250-500cc Well I take another blow....

Booked my hsky WR300 in for a check up because of low mid range power... they inform me that it is probably because of a piston that has done 1200Klms... They go on to tell me that there is a mandatory change every 800Klms. Please dont tell me that this is what I am going to have to do to maintaine my warranty.. This is really starting to sour my love for this brand... Along with other issues i have had,, this is just the icing on the cake. They instructed me that if i drop a skirt on the piston, it is bye bye warranty... give my a f%$^n break. what is it with manufactures today. cannot they make a bike that will ride for more than a month without a tare down.

Sounds like you are in Australia, if so Feeny's have been tightening the noose on warranty claims over the last couple of years. The best thing you can do if you want to own a Husky in Oz is establish a REAL good relationship with your dealer (I'm on my 3rd 4T, about to sell it for a WR300) as they are the ones who recommend the warranty claim to Feeny's. when I buy my bikes, I always make sure I have their word they will support any claims that I may need to make. Typically, I will take the bike to the shop only for services required by the 'restricted' schedule, and do the regular maintenance myself as long as I buy all oils/filters etc from them they are happy and have never let me down. They know I'll buy a new bike every year/year and a half, and I always buy my gear/accessories etc from them as well, so they see looking after my warranty as an investment in their business.
Having said that, why don't you just pull your barrel off and have a look? Piston kits are only $3-400 if it is stuffed and it's an easy job to do. As dirtdame said, a piston should definatly last a LOT longer than that.

your 300 piston should go 2500-3000klm before needing a change, if its NOT raced.

So are Feeney et al becoming tough to deal with

Just super anal about using genuine parts and the 'correct' oils etc. For my TE I've had to ONLY use Motul 300V($35 per litre) and genuine filters which are $20 more than the aftermarket ones I ran with no problems in my 06 610SM and 07 SM450R.
If I was to have made any warranty claims, my dealer would have had to write a letter to PFG with their assement of the fault and confirm that it had been in their workshop every 400km

sounds like a way to drive revenue on parts and service at the expense of long term customer satisfaction. Great business model.

It's not clear what type of riding you are doing.
A competition 2t that has spent most of it's time in the woods ridden by a plonker, will generally get a longer service out of a piston/ring - maybe as much as 150hrs and 2500-3000km. One that has spent most/all of it's time doing GNCC type cross country events will be lucky to see 5-600 km out of a set. When a 2t is on the pipe, there is a lot of outward force on the ring(s), causing wear and more heat put into the piston causing thermal expansion & skirt wear. The more time on the pipe, the more wear, simple as that.......
In the woods & light trail riding etc. = relatively little time on the pipe.
Outdoor wide open hell bent racing = most of the time on the pipe.

all brands have really short "recomended service schedules" , they all need to cover their butts incase you jetted the bike way too lean or some other bone head move. alot of people would rather spend $500 on a new shiny exhaust pipe that makes them 2 horsepower than spend a couple hundred on a new piston/ring that would get them 2 horsepower they lost because of normal wear. would you rather have your bike running at 100% or have your piston last 500000 miles , your not going to get both on any brand of bike........

Or "maybe" it will last much, much longer - just ask Ray Ray or Harald.

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/pic-of-my-wr250-piston.15686/

Well I bought my bike from Byrners in Frankston.. I have no problems with the bike store or manager... they're great to deal with.. the problem i have is they are being told 800 k's on piston changes. They warned me if i break a piston, they cannot warrant it.... The bit that sticks in my throat is the fact my manual says nothing about piston changes not even how to inspect it... like i said before.. if this is a race bike the owner "if a privateer" cannot maintain it the way it should..
Well i just went thru the manual..AGAIN. There is 2 version one is race (full engine power). The other is ADR version... I am no racer... so.. they are saying 3000klm to replace piston and inspect cylinder... Thats not 800 klms. I think feeney is trying to sting some one..

I think Feeney has no idea... I mean why would you sell a race bike/ trail bike to some one and not give them a proper manual.....

Not me dude.. I buy the bike based on history of manufacture... but now I guess all that will change now the Germans have hold of it.... They couldnt make there own bike work so they bought some one else...

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time with this. For what it's worth I rode 2 strokes for years and the only ones that ever gave up the ghost piston/ring wise were little 50cc's having their necks wringed. Anything else on fairly normal duty with good maintenance should be good for loads more than 800kms. Does the bike bike smoke bad? Have you done a compression test? Has the dealer?! Could it be something completely unrelated like a clogged jet (300's carbed?) or something?

Feeney's is trying to make it like Ducati service...expensive!!!
My manual (abet 2002 WR360) specifies services intervals by competitions and my mates 06 Wr250 works on MX/Enduro hours and to be honest, it's pretty stupid to work service limits on a 2 stroke by amount of km's as others have said, it depends on the rider...so it should be hours.
Have Byrners perform a compression test then inspect the tolerances of the piston to cylinder and ring gaps which is the only way to determine the life of any engine...if they won't do that then take to first class motorcyles in lilydale as they are another husky dealer and race them in VORC and some AORC events.

Ring other dealers specifically their mechanics and inquire about this mandatory 800km change/service/inspection if you are worried if you were bullshitted too...if you bought the bike new from Byrners then l would expect better helpfulness from their mechanics especially if you shop there for all your goods.

PS. I'm not slagging Byrners as l have never dealt with them but l would expect the people that l bought the bike off, regularly buy by gear through and service my bike, to be on my side and not the importer!!

Race means de-restricted, and it's their little loop hole, The bikes are restricted to meet ADR requirements, then part of the pre-delivery is de-restricting them(so every Husky is in race trim when wheeled out of the shop), so unless you have a great dealer, you need to stick to the 'race' schedule or they will just decline any warranty claims. Personally I think the warranty is more important on the 4T's as there is way more that can and does go wrong with them, and they are hideously expensive to fix. On a 2T, there are less things to go wrong and less $ involved, if you can't sort out a problem on a 2T yourself, you're obviously not spending enough time on CafeHusky!!!

I have the new TE 449,and i must say it is way better than my old KTM' s and a hell of a lot of fun to ride.

What warrantee? I figured my WR250 came with a 15 feet or 15 second warrantee which ever came first.