Kawagumby
Husqvarna
AA Class
Hi all,
I've got about 60 miles on my shiney new Husky 250 enduro smoker, so I thought I'd share my impressions.
I'm in my sixties, in good riding shape, experienced with tight course stuff, and have a back that needs babying.
Suspension is king for me, that's why I bought this bike - with rear linkage and upgraded WP forks.
So here's my take:
Jetting:
I've never bought a bike that was jetted right on, until now. Not a burble anywhere...until I put on the FMF spark-arrestor muffler. Even then, all it took was a bit of trial-and-error with the idle air-screw to lean it up. Now it's perfect again...just a bit of spooge on the tip, typical smoker. I'm using a 50:1 ratio and ride at 1000 to 1500 ft.
Seat height:
This is a very pleasant surprise...I'd been expecting about near 40ish inches, but after 60 miles of really rough terrain the seat is just barely over 37 inches, about 1/2 inch over my KDX's height. Not bad! I'm not short, but really tight trail work requires the occasional dab, and this makes it doable without fuss. I don't notice the seat height at all.
Suspension:
Argh, my first ride was a major disappointment...the forks seemed to ride too far down in the stroke, the arse-end would kick up in the chop, and it was difficult to keep a line on very narrow trails. On high-speed rough it would head-shake. Blah. This was with about 4 inches sag and stock valve settings.
Now it is great. I ended up after many different trial settings, to go with the fork compression backed all the way out. Rebound is reduced about 8 clicks. The rear sag was increased by two full reverse rotations of the adjuster over the 4" previous. The suspension now follows the terrain, rear braking has improved on stutters.
I weigh 165 w/o gear and the spring rates seem right on.
I went about 5 clicks more rebound on the rear and about 6 clicks less on high speed compression and 3 clicks less on the low speed compression adjusters. Of course, different kinds of terrain, weight and riding styles will mean those settings will not work for everyone.
Now I can blast through the rough and the bike stays level and the headshake is gone. It still turns on a dime (but not fidgety) and handles low speed stuff also very well. It stays level feeling and gives good confidence in turns....flat turns where the back comes out are very controllable. I expect things to get even better as I get more time on the suspension and do some more fiddling.
Engine:
Again, a disappointment at first. I'm used to an old KDX220 (souped up) and it pulls harder off bottom than the TE.
Now tho' at 60 miles, the low-end HP has improved and feels almost perfect for the kind of trails I ride. Not much wheel-spin and what HP is there right off bottom is just enough, including tricky little hill climb trails where you're trying to get over a root or need to slow to turn, the engine works it well. It's fairly quick-revving but doesn't spin the tire like an MX'r. FMF makes a torque pipe for this engine for those that might want more bottom.
My major modification was to install an iridium plug...:-)
Tranny:
No complaints... works well along with the clutch like any good off-roader.
Other:
The bike is not a lightweight, mine weighs over 245 lbs with a couple of gals of fuel, but you don't feel it. The e-start is nice.
As others have said, the left side rear panel attaches in a mickey-mouse fashion compared to most, I put a dab of silicon grease where it attaches to hopefully make it last longer and work easier.
That's about it. Pretty good bike - I'm happy so far. I'm sooo glad I didn't buy the KTM 200 exc I was thinking about!
I've got about 60 miles on my shiney new Husky 250 enduro smoker, so I thought I'd share my impressions.
I'm in my sixties, in good riding shape, experienced with tight course stuff, and have a back that needs babying.
Suspension is king for me, that's why I bought this bike - with rear linkage and upgraded WP forks.
So here's my take:
Jetting:
I've never bought a bike that was jetted right on, until now. Not a burble anywhere...until I put on the FMF spark-arrestor muffler. Even then, all it took was a bit of trial-and-error with the idle air-screw to lean it up. Now it's perfect again...just a bit of spooge on the tip, typical smoker. I'm using a 50:1 ratio and ride at 1000 to 1500 ft.
Seat height:
This is a very pleasant surprise...I'd been expecting about near 40ish inches, but after 60 miles of really rough terrain the seat is just barely over 37 inches, about 1/2 inch over my KDX's height. Not bad! I'm not short, but really tight trail work requires the occasional dab, and this makes it doable without fuss. I don't notice the seat height at all.
Suspension:
Argh, my first ride was a major disappointment...the forks seemed to ride too far down in the stroke, the arse-end would kick up in the chop, and it was difficult to keep a line on very narrow trails. On high-speed rough it would head-shake. Blah. This was with about 4 inches sag and stock valve settings.
Now it is great. I ended up after many different trial settings, to go with the fork compression backed all the way out. Rebound is reduced about 8 clicks. The rear sag was increased by two full reverse rotations of the adjuster over the 4" previous. The suspension now follows the terrain, rear braking has improved on stutters.
I weigh 165 w/o gear and the spring rates seem right on.
I went about 5 clicks more rebound on the rear and about 6 clicks less on high speed compression and 3 clicks less on the low speed compression adjusters. Of course, different kinds of terrain, weight and riding styles will mean those settings will not work for everyone.
Now I can blast through the rough and the bike stays level and the headshake is gone. It still turns on a dime (but not fidgety) and handles low speed stuff also very well. It stays level feeling and gives good confidence in turns....flat turns where the back comes out are very controllable. I expect things to get even better as I get more time on the suspension and do some more fiddling.
Engine:
Again, a disappointment at first. I'm used to an old KDX220 (souped up) and it pulls harder off bottom than the TE.
Now tho' at 60 miles, the low-end HP has improved and feels almost perfect for the kind of trails I ride. Not much wheel-spin and what HP is there right off bottom is just enough, including tricky little hill climb trails where you're trying to get over a root or need to slow to turn, the engine works it well. It's fairly quick-revving but doesn't spin the tire like an MX'r. FMF makes a torque pipe for this engine for those that might want more bottom.
My major modification was to install an iridium plug...:-)
Tranny:
No complaints... works well along with the clutch like any good off-roader.
Other:
The bike is not a lightweight, mine weighs over 245 lbs with a couple of gals of fuel, but you don't feel it. The e-start is nice.
As others have said, the left side rear panel attaches in a mickey-mouse fashion compared to most, I put a dab of silicon grease where it attaches to hopefully make it last longer and work easier.
That's about it. Pretty good bike - I'm happy so far. I'm sooo glad I didn't buy the KTM 200 exc I was thinking about!
