125-200cc husky newbie

hi all, just recently bought a 2003 husky wre 125 in the process of getting it ready for some "gentle" green laning any advice,tips etc etc for parts/maintenance would be gratefully appreciated
can't seem to find any manuals for this model.........bike is a lovely looking thing but a bit worried that it might be your typical italian motorcycle in that its all looks but reliability lets them down
many thanks geraint

Hello Geraint, welcome to cafe husky. I have a WR250 so can't help with tips , but what about here http://husqvarnaoutlet.com/repair_manuals for manuals. Are you in the UK ? maybe Wales? I'm in the south east, we have no green lanes around here. It was a guided trail riding day in Wales that prompted my most recent purchase.

hiya mate, yes i'm in south wales just outside abergavenny, i know a few for about a half days riding, but generally get out and about with a good bunch of blokes on the s wales trail riders, hopefully see there

I have the same bike though mine's an 05, same engine though, Check the oil pump is working, it's on the right hand side of the engiune case behind a cover with two bolts, if that goes you risk cylinder damage at minimum, you may want to run premixed oil just in case. Call husky sport in cheriton winchester, they hav e a lot of parts on the shelf for the wre's and a few weeks to buy anything else. Is there anything specific on the bike you want to ask about?

a million and one questions, the vast majority of which if a haynes manual existed would be answered, i guess our bikes are'nt common enough for them to do one. i've found husky sport in southampton to be really helpful 10/10, are the oil pumps generally dodgy?
i hate doing all that hokey cokey shake it all about nonsense on garage forecourts, more than anything some tips on general maintenance would be appreciated......mine seems to eat spark plugs like they're going out of fashion??
many thanks

husky sport are really good though sometimers to order parts it takes ages, if you want any call up parts and speak to reeese he's really funny on the phone. Well spark plugs should last at least a few thousand miles on the road if the bike is running properly, the problem with two strokes is that if you don't have enough higher revs the bike will clog up the plug, ie it'll not fire properly and will look black on the tip, you need to rev it hard as much as possible for it to run right, they're simply not made to go along at constant throttle. If you get the jetting right the spark plug tip should be a brownish colour, properly black would be too rich a mixture or not enough revving, white would be the bike is running lean or hot ie too lean a mixture, too much air not enough fuel, that will blow your piston into pieces. Unscrew it and check the colour, also check the wire that connects to it, if that's no good you won't get a good spark through. The oil pumps are fine but you need to keep an eye on it, I didn't and mine broke and locked the back wheel up hill at 50 mph, nearly threw me off, they're about £60 from husky. I know you won't like it but it's much better to premix the fuel to be certain you get the two stroke oil through[ use a good quality one btw, cheap oil isn't worth the engine rebuild cost, I use this, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290679968363?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2648&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT] it's cheaper than the main brands but my bike has run great for over 5000 miles with it. If you look down by the kickstart on your bike you'll see the throttle cable has split into two, one goes to the carb the other round and down into this little housing, there's two bolts, if you undo them you can see the cable inside that attaches to the oil pump and hopefully the oil too going up and out the pump. Also check the tube that's coming from the oil tank under the seat, that goes down to the pump, you don't want that leaking or getting blocked! If you decide to dissconnect the pump and run premix go with 35/40 to one max, that's 1 part two stroke oil to 35 parts of fuel. The oil is important as two strokes get their cranks lubricated by it , no oil means bottom end failure/ damage. Maintanence wise, I'd get a new air filter on yours, they're about £10 on ebay, undo the seat with the bolt at the back, pull the cage off by undoing the nut that holds it in place, then put the new filter on after putting some oil on it, oil stops the dirt getting through and into the engine. I clean miine maybe 500 miles or so or replace it for the cost of it. The gearbox on these is very good since it's the same as the wr/cr bikes but I change my gearboix oil every 800 miles, since I ride it so hard, there's a little but underneath the bike, take that off with engine warm, drain it into a bowl, tip bioke both ways to make sure it's empty. Put in 730 mililetres of oil [should be same as mine] then hold the bike upright and look at the glass hole on the side, if it suddenly covers over you have enough oil, if it doesn't cover over with bike upright, you need more oil. I guess you should also keep the clutch cable with a little grease to protect it, do both ends, dirt will break them quickly and they're not cheap, £18 for a venhill one or £20 ish for genuine. I can't think of much else but do come back and tell us what colour the spark plug tip is, it shouldn't be eating them if the jetting is correct

'' nut not but!''

