Nice writeup & pic's. http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/husqvarna-te449-rr-dakar-race-bike-speedbrain/
Did you all notice, it doesn't look like it has the coax rear set up. It looks like the countershaft is forward of the rear mount, traditional standard set up.
I couldn't really tell when the FS shaft was at but if it is not a CTS setup, someone has built a new engine ...
Are you sure that is the same engine? Sounds radical to move an engine that far forward in the frame unless all the other weight in the rear of the bike counters that added, forward weight ... These are big heavy bikes and that movement might be possible ... '
Did you notice the rear tanks? I'm sure they add quite a bit of weight on the back when full. If the Moroccan rally is any indication. These Husky's are also the fastest bikes in their field
Yep, this is all pretty interesting with the bike changes ... And the racing results are great and this TE engine is sitting at the top of the heap on speed for these 450 bikes? Makes all the bashing pretty dim on the new model bikes with this engine .. Just another example of $ being applied to a Husky and it runs at the front of the race ...
This is your te449 stock This is your speedbrain on drugs Any questions? You can clearly see the weld on the swingarm and that the pivot point is not the same. However, the sprocket doesn't clear the pivot... so I guess they cut a channel for it? It's obviously a different frame, too. Look at the different shock angle for one. And the frame itself for another.
Thanks for those side-by-side pics ...The sprocket not clearing the pivot I though was just a bad camera angle but it does look like maybe some funky engineering at work here ... The new bike got a cool shifter for some reason also .... EDIT: Rear wheel suspension: Aluminum dual swing arm with WP Trax rear suspension WP stuff front and back ....
Stocker has the short shock attached to the top of the swingarm, Speedbrain uses conventional through-the-swingarm bellcrank and pullrod set-up.
That top of the SA design gave away about an inch of travel ... I'd guess at the speeds these guys go, an inch of travel means a great deal out there in those boonies ... Not sure how much that added knuckle under the bottom adds to the suspension equitation on the perform side ...Apparently its pretty important as some leave this design but return to usually ...
the speedbrain bike is bmw g450 frame or at least started that way,i think,maybe or ive been wrong before ?
I think I heard once where these bikes go through multiple engines during this race? Does anyone know any details here on engine life over this race? ------------------ You could always to some degree say that it is the same frame and please correct me if I am wrong...but after the bmw engine got passed over to Husky, a new frame was made for the released TE, TXC, and TC models ... That first bmw frame had like no cradle or something and was not what the general public might want on their bike ... With that said, I'm not sure what frame these guys are using ... Almost has gotta be unique from the looks of all this ... I'm sure someone here knows what is going on ... I'm liking what the riders keep saying on the speed they can get from the engine ... The high performance engine work here should trickle into the production models as a side effect of racing and spending $$ for development at this top level ...
concerning the weight I am sure its very well balanced, it just appears rear heavy, remember the front of the skid plate is a water tank. Almost 8.5 lbs per gallon low and forward of CG, plus the entire nav package and fairing mid-high and fwd of CG to counter any rear fuel weight @6.lbs per gal mid rear closer to CG.
Its the husky engine in there through At the heart of the bike is the Husqvarna TE449 engine, which has been modified to handle the demands of rallying. Husqvarna is responsible for the development, design and overall performance diagnostics of the 450cc engine, and supplies the race-ready power train to the Speedbrain team. The Husqvarna TE449 engine is one of the bike’s biggest strengths and has been optimised again ahead of the 2013 Rally Dakar.
I like the fuel cell, nice gold foil, interesting how they moved the fuel pump away from the hot engine, replacing the third member with a fuel cell is nice though I like the all aluminum one better. Electronics are different, no more capacitor near the hot engine. Fuel filter is very nice, especially for questionable fuel refills. Like the billet rear break lever. The exhaust is much larger in diameter. I see the oil level is pretty high, nice oil cooler setup. I dislike the loss of CTS and the linkage is vulnerable down like that. I wonder how they fixed the torque limiter?
