Dual-sporting a 2010 TE 450, with cheap tricks

The best thing that happened to you was Corbin screwing up your order. Their seats ARE UNECESSARILY HEAVY and a bad choice for off road use. I had one for the 950 SE and it was almost 15 lbs heavier than the stocker, no sheet....................Much better options out there for off road and about 200 bucks cheaper to boot than the bricks Corbin sells.

For the money, a custom seat from Renazco, Seat Concepts, XPC etc. are WAY better choices.

You are not kidding with that for sure, I have a Corbin on my Versys and it is fantastic for 700 mile rides out to New Mexico in 12-13 hours, I guess I wanted that same comfort but I've now accepted the fact that the Husky will never be ridden as a long distance dual sport, so the Seat Concepts is very adequate for how I will be using the bike.

Very nice thread. I enjoy reading(w pics) the different uses everyone gets out of their TE's. My 450 has only seen mostly single track time but this year I'm planning on some longer D/S rides. Very inspiring!

When I moved off the Kwaka onto the Husky, I needed to re-do the way I carry tools and spares. On the tail rack is 6 lbs of 2 inner tubes (the stock ones, I put HD in when I put the Dunlops on), air pump, gas pump, giant zip ties, some velcro, and a prop stand made from a rifle prop stand. For my homemade jumper cables, I pop-riveted some velcro straps to the underside of the seat to secure the cables in the space just ahead of the battery and behind the air cleaner element.

I would ensure that there is no way some bouncing around will let the jumper cable clips fall out and short your battery terminals. Seeing that much loose bare metal close to uninsulated battery terminals makes me uneasy. Could insulate the terminals with some thick rubber.

My positive battery terminal is covered and the seat pan protects the terminals pretty well, but you did get me thinking about the jumpers coming loose and trashing my air filter, so I did the cheapest thing I could think of, I just re-wrapped 'em. I connected each alligator clip to its mate, then wrapped the wire to fit within the subframe rails (5 inches) and then placed the velcro inside the "V"s of the clips, much more secure and very little chance that it move left-to-right and no chance that it will move front-to-back.

You could also slide them inside a section of innertube.

OHR, what does the touratech rack actually bolt to? Subframe beneath the fender plastic or something like that? I'm thinking of picking one up for my txc 250 to mount a tool kit and get some weight off my back. I don't have the subframe extension like the TE's do so hopefully it's not a required mounting point.

It's fun to see your innovations. Mad genius at work!

Via my homemade stuff, it does bolt to the sub-frame extensions, seen in silver in the pic. I made some small, steel straps, 2 separate ones for the 2 front mounts and a single arched one for the rear mount. I knew that I would be carrying a low amount of weight on this small rack, I had read about others breaking the sub-frame, I knew I would never put a heavy amount on the rear so I went the homemade route.

I adjusted the valves at about 1500 miles, they were loose, not tight as others have experienced. I got some good tips from people, here's some more:
I used a cut up refrigerator magnet to re-place the shims in the buckets. Others have used a feeler gauge blade with a dab of grease.
I did use a small (6 inch?) set of needle nose vise grips as I was told I would have to, to replace the rocker arm clips. The small size fit inside the rocker box lengthwise and made it easy.
I bought a full set of Hot Cams shims, cost alot, but I will always have what I need.

I'm back to my stock gas tank, good thing I have that 1.3 gallon Acerbis can bolted to my right side AND I did not use any glue or putty to affix my tank panels, so I am able to still use them on my stock tank. I tried 2 different black, IMS 3 gal tanks, they both leaked in the same place, the flange bolt-on area. It took about a week or 2 and some riding to where the leaks developed, I'd smell gas and look under the tank and there would be a leak. I guess I will ride with about a 3 gallon capacity until I find another 3 or 4 gal tank offering, that's reasonably priced.

Probably my final shake-down run before I turn this bike loose in the New Mexican wilderness next weekend. I'm back to the stock tank, I rode 50 mile of 60-65mph to get to some trails, rode 10 miles of trails and ran out of gas, used my cheapo pump and pumped 1.3 gals from my bolted on Acerbis tank, rode some more trail, got gas, ended up with 30MPG, I sure hope this is because of the 60 MPH ride to the trail. I am suspecting that my engine does not stay hot enough on a 60mph run and the FI dumps too much gas into the engine, thinking the engine is not hot yet. I read a thread where someone was blocking part of their rads to get their temps up, but I cant find the thread again.

I have settled on 1 tooth bigger on the countershaft and the stock rear sprocket for gearing, wasted alot of money with other sprockets, oh well, live and learn. Dunlop 606s are great tires, this 450 sure can spin the heck out of the rear tho.

The little shake-down run I did, above post, yielded 30mpg and a chocolate brown spark plug, I felt like the bike runs too cool, with the rad fluid flowing all the time, and me going 60mph for 100 round trip, I wanted better mileage, so I put some flap covers on, anchored to the rad shrouds with zip ties, they cover 2/3s of the stock rad louver, I can hold them open with a strap metal arm. My quick 30 mile test showed 40mpg, I can open/shut the flaps on the fly, 35mph and over, I run them shut, under 35 and stop and go, I run them open. I am able to maintain a 210-230F water temp instead of it dropping down into the the 160-180 range.

Frustrating, isn't it? Mine did the exact same thing on the newer style side mounted version for the x-lites. Have had it since December then started seeping this past weekend. Mounting surface no longer level. Have fun in NM!

If I recall correctly.. when mine did this I removed the fuel pump plate gasket and flat filed down the portion of the fuel pump base (and mounting points) that seeped. This produced a better seal with more gasket pressure on the irregular tank mating surface.

Finally got this 450 off into the wild, New Mexico, aroundMagdalena, Chloride, Winston areas, did some 70mph roads, with a 14t CSS and stock rear sprocket. Did some 2 track gnarly jeep roads in 1st gear, lot of steps and loose rocks. The bike did awesome, the base camp was at 6500 feet and I rode up to 10,000 feet with tremendous power and reliability, no flame-outs, no adverse performance whatsoever, I was relieved and impressed... I was hauling ass. The Acerbis gas can broke its mounts and I was left to carry 2 gals on my back, since the IMS tank has been returned due to leaking. The little windshield on the Lynx fairing broke off when the bike blew over off the kickstand. Otherwise, the TE450 ran like a champ on the tight and twisty gravel and rock forest roads of New Mexico.

Great report. I am looking to do some desert runs in the fall and want to get my TE310 into some longer runs.
Bottm line is that none of your fuel options worked? I think I might just go for a saddle bag with MSR type bottles.
Bag like this: http://www.giantloopmoto.com/

There's definitely some options out there for carrying fuel, including the $600 Safari tank. At this time, I am not going to spend one dime on anything, really bummed about the whole deal, I am gonna rely on my cheap tricks for the time being (20 year old backpack and 2 free oil jugs). Here's how I fixed the broken windscreen, I found the stock windscreen from my Versys and it fit the Lynx fairing with NO drilling and no cost to me, I think the manuf offers a replacement for $44 plus shipping.....

This bike is turning out to be pretty tough, now that I have learned to ride it, I've started to bottom the front and rear out on some gnarly stuff.




Just replaced the D606 in the pic with a new one to go ride the K Trail in Okla/Ark the first weekend in June.

Here's a video and some pics of where I'll be taking the TE450, hope I do better than the guy in the video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaAN_46XmEQ

I like the fridge magnet valve shim tool idea. That's a bummer your fuel options didn't work out. Your TE will eat that terrain in the video alive. Good work/ideas here.