• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

  • 2 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Austria - About 2014 & Newer
     TE = 2st Enduro & TC = 2st Cross

TE/TC 2015 FreeRide

Kawagumby said:
Pay all that money and buy a better battery?

Here's the thing...these bikes are boondockers....best for nasty trails with a lot of obstacles (IMO)...So why would you not have a kickstarter on the things? What perverted engineering dept thought this was a good idea? Do these guys even ride?
No power valves, no kickstarter means a high price tag?

Bah, I was pissed just watching this guy.... I agree with him 100%

I'm glad I watched this video....that would have been me....out by myself....stuck in a hole with no way to bump start.... and I'm in my late sixties - so my endurance ain't what it used to be.

Sorry guys, I'm sticking with my trusted, proven KDX - it gets me home even when I'm wiped-out and ready to puke. :banana:
Click to expand...
Hard to beat a KDX....
 
I don't know if that guy got a lemon or what but I've watched at least an hour of his YouTube videos and that's the first that has featured any actual riding - brief though it was. All his others are pretty much the same - bitchin' about the brakes, battery, starter, etc. (but from the comparative comfort of his driveway).

I agree that given the absence of a kick starter his bling money would have been better spent on a heavy duty Li-Ion battery. But I also agree that that shouldn't be necessary on a new bike.

Then again maybe those auxiliary lights he stuck on it are 55W halogens. Who knows, maybe he's added heated grips and an arse warmer too.

Regardless, the lack of a kick starter on any off road motorcycle designed to take you far from the beaten (and paved) path is engineering malpractice.

Light is good but given the choice of riding a 93.5 kg bike back to civilization vs pushing a 92.5kg bike back to civilization, I know which I'd choose. And judging from the colourful language in the above video I expect there's at least one other person who'd agree with me.
 
Man I just don't get the appeal. It seems like a good idea in theory but in fact its either a really really heavy trials bike or a really crappy dirt bike... or both. My money would be on a YZ125 with 12:52 gearing, it weighs about the same and has better suspension and brakes it also has a power valve and a kick starter that you can start the engine with you hand if you want too. If anyone has ever ridden a modern 145 pound trials bike on the trails they would know that if you trail ride them a lot they get clapped out pretty fast because of the limited suspension and small light brakes and other featherlight components. The freeride has the disadvantages of weaker suspension and the small brakes but still weighs around 200 lbs. Beta makes an EVO 250 sport that is 249 lbs dry and Sherco has made a "longride" option for years, both are much closer to the mark possibly because they understand trials bikes better than KTM.
 
reveille said:
Riding a dirt bike off road isn't for everybody...
Click to expand...

There was riding in that video? Would have never guessed it. Could only watch to where he dropped the bike leaving the fenced area.

Angus said:
I don't know if that guy got a lemon or what but I've watched at least an hour of his YouTube videos and that's the first that has featured any actual riding - brief though it was. All his others are pretty much the same - bitchin' about the brakes, battery, starter, etc. .
Click to expand...
An hour? Don't see how you did it, must have been a few beers:D
 
Language****************************************! (But I had to laugh). Anyway ... t´was quite good downhill. Don´t think I want a Kaytee.
 
lankydoug said:
Man I just don't get the appeal. It seems like a good idea in theory but in fact its either a really really heavy trials bike or a really crappy dirt bike... or both. My money would be on a YZ125 with 12:52 gearing, it weighs about the same and has better suspension and brakes it also has a power valve and a kick starter that you can start the engine with you hand if you want too. If anyone has ever ridden a modern 145 pound trials bike on the trails they would know that if you trail ride them a lot they get clapped out pretty fast because of the limited suspension and small light brakes and other featherlight components. The freeride has the disadvantages of weaker suspension and the small brakes but still weighs around 200 lbs. Beta makes an EVO 250 sport that is 249 lbs dry and Sherco has made a "longride" option for years, both are much closer to the mark possibly because they understand trials bikes better than KTM.
Click to expand...


Exactly.
 
Here's my green-colored Freeride.
A 1987 KDX200 with upgraded brakes and suspension. A seat you can sit on all day, and at 224 lbs I can actually pick it up and....

it comes with a KICKSTARTER (yes, it can be started by hand too), and I decided to keep the power-valve assembly since it didn't seem to hurt anything, LOL. :applause: Notice, much like the KTM Freeride engineers I decided retro is good so I used air-cooling to eliminate the unnecessary hassle of radiators. But, I also decided reed valves were good too, so I kept that. :busted:

The biggest single expense were the Flexx bars I put on it.





1987_zps9dd05879.jpg
 
I have a hard core rider friend that spent weeks on a Freeride in Taiwan, he loved it. He has fully drank the orange coolaid but still he had lots of good things to say about it. He rode both the 350 and 250, said they were both underpowered compared to a full on MX/off road bike but worked great.

Fullscreen+capture+11132013+94925+AM.jpg


1400755_685719021446601_1703136581_o.jpg
 
I'm old and slow and would love a light weight modern play chase with the grandkids bike with e-start and low seat height......did I mention I'm only 5'8" :lol:. As much as I haven't found a KTM I like the FreeRide could be it. I would like to try one. Would I get one as my only bike, ride MX, go way out in the middle of nowhere without a jumper device, race one, NO. As I think it's designed use is a play bike. Should it have a kick starter ....probably but it's not a deal breaker for me after seeing how small the jump boxes are now. I give them props for having another option for riders.
 
john01 said:
I'm old and slow and would love a light weight modern play chase with the grandkids bike with e-start and low seat height......did I mention I'm only 5'8" :lol:. As much as I haven't found a KTM I like the FreeRide could be it. I would like to try one. Would I get one as my only bike, ride MX, go way out in the middle of nowhere without a jumper device, race one, NO. As I think it's designed use is a play bike. Should it have a kick starter ....probably but it's not a deal breaker for me after seeing how small the jump boxes are now. I give them props for having another option for riders.
Click to expand...


Yeah...I wanted free ride too....that is until I looked at Beta and bought one. Low seat height, estart that works and kick backup. Oh..and no sacrifice in power output and only $7500
 
2014 300rr. I may have got last one in US :) they sold out pretty quick I was told.

2015 model is about 1 month away and have some good improvements, but I did not want to wait and price would be $8100
 
Kawagumby said:
Here's my green-colored Freeride.
A 1987 KDX200 with upgraded brakes and suspension. A seat you can sit on all day, and at 224 lbs I can actually pick it up and....

it comes with a KICKSTARTER (yes, it can be started by hand too), and I decided to keep the power-valve assembly since it didn't seem to hurt anything, LOL. :applause: Notice, much like the KTM Freeride engineers I decided retro is good so I used air-cooling to eliminate the unnecessary hassle of radiators. But, I also decided reed valves were good too, so I kept that. :busted:

The biggest single expense were the Flexx bars I put on it.





1987_zps9dd05879.jpg
Click to expand...

NICE :thumbsup:bet that little bike rocks KDXs r sweet 4 what they r love mine all 292cc
 
Thanks guys! It's amazing how these older trail bikes still perform right along with the new stuff - and can actually still best them in many situations - especially tight trails. I'm riding the wheels off of this bike right now...it's just a fun bike and really works well. I used to ride/race this model back in the day, and I always wanted to see what it would do with a better rear disk brake (originally used a drum) and modern forks, so I rebuilt an old castaway from the ground up. It was worth it.
 
I'm still not sure if it was the bike or the rider :eek::D . Was the bike that underpowered ? I can't imagine a bike being that weak. Hmmm maybe if he twisted the throttle a little it may have run a little better..:cheers:
 
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