Had a brand new left over for a week. We won't talk about but the mechanic screwed up an awesome bike.
They were always at the top end of the power pack and very light and flickable. Did not buy one as there was minimal back up in OZ back in the day. Got into Huskies back then and no regrets. Always wanted a blat on the FE 650
I have it running well but have not taken it on a proper ride was I need to fix a water pump seal. The little I have rode it, it is very powerful, linear motor that likes to wheelie. Should be fun.
So I bought this bike on a whim. Surfing craigslist at lunch one day, see a plated FE510 berg for $900. Always loved my 570/610 based huskies and this was of similar design and by the same engineers so I had always kinda wanted to try one. Call the dude, he is moving, says $600 on the phone if I come get it now. Meet him, we hit it off. He had full $900 offers but wanted it to go to a good home where the new owner knew bergs. I guess I spoke the language as I got it for $500. Title and plate too!!! and a big box of parts. SCORE. But... bought it not running. Who buys a known unreliable bike, not running on the faith of the seller telling them the truth? Me. Heck the box of parts was worth the cost so I felt I would be fine. $500 gamble. Guy had mostly used it for DS and said it ran great 2 years ago when he stopped riding it. I brought it home, cleaned the carb and got it fired up. Went to take it for a shakedown ride and the gas tank was leaking all over. Great. Funny thing is there were about 4 tanks for under $100 on eBay. I thought I would have a hard time finding one, nope. Anyway got that and noticed the water pump leaked. Then AJPs showed up and the Berg quickly got shuffled to the rear of the shop. Last week I felt I needed to do something with the Berg. Dug it out and replaced the water pump seal. Was a very easy job and got the very standard seal local for $2. Nice. Addressed a few more things and hoped for the best. Its been raining hard here for the last few days. Like REALLY hard. Several inches of rain in the last few days. Some the the trails were now rivers. Was kinda crazy. Was not super rainy for sundays ride so we kinda hit it right. Bike fired off 2nd kick. Left footer, no e-start. This bike is pretty much the opposite of an AJP. Big (although very lite), unruly, crazy powerful, not very refined. Having several 570/610 based huskies i knew all about the huge power this design can make. I had an 02 TE570 that was the epitome of that line and was uber powerful. Somehow this berg has all that power and maybe more. Its only 501cc but freaking FAST. Huge power everywhere. Big bottom, huge mid rush and then just keeps reving. Its really unbelievable. How they get such huge power out of a simple motor like that with a 2 stroke non accelerator pump carb is beyond me. this bike will easily give my very fast uncorked TE511 a run for its money and feels a good bit faster than my YZF450. Its freaking FAST. Clutch pull is borderline ridiculous, no wimps. The transmission is an old school true WIDE ratio. 1st is climb a tree walking speed low. 6th is probably good for 100 mph. Was doing almost 50 in 4th easy. Very wide trans making it a super versatile bike. Suspension is good but pretty old school soft. I adjusted it and got it working quite well. I did redo the forks before riding it so new oil and correct height but they seems very soft. Springs had pretty much zero preload. Rear is an ohlins and works well. The longish bike and soft suspension actually made it nice in the rocks. Tracks very straight and holds a line well. Brakes are very strong. Handling is good but semi odd. Bike feels flickable but in a deliberate way. Took some getting used to and has its own way of doing things. I have ridden GOBs of bikes from KX500's to ATK 406, to CR125... the whole gamut of bikes so I tend to be able to sort them out and as miles went by I got used to the handling and was making good time on it just took some rethinking. Rear brake lever is very low so I could not stand which bothered me. With some ergonomic fixes, a hydro clutch and a few other things addressed this bike will be a ton of fun. That said I am much faster on my PR5 and it is so much easier to ride. You're not fighting it, it is so forgiving, so neutral, etc. Pretty much everything the Berg is not. Berg is super fun and the wheelies are endless. In the open this bike is going to be a hoot.
