If your thinking of racing/purchasing a Husky TE 250

Heads up for anyone thinking of racing/purchasing a Husky TE 250. Below are the facts and they indisputable:

I purchased a 2010 Husky TE 250 this past April and ran in most of the ECEA enduros throughout the year. Like most riders in the series I was meticulous about the maintenance, changed the oil and air filter after every race, carefully "went over" every nut and bolt after every race,etc. The bike ran flawless for the most part, however halfway through the Moonshine Enduro the motor blew up. Upon further inspection we discovered the case was cracked so it was clearly "catastrophic".

Since I am not a motor expert I had to wait a couple of weeks for a friend of mine to take a look. Together we tore the motor down only to discover the counter shaft bearing let loose (or so we thought…keep reading). Since the bearing imploded, all the aluminum fragments spread throughout the motor. I needed all new bearings, cases, crank kit, piston and rings, oil pump, etc. I ordered the parts and asked the dealer to contact corporate to see if they would be willing to help in any financial way. I knew it was a complete long shot but I thought it was worth asking. About a week later the dealer called me and said since I "raced" it they will not help (I received some "Husky Bucks", this is considered "racing" by Husky). At this point I was willing to accepted the decision since the counter shaft bearing is a wear-able item.

A few weeks later the parts came in so we put the motor back together. When the motor was fully reassembled we discovered an issue, the front sprocket had way too much drag, something was wrong. After taking the motor apart and reassembling it several times we found the counter shaft itself was cracked. I couldn't believe it, how did that happen?!?! This was clearly the cause of the counter shaft bearing failing. Over time the crack was slowly getting bigger and bigger putting pressure on the counter shaft spacer which in turn put pressure on the counter shaft bearing.

So I ordered a new counter shaft and found it was only $38. I thought really? Then I discovered the TC (Husky's motorcross version) was nearly double in price. The TE counter shaft is cheaper because it is manufactured out of a far lesser material. Less material equals lesser cost. I couldn't change to a TC counter shaft since TC gearbox is only a 5 speed.

I went back to the dealer (much firmer this time around) and said "please contact Husky" with this new info. Clearly this is a manufacturing defect. A few days go and they came back with the same response, "you raced it, you own it". Once again Husky told me to go pound sand. Thank you Husky for your support!

I tell this story only to inform other riders/racers, take this information as you see fit. I would hate to see another fellow rider go through what I went through!

Husky Corporate

Heads up for anyone thinking of racing/purchasing a Husky TE 250. Below are the facts and they indisputable:

I purchased a 2010 Husky TE 250 this past April and ran in most of the ECEA enduros throughout the year. Like most riders in the series I was meticulous about the maintenance, changed the oil and air filter after every race, carefully "went over" every nut and bolt after every race,etc. The bike ran flawless for the most part, however halfway through the Moonshine Enduro the motor blew up. Upon further inspection we discovered the case was cracked so it was clearly "catastrophic".

Since I am not a motor expert I had to wait a couple of weeks for a friend of mine to take a look. Together we tore the motor down only to discover the counter shaft bearing let loose (or so we thought…keep reading). Since the bearing imploded, all the aluminum fragments spread throughout the motor. I needed all new bearings, cases, crank kit, piston and rings, oil pump, etc. I ordered the parts and asked the dealer to contact corporate to see if they would be willing to help in any financial way. I knew it was a complete long shot but I thought it was worth asking. About a week later the dealer called me and said since I "raced" it they will not help (I received some "Husky Bucks", this is considered "racing" by Husky). At this point I was willing to accepted the decision since the counter shaft bearing is a wear-able item.

A few weeks later the parts came in so we put the motor back together. When the motor was fully reassembled we discovered an issue, the front sprocket had way too much drag, something was wrong. After taking the motor apart and reassembling it several times we found the counter shaft itself was cracked. I couldn't believe it, how did that happen?!?! This was clearly the cause of the counter shaft bearing failing. Over time the crack was slowly getting bigger and bigger putting pressure on the counter shaft spacer which in turn put pressure on the counter shaft bearing.

So I ordered a new counter shaft and found it was only $38. I thought really? Then I discovered the TC (Husky's motorcross version) was nearly double in price. The TE counter shaft is cheaper because it is manufactured out of a far lesser material. Less material equals lesser cost. I couldn't change to a TC counter shaft since TC gearbox is only a 5 speed.

I went back to the dealer (much firmer this time around) and said "please contact Husky" with this new info. Clearly this is a manufacturing defect. A few days go and they came back with the same response, "you raced it, you own it". Once again Husky told me to go pound sand. Thank you Husky!

I tell this story only to inform other riders/racers, take this information as you see fit. I would hate to see another fellow rider go through what I went through!

Very interesting story that has at least a couple very bad points (1. That shaft may totally crap, 2. No help from the company) ...

Meo races a TE250 ... wonder what shaft he has in his bike? ... I can't see that 'racing you own it' idea ... Just an easy out for the company ...Stop promoting the bike as a racer if you are not gonna support it ...

Another point here is the engines look the same but are not the same internally ...

Thanks for the info ... So what are you gonna do?

I did contact Husky Corporate directly with no results. Corporate repeated the same policy, "you raced it, you own it". I got strong armed from all fronts, the dealer, corporate and the Husky regional manager. All admitted in form or another that this is a manufacturing defect. Yet Husky hides behind BMW's slogan...."you raced it, you own it". At this point I've exhausted all possibilities. In their eyes it doesn't matter it came out of the factory defective, it was raced so that is their scape goat. I'm stuck with the bill while Husky hides.

Also this motor is not manufactured in Italy but rather Tawain.

At this point I have to eat the bill. I will not be promoting the product in our series as I have been nor will I be racing it. The motor failure cost me a class championship.

Bobby,
I just read this over on the ECEA BB. I'm sorry to hear of your problems. It would also be of value to us if you would name the dealer. In my years of riding Huskys, I've found that all dealers are not created equal.

My best quick advice.... Call Hall's Cycles and ask to speak to Jay Hall. He has interceded in the past on "Warranty" issues on race bikes he didn't even sell and got Husky to cover it. Worth a long shot.

Sucks ... I can see UR point on not racing it ... If I was as serious a racer as you sound, I'd get off the bike also ...

I'm not surprised to hear where the motor is put together ... that's the world we live in today ... very hard to tell if this is a negative point or not ... just sounds like 'not as good' ... And paying less for labor is always on the table ...

$38 for the shaft? Air filters cost that much ...

I hope you get something back. It seems the fault was inherent. It was just a time factor and that was accelerated by racing. The issue is either a design fault or more likely a manufacururing fault. Either way the burden of responsibilty and rectification should be bourne at least equally IMHO. Good Luck.

Just want to add this. I am feeling for BobbyK on this (it fully sucks). And I am not commenting on any claim that may or may not be made against the product (Husky TE250), honestly there is assumed risk by the user as viewed by the seller.
However without a scientific exam of the item, it may be an isolated incident, it can be an inherent issue, a manufacturing defect, a material defect, it could be a bad bearing, or the shaft itself, it can also be user error, cause and effect is really unknown without a full engineering investigation.
The devils advocate would immediatly check to see what type of induced load was felt on the CS shaft from the chain under suspension compression at its tightest position.
In other words there are many different answers that can be concluded. With all the TE250s on the trail and no issues similar to this one reported (again we dont know if there are other reports of this failure).
There are some hard runners out there on TEs (see Adam Riemann for one tester) with no outward reported issues (but this is not even worthy for assumption of overall performance) .
One bad incident with one parts failure from one racer is a very unscientific control subject.
Please understand this is only for the trend analysis science side of this. No finger pointing anywhere. Emotions are high on this issue (understandable) and I just wanted to point out that there is really no grounds for assumption that the parts are failing prematurely or that subject part is inferior, there really is nothing to back that assumption. Hopefully there is a dealer connection that may be of some help. I know for the 450/510 series of motors there are lots of spare/used parts around (GP motos for one has alot of tear downs from the SM machines) but for the x-lite motor I am sure there are not so many loose parts around yet. Best of luck we feel for you bobbyk.

this is not surprising to me as ive heard from three different guys having major problems with the new 250F,the problem is how many did they sell in this country?? if 10 guys have problems and they only sold 50 of the bikes,id say its not an isolated problem,now if they sold say a 1000 units and 10 were complaining i could see it being isolated

I know you had a problem...but ask yourself what any other manufacturer would do in this case...I will tell you...tell you to pound sand...they dont know if you changed the oil every ride or once ever...they dont know how you are treating your bike...

in the past I have major problems with a few different jap brands that were all "defects" and ended up with recalls but I still ended up eating them...like a CR125 with shift shaft problems had to basically replace motor, CR250 with a clutch problem smoked most of the tranny, Oh and a KTM250sx that the cyl cracked at the rear stud and smoked the top end, cyl, head, and crank and that was out of my pocket and and 3 months getting the parts....

so I understand it sucks but you have to understand their side too...

