Hey guys There's a frightening lack of people with tarded husky 2 strokes out there; something I would learn after I bought my 06 wr250 with the sole intention of converting it. The idea of owning a street legal smoker always appealed to me and I finally stumbled upon my husky at a dirt cheap price. So I feel it's a good idea to throw my experience onto the interwebs as it would have helped me quite a bit a few weeks ago. Are you thinking of tarding your two stroke? DO IT. It vibrates like an electric toothbrush, smokes a pack a day, sounds obnoxious (i don't even need earplugs on my Husaberg) and Turns heads everywhere. But holy cow, it's fun. Stupid fun. Im truly amazed at the little thing, and although it's had some teething problems (blown cdi, fouled plugs and a few other things) it's now going strong. Every weekend I ride it hard and on the pipe, and through the week it splutters through town as my daily commuter. I bought it on the cheap to begin with, I feel sorry for the thing. The top end is still as strong as the day I got it. What's the power like? it's got nothing down low, a little something in the middle and a murderous top end. It's kind of like hitting the rocket boosters. From a 250 motor, it's really something else. It doesn't like half throttle openings and at the top end it "bumps" - fires once every few strokes, which always steps the back out in tight corners. You need to keep feeding it some fuel (lube) when off the throttle. Kill the spark and twist. What are the brakes like? You need to work the back brake hard in the lack of 4 stroke engine braking. I'm still running the stock brake system with a waved rotor and somewhat floating mount. I've never had trouble pulling it up. What about suspension? This is key. the stock suspension is horribly washy and the front end is very tall. Drop the triple clamps as far as they go, add thicker oil and set compression as tight as possible. The difference is night and day. I've had a bit of a fiddle with the rear shock but found the difference to be barely noticeable. I've left r/c the same but the spring is slightly tighter. I plan on playing with it more down the road, but at the moment it's fantastic. What wheels am I using? I had a lot of trouble here, knowing that the 2 stroke hub is an odd size. Spoked wheels need to be custom built, or so everyone told me. I lucked out when I found a guy selling cbr250rr rims, tires, axles and spacers to fit a late model TE610. I bought them expecting that I would have to do a lot of work to make them fit, but they fit straight it with the exception of the front disc. Sprocket and disc on the rear matched with the spacers he gave me. So the only work I needed to do was to lift the front disc off the hub by about 5mm and take a link out of my chain to accommodate a smaller sprocket (10 teeth smaller!). The bike sits on Pirelli sport demons 120f/140r. Average tires but I think I talk them down coming from Michelin pilot powers on my other bike. People have mentioned elsewhere that a 140 rear is too small for supermoto, but I'm of the mind that it's ok for a bike that weighs so little. If anyone's having issues I'm more than happy to hit you with the info that you need, I'm lucky that I stumbled on it. Save your huskies from a life of dirt and grime!
Very cool! Good job! Do you do much highway speeds for an extended period - say 40-50kms at 100-110km/h?
Hey Tim Nar I don't man. With my current gearing I'm riding my local mountains in 4th and fifth only and absolutely pinning it at around the 100ish 110kmh mark. Im planning on dropping more teeth but only expect to take it up to around 140 max, as the gearing is very close ratio and I'm already having to rev the piss out of it to launch at traffic lights haha!
I've SMed my WR250 over here lots ... No changes really, just a stock 08 model bike blasting the twisty mountains roads here with simple mods any dirt bike rider should know.
Running 15/40 on 17' wheels, mine topped out at about 147 km/h according to GPS. Id run a little bigger on the rear if I did it again, maybe 44? I found that the 40 took away a little bit too much of the fun on the 250, maybe be ok with a 300. Constant hiughway speeds will kill a 2T pretty quickly but, not a good idea.
Yeah mate Im at 15/42, and QLD police have reliably informed me that im doing about 120kmh max. Lucky I still have a license hahaha! I dont know though hey, Im keen to drop to a 40 to see how I go. The little husky that could is still going strong, but outside of town Im still putting it in 5th and pinning it. Ive been thinking of late that the Husky might be a good platform for a supermoto adventure bike (of sorts) to cart me down to the twisties in Northern NSW. Its only 200kms and Ive babied my other bike the distance before, but Im of the mind that I could swap between a 38t for highway (at 90kmh and tuned rich) and a 40/42 for the mountains. Thoughts? Yeah a 2t isnt the best to start on, but its given me no reason to doubt its reliability! I really cant speak enough for it, a current compression test has yielded 3psi lower than the day I got it. As a 4 stroke guy Im amazed that it has survived the punishment ive dealt to it unharmed. Why doesnt everyone ride a 2 stroke?
Nice info, thanks. Many years of the 4 stroke and 2 stroke rear wheels have different offsets for the sprocket. Meaning the 2 stroke hub is slightly different than the 4 stroke where the sprocket ends up. Its about a sprocket thickness differance. I;m guessing you don't have this issue but you might want to look at the alignment and the wear pattern on the rear sprocket and chain guide.
My excuse is I was coming to foreign land where I knew I was gonna be a street rider to some degree ...too much for a 2t bike I thought ... Other than that, I would have never purchased a 4t bike ... The only reason I ever heard of this site was due to maintenance on a 4t bike ... I need another 2t, 250cc Husqvarna dirt bike. I'd be happy to let my 4t track bikes rest. Not that they are bad bikes, they just ain't a 2t.
Ray I feel you man! Theres heaps of road legal husky two strokes in Australia, converting one for the road was the best thing I've ever done. Suspension update: Rebuilt the front forks and added 15w oil. HavE been playing with compression adjustment and I'm finding that 7/8 clicks out is perfect
An update: Im pretty sick of the shitty front brake already, and I'm looking into dropping in a second hand sm caliper and master cylinder from the wreckers. So far I've found a Yamaha xt 660 and a braking/brembo system that will fit, I'll see how I go. When the brakes are hot, I can literally pull the lever as far as it will go. Other than that, I've been working to match geometry to my husaberg fs650 with a bit of success. Knowing that all of the good bits from the husaberg fit to the husky is nice too, next time it blows up I'll swap the forks, brakes and rear shock over and see how it goes! It's still going strong as my daily bike. Any more than two strokes and you're playing with it!
Which brake fluid do you use? Maybe a fluid having a high boiling point could let the stock braking system work for longer.
Good to see some more Husky 2T lovin! Mines a 300 with a few mods and definitely one of my favorite bikes, good for 170km/h with 15/39T, did 5000km before I rebuilt it, won the 2012 South Aus supermoto race series in S4 and almost a daily commuter for most of it's life, what more could you ask of a bike? I haven't been racing for a couple of years but this sunday I'll be taking it to Baskerville in Hobart to give it a run against my WR450f which should be interesting. Sounds like LemoneyF would benefit from doing a bit of work on his jetting and running a semi-synth oil at 50:1, mine doesn't smoke much at all once warm and runs pretty smooth everywhere, do a search on my username for more info on what I've done. Goodonya for sharing, sweet bike mate! View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-P3sZaW-s&feature=player_embedded
