New to Cafe Husky sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in. Just got my first Husky (TE449) and have a few questions. I have been reading all about how off the showroom floor the bike is all plugged up (california). Even know I am new to riding after a 20+ year hiatus I could defiantly feel that the bike is lacking and is kinda choppie. When I let of the gas it really seems to wind down hard..... So my questions are 1) is this normal for a new 449? 2) will mapping the bike help? And 3) will mapping be to much power for a old guy trying to get back in the game? Any advise would be much appreciated! Thanks.
Yes yes and yes. You should post this in 4t forum. Bike is extremely plugged up stock. First off get rid of smog junk (black canister on drivers side of bike. 2nd send ecu to Ziptyracing and have map 3 installed. 3rd go for fmf q4 slip on pipe then hold on it will rip. No it will not be too much power, it will run more like it is designed to. The power will be more in line with the suburb handling the bike is designed for. Congrats and enjoy
These motors take a good 500 miles to break in. I am slow to add stuff and went with no mods other than taking the smog canister off and switching to full synthetic oil at about 350 miles. After it passed the 500mi mark, it was like a switch flipped and it started pulling big power wheelies out of turns. That's with the stock pipe mind you and it stayed that way until the 1000mi mark. I added a JD tuner at around 1100, and FINALLY got my hands on an Akro slip on a few weeks ago. It's a great bike with the stock muffler that looks like it should be on a new Fiat, but having a free flowing exhaust really perked her up. Here's a great place to get your bearings around here http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/449-511-guide-index.35111/#post-336754 Welcome and enjoy!
Thanks Huskynoobee! I appreciate you timeline breakdown. Thinking I will try to be as patient as possible and see how myself and the bike evolve. It's hard not run out and splurge on all these awesome mods I am discovering here! But first things first..... I better start with breaking her in
I'm just down the street from you in Newport. Definitely going to look into Zip-Ty when I'm ready to pull the trigger.. I see that you have Mammoth listed in your profile. We have a pad up there and REALLY want to do some ridding next season. Any suggestions on where to go? A little downhill MTB in the morning... Some afternoon rides on the motorcycles... And top it off with the evening bite! WOW... Summer you can't get here fast enough! Lol
I went out with a local guy in Mammoth last week and he said for them Winter is a big time for riding...of course not at 8000 in town so much but south towards Bishop to Death Valley and out into Nevada. More rain and less dust too. We did a 60 mi ride that started in town then went to the recreation area at Shady Rest then to the intersect of 203 and 395, fire roads, double track and a little single track all the way down to Tom's Place, lunch there, then out behind Lake Crowley, by HotCreek and the Airport on the way back....just about 8 mi of blacktop.
Grew up fishing and riding with my family in that area myself, even lived in Mammoth and worked for the mountain for a couple years. We would do great rides all over up there. Mammoth to June is a great day ride, bombing out to Mono, Bald Mountain, down around upper Owens river, it's all good.
Would love to find some single track out in the trees or even better up to some of the more remote lakes that are not accessible to most.
I'm from Newport Beach, used to live right on the peninsula. Below is my link to 449 goodies we make. We actually have a great deal more, including a new radiator coolant you should run in your 449. http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/zipty-449-511-accessory-map.43462/ 15% off right now too!
The first thing you should do is run a tube from the front airbox drain down to below the skid plate. That way if you get the oil issue, it will drain to the ground instead of all over the head. That'll cost you $2. Then get the ECU flashed by Zip-Ty, for $50 (I think it's less if you use your cafe husky discount). Then continue with the break-in. Those two things will save you lots of head ache while you are getting to know your bike. I wanted to burn my brand new bike down to the ground, then piss on it. But after doing some fixes, I can't imagine ever getting rid of it.
"I wanted to burn my brand new bike down to the ground, then piss on it. But after doing some fixes, I can't imagine ever getting rid of it." I know the words to that song ;-) Didn't want to believe bikes were not even tuned to reliably run, on the street, albeit at lower power levels. Once that sunk in (w/my 310) and a path was presented that targeted the specific issues all got better, fast.
Yup, a lot of people sing it. ;-) To the OP: I can tell you that the FMF exhaust made a little difference. But dropped a lot of weight up high. You can feel that on the trail. AND It's loud. Very loud. I'm 6'1" tall and got lowered/set back pegs from Touratech. And Trailtech Woods bars. that fixed the comfort issues. I'm used to riding mountain bikes with hard saddles, so I kept the stock seat. But a lot of people complain about the seat. I worked up a oil catch can for the crankcase vent (looked ridiculous), but after the proof-of-concept worked, I put the full Zip-Ty kit on. Works good. Drop the coin for a EarthX battery from Zip-Ty. That'll help with starting the bike after you stall it, and saves a lot of weight up high. You can feel that on the trail too. Not to mention that you can leave the bike in the garage for a month or more without any hassle with tenders and the thing will fire right up. The butterfly mod is really good for me. Some might like to keep it to smooth out the power a little. But I like that instant throttle response. The second best mod I did was to put the correct springs in for my 205 lbs. I've heard that Racetech Gold Valves are good too. But Zip-Ty revalve is better. The JD Tuner is good (had one on for about 3 months), but the best mod so far has been the PowerCommander and Autotune. After getting many trail miles in with the Autotune on, the bike runs flawless.
A lot of these bikes have blow-by gas coming from the positive crank case vent. It fills the airbox with oil and that drains from the little nipple on the front of your airbox. It's directly over the front of the valve cover. That oil drips down all over the valve cover and head.
Couple questions regarding the smog canister.... Benefits of removing? Any effect on the CPU/bikes balance etc? Any idea if it effects the warrenty? Any threads that show steps to remove? Thanks Huskynoobee!
The smog canister allows extra air to flow into the manifold, leaning the engine out. Removal helps the engine by slightly richening the mixture.
Mine ran really erratic with the smog canister. In fact most of the stalling off idle and inconsistent starts went away after the stupid thing fell off. I was worried about the warranty thing myself and actually waited a few months to remove it. After I did the realization that it could literally be reinstalled in under 15 minutes made me wanna kick myself. It's really pretty easy. Many people completely remove the nipple on the head and replace with proper size bolt/screw. I just slapped a rubber vacuum nipple on it available at any auto parts store. The hose that comes from the tank breather off the gas filler neck is just routed by the engine/swingarm like older carbed bikes.
I'm not the guru mechanic either, it's really simple, unbolt the canister from the bike and pull the lines off the bike. One is attached to the brass nipple right next to the canister and the other just routes thru the bike. Just pull the routed one free and disconnect the other one and put a vacuum cap on the brass nipple. Took me like 5 minutes super easy and Believe me I'm no mechanic