thanks for all that, very much appreciated, i've got a service manual on order from the states, so that'll go along way in identifying alot of things, i've come from owning a kawasaki kmx which i changed from a 125 to a 200 head, exhaust, carb etc etc to a husky so was a bit daunted about going for piece of "exotic" machinery, but parts seem easily available but have to be patient on certain bits
(but not alot of used parts on ebay)
what i'm having trouble with at the moment is bogging down to the point of stalling when i open her up, starts and ticks over fine, had an interesting chat with peter at husky sport who mentioned a few possibilities as to what the problem may be,
not enough power getting to the power valve, because the battery might not be putting out the power needed, or stator not charging battery??? either way i'm gonna have to take it to someone who's got a multimeter and alot more experience in motorbike electrics than i have
did check the carb float height was okay and jets were clear

i'll put reese's number in my phone as well

bogging down as in you mean you ride, get to where the powervalve should open and give you a massive kick of power but nothing happens except she splutters? when you turn the ignition on first does the powervalve do a self clean like go, ehhh, ehhh, like it's moving back and forwards? if it does and it doesn't struggle to do it your battery is probably fine, with the engine running it should be getting even more power to move the pv. Mine gets gunked up so much sometimes it gets stuck open so I get loads of bottom end power but no top end kick, stupid thing is these pv's are right at the front of the cylinder, and the bolts for them are impossible to get to as the frame is in the way, you have to take off the cylinder to clean them or I guess you could turn it round like 90 degrees but you might damage the cylinder lining with the ring. Can you do a video of the bogging down or the first time of turning the ignition key so I can see what the pv is doing? Could also be a snagged cable actually, theres two of them going from the servo motor on the right hand side by kickstart down to bottom right of the cylinder, if they got jammed up

also if you need parts these guys seem to be having a sale atm http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_o...H0.Xhusqvarna 125&_nkw=husqvarna 125&_sacat=0

sorry should have mentioned this at the start, when the ignition is turned on i get the funny noise,
it bogs down at different stages of riding, pulling away in first it'll bog to a stall, riding along at a steady pace and it'll happen, pull the clutch in and it picks back up to tick over speed but open the throttle and it'll bog to stall and it's even done it whilst cruising downhill not touching the throttle just using the downhill momentum, pull over wait a couple of minutes and it''ll be fine for a mile or two then reoccur

that sounds like it's got way too much fuel in there to ignite cleanly, whatss it like if you idle it in neutral then suddenly twist the throttle back hard, does it bog down then or does it pick up revs really fast?

i haven't twisted the throttle in anger as it were yet so can"t say if it bogs down, I"ve turned the throttle gently when warming the bike up, and it reacts as you"d expect, can"t try to do that yet as I"m on holidays at the moment but i"m back on Sunday so I"ll try it then and let you know what happens.......sorry don"t know why I put the photo up, as it"s not exactly any help whatsoever......I"ll stop drinking in the daytime

dw about the photo, it looks how mine used to. As I'm here, I'll show you my bike. Thoiugh I'm not drunk anymore, I just like showing it off Actually was the bike sat for a while before you bought it, perhaps it has a dirty fuel filter?

very nice, sober or drunk....i notice you have'nt got any matching spoke covers like mine had, first thing i did when i got home was take them off, the fella i bought it off thought they looked groovy
back to the issue in hand everything seems normal when i rev it from idle
do you think it could be something as easy as altering the mix screw on the side of the carb, have'nt got a fuel filter on it yet just a pipe straight from the tank into the carb

the mixing screw on the left hand side if you sit on bike, I don't think that affects the mixture of fuel, I believe it makes the slide sit up a bit higher in the carb so the revs go higher without throttle being pulled, only think that as that's what I turn back and forth when my bike decides it doesn't want to idle, normally at garage forecourts etc. If there's no filter to be blocked you could try a carb cleaning spray, after time the little jets that allow fuel in get blocked up, or failing that take the carb off and have a garage clean it out properly overnight. Also if you take the spark plug out, leave it connected to the lead, then rest it against the edge of the cylinder so it has good contact with the electrode at the end or get someone to hold it there for you, you tube has vids of this, then you sit on bike and ignition on, then kick it over and look/ get person to look at the plug, it should be a good clean spark coming out. If it's not easily visible you know you have a weak spark issue which would either be the plug or the wire, I suppose if that were it then the fuel not being ignited by the lack of spark could build up and then stop engine firing properly/ bog. And thankyou for the motorcycle compliment

The screw gazmcfaza is on about is an idle adjust its a thumb screw, the air mix screw will be a flat head just above the float bowl either before the slide or after it, its a little brass thing if its before the slide (airbox side) to tune out the fuel i think you unscrew it to lean the bike up, if its after the slide (reed cage side) then its opposite an thats a fuel mix screw.
There are plenty of pages her and online stating screw the air mix screw all the way in then unscrew 1 1/2 turns if it needs more you need a smaller pilot jet if it needs less a bigger jet's required. Personally if its more than two turns i would think about it.

thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated