did you know that TE's are for trailriders and CRF's are for REAL racers????

I'm cancelling my subscription pronto.

I have to add another "+1" to this post. I couldn't have stated it better.

I remember before I bought my current Husky I was all orange. I've got the 610 now, but my main woods weapon is still orange. I was totally put off by all the magazines that put an orange bike on the cover and headlined "KTM makes street legal blah blah blah". Only Trail Rider called it like it was. The fact that the major US rags started buying into the KTM brand was a signal to me that it was time to start looking elsewhere. I wouldn't put too much into their fumbling opinions.

I have a 250X and it has been an excellent woods racer for me. I am a slow A enduro and HS SS racer.

The bike has been reliable and works very well in tight woods conditions. No, it is not the best bike for every situation, but for the four years I have beat the crap out of it, it's been great.

But it is a royal pain in the ass to work on. Oil and filter changes are a breeze, as is checking valve clearances. Anything else and you better be prepared to tear the bike down.

I had a CRF x. Good bike. Have a Husky TE 450. Great bike. That simple.

i go along with this ..i know the issue here is bad reporting with the us magazines but personally i dont think there is a bad dirt bike out there ..well cannondale excepted

i have ridden all the japanese bikes except any recent kawasakis plus most of the european stuff including exotics like vor and tm and i really cant fault many of them (the smaller ones like vor and gas gas have some quality control issues plus some infuriating electrics from time to time)
but i think 99% of the time unless you are a total pro who can get the last 1% out of each bike most people reach their limits long before the bike does. a fast guy will beat you whatever bike you put him on, summers proved that on those xrs. so for the majority of us the bike we choose is based on what we feel comfortable on or like rather than what we will go fastest on.

for that reason pro testers wringing the last drop out of a bike on a shoot out in a magazine means very little to me (unless you are interested in the bragging rights of owning the lightest or most powerful bike). where the euro mags differ is that they know the majority of their readers are in the trail rider and hobby racer category and score the bikes accordingly (advertising money aside).

as for the crfs i thought they were a nice light bike, but had some serious valve wear issues in the earlier models (perhaps similar to the 2004 huskys) but mainly i didnt like the feel of them when riding so i chose the husky..

Oh, believe me, doing both of those things is when I learned that I HATED peri-frames.

What was so startling about it (and frustrating) is when I had his bike sitting next to mine, and I asked him:

"Darrell, see the carb on my Husky?"

-yeah"

"Where's the carb on your bike?"

-I don't know, I can't see it. Your's is right out in the open... gee, look at the time, I gotta go"

I think the problem with Dirt Rider is that it went race.

Meaning the editor is a 100% racer, and the staff he hired under him look up to him and emulate his world view. The world of racers and racing-and all that stands for, good and bad.

Compare and contrast that to the euro mags and you find exactly what the above post so well articulated.

Is the Husky the best trail bike? OK! Thats AWESOME! That SHOULD sell more bikes than being the best race bike, since 90+% of riders are trailbikers.

Maybe that was the point or intention of the Dirt Rider article, but if so it was lost.

Personally--having just sold my 2 XR400's--i think there couldnt be a better compliment for the Te450. The XR400's where the worlds greatest trail bikes. Nice to see Dirt Rider get it right. (good god, am i defending Jimmy?--if you only knew our history.....) Anyway--with 2-3 more paragraphs emphasising the value and prestige of being the best trail bike, all would have worked out just fine.

Just some thoughts.

I still think the bike is a great race bike-when set up right--ive raced the TE510 all over the place, but heck yeah its a GREAT trail bike too.

By the way, i'm drinking Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA right now. I think we should call out our beer when posting....

Everyone has raised some excellent points here but most I agree with Mike Kay.

My personal opinion

No, you bring up some good points.

That's a fine selection. I'm off to see what's in the fridge.


This is the beer thread, right?

BTW, I flipped through the 450 Offroad shootout in DirtBike today. They liked the TXC but had, as expected, complaints about the fork and high altitude jetting. Said it was the powerhouse of the bunch and the most race worthy out of the box.
Named the KTM, surprise surprise the best and had favourable words for the Honda.

I got an email reply from Karel Kramer and Pete Peterson today. They replied to my dribble and a BMW owner who had written a short novel on the Beemer. He even offered his BMW dealers tele # so they could dail the bike in as it should be.
Here's a copy of their reply regarding the Husky

Guess they told me eh! Anyone wanna buy a Husky? I'm in the market for a CRF or a Pumpkin.

