Trying to decide between a TE510, or a TE610, or a DRZ400

My TE450 vibrated like crazy and I think the 510 would be the same. I'm pretty sure the 610 has a counterbalancer that reduces the vibrations. Plus the engine is tamer. I'd have a 610 for true DS use waaaaay before a 510. Happy shopping, keep us posted.

Must be something wrong with my TE450 then! There is some vibration of course, but as the engine broke in it's smoothed out a lot and I regularly do 30+ minute spells on the road without tingling fingers or toes - in fact I don't notice the vibration at all, not even through the bars. Mine's an '09 - did the earlier bikes vibrate more?

That said, I'd agree that for dual-sporting I wouldn't pick the 450, and I only ride it on the road to get to and from the dirt. I keep the speed down as I don't expect the engine would like to be run at high revs for long periods, and the seat's not ideal for doing a couple of hundred miles either. Haven't ridden a 610 but I'm sure it would be the better choice for dual-sporting as it will happily do sustained high speed in some comfort, but still take you off road without embarrassing itself.

Have you checked with Heinen's? They might know where to find one...

my 07 510 sumo has some vibes but is not bad at all... and my other street rides are silky smooth ducati's so you would think i would notice bad vibrations...
i have done many 300-400 mile rides( road and dirt mix) on my 510 and the only problem i have found is the dirt bike seat on the 450-510's is brutal once you go past the hundred mile mark! and thats with riding shorts on! other than that the bike does everthing i want it to do and it never complains...
i would agree with the others about the 610 being better suited for DS work though... if you don't mind the added weight compared to the 450- 510's.

The later year TE's do not have a counterbalancer like your SM, which makes your motor MUCH smoother and vibe free as compared to the TE. The DRZ or 610 woiuld be much smoother on road. No way I would do any extended dual sporting on a TE450 or 510. They are a dirt bike with a racing bent. Just have a plate to make short connections when exploring forest trails IMO.

To the OP. You really need to figure out what you will be doing with the bike and where you will be riding it. If you are going to be doing alot of on road work the 610 would be the better choice. If are going to be exploring trails and more single track, the 610 would be too big and I would argue the DRZ would be the better bike.

Maybe so, but whichever way you slice it my '09 TE450 doesn't vibrate in any way which bothers me at all even during relatively long spells on the road (long for an enduro bike anyway). Sure it vibrates some, but no worse than several road bikes I've owned over the years (and one of them was a twin with a balance shaft!). Honestly it's such a non-issue for me that I'd never even considered the vibration being a problem before it came up on this thread, as I never notice it. Maybe I'm just lucky and I got the only TE which doesn't vibrate much? Otherwise I guess we just have different tolerances for vibration.

Like I said, I wouldn't buy a TE for dual-sporting but that's for other reasons (e.g. seat, wind protection, engine life at high road speeds, short service intervals, etc).

LoL i was wondering how long it would take for someone to catch that! after i typed that, i read elsewhere that the SM's had a balanceshaft... i never knew it and that would explain the lack of bad vibes...

Ride the 510 before you decide it's the bike for you....You will not enjoy it on long road rides, hell I don't enjoy mine on short road rides for the most part.

A friend has a KTM 530 and honestly it rides much better on the street IMO, geared better for it and less vibration..

Offroad I love my 510 and would pick it every time over his KTM..

I have ridden most of the bikes mentioned, a couple of things come to mind. I ended up buying a 2008 610 to replace my Transalp.

The TE 510 is unbearable on the road if you need to go more than 5 miles. I also found it slower in the desert type riding you get in Mojave, etc compared to the 610. The 510 would be better in the tight woods type riding or anywhere the weight would be a factor.

The DRZ are fine bikes, about the same weight as the 610 but without the 6th gear and I didn't like the suspension as well. Having said that, they can be found for a good price, and in talking with owners seem very dependable.

Find a good deal on any of them and get it and start riding!

I have an 09 TE510 and can too attest to the fact it pretty much sucks on long slab rides. On the subject of vibes Im with Petem, mine isn't bad at all, it's no modern inline 4, but in no way is it unbearable. What makes the bike rough is the stock gearing. It seems the motor is happy cruising at about 4700 which is like 45 miles and hour.

"cbreakin" totally agree with you. The gearing and the seat on the 510 are the killers. Off-road the gearing is great for what I like to do, but forget it on the street. For me anything more the 80 miles on the stock seat is death. I plan on a new seat as the next gift for myself.