stabilizer) awesome controllable power. I've had 0, no,zip, mechanical problems for over 10,000 miles. When I ride it I feel at one with it. I really love it. And I have 3 other bike right now to compare it to, so it's not a biased opinion.
Ooh...610's I could have written every word of your post above, Rockchucker I have 3 610's in my garage. The first 2007 SM610 came home with me from the dealership with 0 miles on it. We got a TE610 for Eric almost 2 years ago. He has full supermoto set-up for it and loves it almost as much as I love mine. We just brought home a gray `07 SM610 2 weeks ago. I have no intention of ever living without an SM610 so figured I better get a donor bike to keep mine running. I've got over 22k dirt and street miles on my `07 and it runs like a top every time I turn the key. Rock solid, no problems other than a cam chain replacement at about 4k miles (fully expected, fixed for less than $100 in my back yard) and a faulty ignition switch part. I've been riding motorcycles non-stop for almost 30 years. Mostly sport bikes, always 2-stroke dirt bikes, a few 4-stroke dirt bikes, a standard naked SV650, dual sports...just a lot of bikes have come and gone. Not a one of them has been as joyful and rewarding to ride as my 610. Not one. It makes me feel like I'm 16 again, I feel pretty much like WonderWoman when I ride it on the street, I giggle non-stop when I ride it in the dirt, I marvel at the places it takes me and the adventures it allows me to have, I put on my Commute Warrior invisible shield of invincibility when i ride it into and out of San Francisco when the commute is going to be out-frikkin-rageous like during the BART strike. It slices and dices through the vehicular quagmire like nobody's business and actually makes it a fun experience for me. It fits me perfect. It looks good. It sounds good. It feels good. Hell, it even smells good! I always said that if the house was on fire I'd save my 610 first. I'd have to move the Terra out of the way, and it would kill me to leave behind the other 2 610's, the WR165 and the WR250, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...
Did the AMA 500 in VA with mine a few weeks ago and had a blast. In the dirt I managed to hang in, on the pavement no one could catch me with all their orange bikes. Love it, just cannot understand why these bikes were discontinued?
I agree with everything said so far. The 610 is a veritible Swiss army knife. I've had a few dual sport bikes in my time and in general they are either OK on the street and bad in the dirt, OK in the dirt but almost intolerable for the street or they dont either do very well but the 610 has found the "magic" spot that straddles the line better than anything else that found. It's a bit heavy for serious enduro but only in respect to wearing on you a bit, if the rider is capable so is the bike. The upside to that extra weight is that it is just enough to keep you from getting blown around at highway speeds. When it comes to the stop light grand prix I've surpised quite a few sub-liter super bikes, it may not be a quarter mile champ but in the 100 yd dash there arent many bikes which can compete. I've easily done 200 miles of hwy in a day and while it may not be like cruiseing on a GoldWing it is certainly better than many crotch rockets and when she is wearing her street shoes its pretty hard for others to keep up with her on a twisty canyon road. The one thing that works for me better than anything else is the fact that once you hit the open dez the 610 is almost competative with full on competition machines. I dont know if the new owners aquired the production rights to any of the past designs but if they did they should bring this one back. The best dual sport bike EVER!!!
Pretty good RC. This year has had some challenges so I havent got out riding very much other than commuteing and few small hops but hey the 610 make for a fun commuter too.
Glad to see another Oaktown Husky fan WoodsChick! I'm just up off Lakeshore and recently picked up a 2009 TE610. Love it so far! There were only two bikes that fit what I needed: The 610/630 or a KTM 690. I couldn't spring for the KTM but after riding both, I think the Husky is equal in almost every way minus some power. And once you're in the dirt who needs all that extra power! I figure I saved about $4k with the Husky. That's a lotta knobbies and weekends in the Sierras!
Howdy, neighbor! I'm right off Piedmont Ave You just can't beat the bang for the buck with Huskys. They're cheaper to maintain than the KTM's, too. We've got 3 of those right at the moment.
Great tractable power and suprising off road handling for a 300lb+ motorcycle. Doesn't use oil, doesn't eat fuel pumps and valves rarely need adjusting. Some known issues you have to watch for, but at least predictable and easy to address.
The 610 hits a magic sweetspot: < 300 lbs (with a few simple mods), > 50hp, affordable, modern reasonably reliable engine, dirt-ready suspension and components, long service intervals, consistent parts across years and models, easy to swap tanks saddles and wheels etc, a basic design so that many things can be tweaked for use and fixed on the road, strong enough subframe for carrying some luggage, road stability and moderate oil usage suitable for long road hauls, nimble enough for some single track... Most of the mechanical shortcomings are easily fixable (the leaking oil cap can be fixed with an o-ring, the sidestand can be fixed by welding on a bigger foot, the weak main light can be supplemented with add ons, the clutch, well, yes, ahem, that is a bit hard on the fingers!) The biggest drawback is that it didn't sell in enough numbers, so support on the road is iffy. I hope the new Husqvarna designers don't forget that they almost had the perfect adv bike.
THE 610 IS THE BEST DAMN THING EVER DESIGNED AND BUILT BY MAN. PERIOD!! AND THAT'S MY RULIN.... Stroker Ace; 10: 28: 2013
I've owned and ridden a bunch of DS bikes over the years. I've ridden old WR's before when I was younger but this is MY first Husky...I can definitely agree with a lot of comments so far! I'm a light rider. With gear I'm probably 170lbs, tops. I had an XR650 and hated how heavy and clunky it felt! It made it almost impossible for me to ride it in the woods...not to mention crappy brakes and ugly looks to name a few! My DRZ was much nicer and easier to ride in the woods. Basically maintenance free too. I just changed the oil and rode it...BUT it lacked 6th gear and was not too comfortable on the street for extended periods of time. Basically if you wanted to be comfortable on the street you had to change gearing....which ruined it for trail riding! I've ridden a WR250x a buddy of mine used to own and that bike was fun and easy to handle but it didn't have the power I wanted. I've also ridden a WR450F which I can say power wise is definitely fun! It barks when you hammer on it! But to me it is a little too exhausting to ride for long....or maybe it's just how his is set up. My 610 I feel like I can take for long rides both on road and off road and feel pretty good when I'm done. It has its flaws but to me they are easily fixable for the average dirt bike rider/owner. I've only had mine for 1 season but I can definitely say I'm really impressed with it! I put ~1500miles on it and I like it more than any DS bike I've owned or ridden before. Problem now is, I'm already thinking about keeping my 610 and buying a 630 or Terra down the road because I want 2 Huskies!
I love my 610. It's the greatest do-all bike I have ever owned or ridden. It's not the best at anything, but it can do almost anything. I've done long dual sport rides, supermoto trackdays, trail rides, hare scrambles, and enduros. If I could only have one bike, I would sell my beloved Duc Monster and WR300 and just ride my 610. Get some!
I'm not as much experienced as most of you, but I have ridden a few bikes. The 610 is the only single cylinder machine which I enjoy riding it slow and watching the sky, as much as I enjoy riding it hard. It's a little sleeping monster and I love that, if you want you can keep it easy, if you want you can wake it up. And when you choose to wake it, well, it has some serious tooths to show.