Funny how he didnt mention the $1k of work done on the Jbikes, nor their ignorance of the 6 speed....

Loud? Well it must have been uncorked. Slow on the bottom end? Ok-they didnt like the EFI map. Vibrates? Its the only bike on their list with rubber mounted bars. Hard to understand. Maybe he meant it vibrated at idle--meaning the counterbalancer is callibrated for mid-rpm's--and not idle. The Husky is smoother than most bikes at 6000 rpm.

But those are all minor concerns--its not LOUD, its not a paint shaker, its NOT heavy--its freakin street legal. Wanna take off 10 lbs in wire, lights, switches, etc?

-Ease of adjusting the valves/working on the bike? Karel has NO CLUE how to adjust a Husky valve, nor what a great design it is, nor the swing out battery, or the reversable bars, or the design of the tranny, a 6 speed....hello?
-All the little high end extras like stock HD inner tubes and green sticker Excells, etc.--all lost on those guys. They think nothing of bikes with throw away rims, bars, triple clamps, chains, sprockets, etc. etc.
-How about fuel economy?
-How about it costs $1000 less than the KTM?
-How about the reliability/durability of the motors? Try racing a CRF for 3 seasons....without a motor rebuild.
-How about the 1.7 litres of oil capacity, and all the insurance that goes along with that?
-How about the cooling fan, how cool! Lets take all those bikes on a gnarley single track i know north of Barstow, in August. The Husky will make it, the others? They will boil.

If there is no bias-
Why does KTM get the credit for 'first street legal dirt bike'
Why is it ALWAYS a Honda used for bike neutral articles about 'how to re pack your muffler' or whatever.

Why am i waisting my time with US bike ragz. Let them go out of business. Read MotocrossDigital.com

I did invite them to chime in. I could understand a resistance to get involved in forum banter but we CafeHusky members are above mere banter.
Judging Mike's response he may not be.

Here's the email from Pete Peterson I recieved 20 minutes after Kramer replied and CC'd the staff.

I had my '07 Euro3 (read.....choked up) TE 450 into the 90 mph range. I guess it does lack legs.

Just for the record--

I have a Jimmy Lewis 'Dakar 2000' T-shirt with his pic airborne on a blue 2 cylinder BMW Dakar bike...and the names of his teammates - 2 of whom have left us - on the back. Its one of my most prized T-shirts.
And i defended Jimmy a couple posts back on this string...

And i'm drinking 2005 PepperwoodGrove Pinot Noir. Its just 'ok'

Here's some Icing for you cake Mike.

The first part of the reply dealing with the BMW owners email.

I guess I'm the black sheep amongst the CafeHusky group as I shouldn't be posting emails in public. Oh well, somebody around here needs to step outta line a little bit.

As guys who ride I'm sure they are without a doubt excellent people it's the magazine that were bitchin' about. We are afterall just brothers and sisters that like dirt, even if some of us drink Pinot Noir.

A reminder, JL had no response to these emails. KK and Peterson replied.

JL and I have 'had words' in the past. He threatened to knock me off my bike with a 2x4 at a baja 500 3-4 years ago after i posted on TT my opinion that DR was heading in the wrong direction. So dont get me wrong.

I DONT think they are good people. But its a cool tshirt.

Justifying spending $1k on the bikes because they are the same as last year, in a shoot out with other bikes, is just psychobabble.

Karel's comment that 'the last Husky importer couldnt get us a bike' is ahhhh really insulting.

Husky gave JL a bike to race at Unadilla a couple years ago, he did great, winning his class--then refuses to publish the article about Husky 'because there wasnt room in the magazine'
That same issue had a 3 page article about the new Honda pickup truck.

Nuff said. Kramer and co. will be out of work in 18 months. JL is a racer fighting the last war, over and over.

Time to move on, to the internet.

I just watched American Idol while drinking Pinot Noir. How gay is that?

Interesting stuff about them as people. I would've figured he'd be smart enough to avoid threats online but I guess ones true colors always come through.
Maybe if he knew you drank pinot noir while watching 'Merican Idol he mighta threatened to throw potpourii in your eyes before you goggled up.

But the big question is..............

who are you voting for in American Idol?