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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

Is the Terra exciting enough for someone leaning more towards a daily supermoto?

FabOneUp said:
This was posted by nycrider in the TR650 video thread and should answer your question quite clearly. Watch it to the end.
Click to expand...
Looks like the guy in the vid is having fun. Hard to tell speeds and acceleration from a vid- but he seems to be in control and have enough reserve to keep the gap close even with a I4 in front of him... when he pulled away it seemed effortless. Maybe not hoodlum wheelie burnout power gushing- but you have to be honest with yourself about what you want/need and how you are going to use it. If you want scary power that you are afraid of- I am sure you could get a CBR/simular and try to throw it around and ride it like a motard. I had one for about 2 years- I had to get rid of it- I would have killed myself or lost my license. I road it in the spirit of dirt biking- as fast as I can for the conditions. I am no street rider or stunter but I was doing burnouts, wheelies at speed and no speed, and endo's- knew how to do those things from dirt and just applied more HP, speed, and weight... fun but.... :eek:... I am guessing I could do similar damage on one of these bikes with a bit more work... not bragging by any means just pointing out my stupidity, lack of impulse control, and self control when it comes to stuff like this. How you ride it/ abuse it can make up alot of difference in 'fun factor'.
 
farp said:
Here are some facts and figures about the relative performance of the DRZ400 and the DL650 V-Strom

V-Strom 0-60mph = 3.98 sec 1/4 mile = 12.45 sec
http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/model_eval/2012MayDL650.pdf

DRZ400SM 0-60mph = 5.45 sec 1/4 mile = 13.66 sec
http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/model_eval/DRZ400SM2 0705.pdf

The V-strom is significantly faster than the DRZ400 and, as reported earlier on this site, the Terra is faster than the V-Strom.
Click to expand...

And the Terra tests right smack in the middle of the two!

Terra 650 0-60mph = 4.57 sec 1/4 mike = 13.01
http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/model_eval/2013JanTR650.pdf
 
Comparing against/ with a DRZ? I owned one (SM) a few years back, and it was a pretty good hooligan machine being my first single (before dirt biking). But it being quick? Really?? I haven't ridden the TR, but it has 250cc(?) on the DRZ. I weighed my DRZ once, and I think if memory serves, it was close to 400lbs with fuel.
Don't get me wrong, I think the little DRZ was a great bike and I had fun corner carving with liter bikes. And nearly NO maintenance, just gas and go!
Try and find a Terra/ Strada to test ride, Coffee has a great idea there.
 
Incredibly interesting discussion. :)

But personally the only thing that matters to me is how large of a smile a bike gives me. Both my 2006 te250 and the tr650 I just bought did that quite well for a number of reasons - but obviously that is quite personal.

I hopped on Bill's tr650 in Bend OR and rode trails (actual trails, not completely off road were terrain is very rough) for hours with a huge grin on my face.
 
I've always wondered if some of the bike performance tests are universally representative of a certain model. Back in my racing days, I bought two brand new RM400's. Identical bikes. One was the practice bike the other the race bike... one was noticeably faster than the other. I could never figure it out...I tore both down for rebuilds...everything was the same...jetting, port finish....timing, etc.
Mebbe things are somewhat the same today - where depending on the individual bike, there will be some variation in performance.
I've never taken magazine write-ups very seriously, most journalists have been unable to represent my interests in reviewing a bike's performance - and some have outright twisted reality to meet some need of their own.

As has been said many times before, what really counts is what the bike does for you... and to the only way to find that out is to ride one.
 
Coffee said:
Incredibly interesting discussion. :)

But personally the only thing that matters to me is how large of a smile a bike gives me. Both my 2006 te250 and the tr650 I just bought did that quite well for a number of reasons - but obviously that is quite personal.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree with you more. I've owned a veritable plethora of bikes over the years and my lowly 1990 KLR still gives me a grin every time I ride it, probably never sell it. I only have an afternoons experience on the TR 650 and it definitely seemed like the bike that had the little extra the KLR is missing. Only time will tell if will be a "forever grin" bike
 
I still say my drz sm, stock 2008 other than a JD jet kit/3x3 airbox mod and UNI filter FEELS much quicker than my TR. I'm sure the performance numbers aren't lying though.
 
Just yesterday on another forum I was reading through a list of bikes one of the other contributors had posted, along with the story behind each bike. A whole lifetime worth of bikes each purchased for a different reason, but one thing he wrote was very poignant. The enjoyment of riding the bikes he bought because they were a sensible buying decision never came close to the pleasure and enjoyment he received from riding the impractical bikes he bought in an impulse. Just do it !
 
I owned a drz400sm...boring and heavy. That's when I found out about husqvarna supermotos. :)

If I were to do it all over again I would have chosen more maintenance for more fun. The DRZ was a good bike, just not a lot of fun. Then again, I had just come off a GSXR600. I got rid of the DRZ and got a WR250X. It felt lighter (still a tank for a SM) and I prefer fuel injection. I think the terra feels a lot lighter then the claimed weight and I've never said that about any bike lol. Of course that was just sitting on one. The terra may not be exciting but with great fuel mileage, comfort, and versatility it seems to be in a class of its own.

Thankfully there is a bike for everyone now. Find what's right for you. I look at these new 250 sportbikes and wish they looked that cool when I got my mc license. I might not have actively tried killing myself on a 100 horsepower bike as soon as I could lol
 
nev.. said:
Just yesterday on another forum I was reading through a list of bikes one of the other contributors had posted, along with the story behind each bike. A whole lifetime worth of bikes each purchased for a different reason, but one thing he wrote was very poignant. The enjoyment of riding the bikes he bought because they were a sensible buying decision never came close to the pleasure and enjoyment he received from riding the impractical bikes he bought in an impulse. Just do it !
Click to expand...
that is awesome advice. it especially helps me justify spending the money on fun instead of an IRA or whatever i "should" do with $$. anyway, after comparing mcnews data between the terra and the KTM690 i feel confident the terra will provide many smiles. the price point and the fact that it will spend more time on street also make sense. also i was wondering since the dealer has the moss tool, could i fit a slip on or full exhaust that would fit a g650gs and have them map it?
 
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