I feel for you on this matter Bobby, I know what kind of prices these parts are and they should be helping you out somehow on this. I know in the past before BMW there was a lot of good will between the dealers. I think BMW/Husky is filling new desks and this comes at a bad time when people are still trying to find there way around. It does not make it any easier for you but count to 10 and don't give up. Not sure what kind of relationship you have with your dealer/mechanic but in order for it to get some kind of warranty the dealer needs to see exactly what is going on inside. This means there mechanic has to see what caused it and back you up with a issue like a defect of a counter shaft. Shifting without a clutch can cause counter shafts to break. Also the shaft bearing exploding is going to cause a serious stress to the counter shaft. It is hard to conclude that the shaft was cracked before the bearing exploded. I am not saying you don't know how to use a clutch I am saying that Husky needs to know you are not one of those people.

The one thing I have issue with though is you say:
"So I ordered a new counter shaft and found it was only $38. I thought really? Then I discovered the TC (Husky's motorcross version) was nearly double in price. The TE counter shaft is cheaper because it is manufactured out of a far lesser material. Less material equals lesser cost. I couldn't change to a TC counter shaft since TC gearbox is only a 5 speed."

That does not mean that it is a inferior product or made cheaper. Sometimes there is no reason at all on prices bike companies come up with on parts. I have seen skid plates for $15.00 and fuel pumps for $600.00. The cost of making the part does not always follow the price they sell it for is what I am saying. I have always felt a lot of the manufactures price check other manufactures on prices for parts.

It sucks that this happened as I know Husky needs to address these types of things better. I think they are working on getting there ducks in a row and this is bad for the brand. One thing for sure they will hear you and hopefully will be better qualified at Customer/Dealer support.

At a recent tech school in Canada, the instructor who was from the factory told us that the warranty was still active with the p/up but you needed to follow the "racing" service schedule that is in your manual instead of the std/trail riding schedule.

First, THANK YOU for all the well wishes! Very…Very kind! Below are some other tid-bits that might help:

• Thank you for clarifying price is not always a true representation of quality. I would be interested in seeing what the physical weight difference is between the TC counter shaft and the TE counter shaft.
• All parties (mechanic and dealer) agree the crack in the countershaft was the cause of the failure. I’m not a mechanic and I can see this was the root cause. The counter shaft has a ring around it that holds the counter shaft spacer in place. This spacer sits against the counter shaft bearing. The ring has a large crack that runs horizontal which has separated in opposite directions. This is what caused the spacer to put pressure on the bearing, thus the bearing failure. Hope that is clear enough for some of you.
• When discussing this with corporate I was speaking with a BMW employee not a Husky employee.
• As for “would another manufacturer reimburse you?”. The truth is it depends on who you know. In my case I only know the dealer which why I’m eating it.
• As for the warranty. It is a 6 month warranty that this failure would fall under. However in their eyes I “raced” it. The term “raced” is not accurate. I participated in an endure series which is a time keeping event, not a race. For those of you who disagree that certainly is your right. However realize this is defined by the AMA. The AMA does not deem enduros as a form of racing but rather an event.
• As for “assumed risk”. Absolutely true! However when spending nearly $9000 between bike, suspension, various guards, etc. I expect “static” parts to not be defective. And if they are, have the manufacturer do the right thing and not “lawyer up”.

Again thanks for everyone’s support and kind words!

why didnt you take it back to the dealer after it popped, droppped it off and just let them deal with it instead of (assbling the engine several times and missing something and) taking the whole load on by yourself then going back to husky for it?

sorry yer stuff popped man and dont take this the wrong way, but...am i missing something? every dealer i've ever known, granted it aint all of them, has gone WAY above and beyond the call of service when it come to any type of husky claim. in or out of warty. for such a small brand i've never, ever seen such huge and personal support from any other factory here in the US, and i know of what i speak in that regard.

i'm really suprised the dealer refused (if that was the case) to even look at it before you tore it down.

best of luck, keep making calls and hope you get some satisfaction.