• 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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!

Actual news on the KTM purchase of Husqvarna

It isn't that it isn't easy to work on, I just found some of the parts/ design and usage to be surprisingly light for the task required. Failure was because of this light, what I felt was under-engineered application. I just don't want to get into detailed rantings. I just was very surprised at things that would be very easy to upgrade/design to bullet proof. I have to say that after I got done with the repair, my instant gut reaction was that bean counters/accountants got involved in final production drawings and parts design/acquisition. I am probably over reacting to what is a possible future for Husqvarna.

This is not meant as a rip on all things KTM as I am far too inexperienced with them to make an overall judgement.
 
wallybean said:
Hi Norman,

I am not going into details but I was just stunned with the cheesy parts and under engineered parts. I know that many of us are used to the over engineered bullet proof Husky 2T's and if this is the direction they are going then I am bailing. KTM's are premium priced bikes...I guess that is how you make money by saving on the little things that bite the regular guy in the ass after the new is worn off.
Click to expand...

They didn't get as light as they are by accident.
 
This whole situation gets more depressing, the more real info I learn.
I started out optimistic about Husqvarna and Husaberg getting reunited, now.....not so much.:(
 
silverpilen said:
Don't forget, the italian motorcyle industry thrives on small subcontractors. The manufacturers are essentially engineers/designers and assemblers, most of the components are farmed out to a myriad of smaller sub contractors, even frame tubes and forming and sometimes welding are outsourced. Checkout the Megafactory documentary for both MV-Augusta and Ducati to see what I mean. This is how Italy can remain efficient and competitive against cheaper Japanese and Taiwan/Chinese bikes and still maintain style and quality. The loss of jobs for the Husky factory workers is the tip of the ice berg, the knock on effect to others is significant if SP decides to dump Italy all together and move production to Austria/India. As far as KTM/Husaberg goes, the only Italian products I can think of is the Domino throttle tube, I don't even think they use Acerbis plastics anymore? It sounds like SP want Husky will to go the same way. No wonder the Italians are pi$$ed.
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Very true ... of Italian and British bikes. Small workshops, based on individual riders and designers who innovate; and are then `taken over´ by large, companies, interested in `global´ markets who imitate, but are unable to innovate. That´s what BMW tried to do (but couldn´t). And that´s how the Japanese conquered the world market. And that´s how Pierer intends to carry on. Luckily for us there are still quite a few Italian shops that make bikes. But EU regulations make it ever more impossible to get motorbikes made by smaller companies road legal . Sadly, the Husky 630 trick (you buy the p/u plug to get the `real bike´) is no longer practicable. But we´ll get around the problem somehow. Even if I have to hang on to my bikes for the duration ... I´ll NOT buy Japanese (or KayTeeEmmm)
 
Never been as upside down on a bike $ as I was with the Ktm ....enduro engineering,Ktm hard parts and local stealership made $$$ steady diet of parts and pieces...wheel bearings way too small,watch for flying plastic...the air box lids stupid 1/4 turn fasteners that always fell out...dealer told me to but black duct tape over them so you don't loose them when they fall out ...yeah $ 12 for the fasteners that fall apart....x bushing failure? Put a sock over it to keep dirt out, sloppy heim joints, clutch fail,basket fail,over complicated exhaust valve that gummed up,exhaust leaks,cylinder cracked at pipe,weak rear hub,leaks coolant,boil overs....I am ok with the replacing of consumables,chains,sprockets,air cleaners, top end etc......but that bike was a money pit,the aftermarket had a fix for every failure...heck even Moose made an oversize bearing kit and improved seals for it..........the profit is in the treatment not the cure..ha..I worked on that bike more than I rode it....never again.........I just hope some of the reliable husky platforms find their way into the future husqktm ....ok rant over ....Walt just dredged up some bad memories....elitist dealers,leaking gas caps and fuel all over Jim and the twins,........rant over, rant over, count to ten...breathe, zen, relax..really I am ok now. Did I mention the cracked subframe,broken frame mounts,stator failure.....no really going to stop now.....so happy when i saw it sold and in the back of someone else's truck ........sorry for hijacking...
 
Come to think of it, I was always replacing wheel bearings and spacers on the KTM and never on my Husqvarnas. And no, I did not like the dzus fasteners on the airbox.
But lets not forget, many of us have had to do a lot of tinkering to get our Husqvarnas to run correctly.
 
It was pretty sad I had phone book thick stack of receipts for it....they buyer was so happy I had done so much"maintenance"......yeah when the aftermarket builds every bandaid for a bike that should be a warning. Literally that Ktm was a roach,over priced,over priced parts prone to failure....was a bad experience all around. At least with the wr300 I saved a pile of cash, armored it up,pwk and I was done...it's really been happy trails ....no joke...
 
water racer said:
Come to think of it, I was always replacing wheel bearings and spacers on the KTM and never on my Husqvarnas. And no, I did not like the dzus fasteners on the airbox.
But lets not forget, many of us have had to do a lot of tinkering to get our Husqvarnas to run correctly.
Click to expand...

Dzus fasteners are great. They are used extensively in aircraft applications. I wonder if KTM was installing them incorrectly? The fastener on the seat of my TE310 is basically a Dzus fastener with a ring instead of a screw head.
 
Hey SP - there's a kid doing well flat tracking Huskies - in a year or so he'll be ready for the 'big time' - how about a light twin adventure bike that can be the basis for a flat tracker :) The big KTM's and BMW's are too big - the BMW800 is about right. Still love that Nuda at Erzberg time trial!!
 
panhandlebars said:
It was pretty sad I had phone book thick stack of receipts for it....they buyer was so happy I had done so much"maintenance"......yeah when the aftermarket builds every bandaid for a bike that should be a warning. Literally that Ktm was a roach,over priced,over priced parts prone to failure....was a bad experience all around. At least with the wr300 I saved a pile of cash, armored it up,pwk and I was done...it's really been happy trails ....no joke...
Click to expand...

That's all I had to do to my 2010, still running the original pipe.
 
..I can vouch for some of what Wally mentioned ...after I closed my shop,I began working on bikes at my garage shop to help make ends meet...and I've worked on a lot of ktm's over the past 20 +years( as well as Husky's) and there were many times that I'd sit and scratch my head wonderin' what the hell ktm was thinking.Husky has had a few brain fart ideas,BUT NO WHERE NEAR AS BAD AS ktm has had......from the inner most workings/designs(pv gear drive) to the simplistic (seat bolt "under' the fender,right above the tire)...but I don't want to rant on...
 
I should never have posted anything. I was just stunned by some very weak parts and was disillusioned with what that means for Husky going forward.
 
wallybean said:
I should never have posted anything. I was just stunned by some very weak parts and was disillusioned with what that means for Husky going forward.
Click to expand...

Wally, stunned is stunned...and it seemed to be just a heart felt observation, not a total bust of a brand. Maybe model specific...maybe not.

I have also been stunned and amazed...but it is about your willingness to help us and anybody else to forward the husky cause. Your concern about the brand is well founded and supported by many.

Hopefully we will end up with something that's worth caring about.


Keep the faith...
 
KTM NA is having sales meetings this week to map out 2014. I am hoping something about Husqvarna and Husaberg will come out of that meeting. I am a Husaberg dealer and I told my rep that KTM needs to get out in front of this if for no other reason than to calm down the rumors. Husaberg customers are starting to ask a lot of questions that I have no answers for.
 
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