• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

Stupid Question-1977 360 WR v. Suzuki DRZ400

XR400r with a TRX400ex bottom end .
Because you're in Amerika the conversion is cheap.
Brilliant tough stuff/single trail bike and ok up to 700ks a day on the tar and pretty well unkillable.
Stick through the radiator , na.
 
jimspac said:
I have considered getting a 2003 DRZ400 after seeing a Dirt Bike article about setting up for serious trail and maintaining street legality. The 2003 responded very well with cost effective suspension mods. I think the newer models are heavier still so at that point I would consider a XR650L over a newer DRZ400.

I had few problems riding a Honda SL350 offroad back in 1976. It handled heavy duty trail use here in New England and embarrassed a few Husqvarna and Penton mounted riders as well. It's suspension was the issue, not it's weight. I never got stuck with it and only slid out once on it. It was not hard to lift the handlebar and get it up on wheels again. The DRZ because of the Liquid cooling hardware has a higher center of gravity and thus will feel heavier with the handlebar on the ground.
Click to expand...


The current DRZ has not changed, hence is no heavier now than when it was introduced in 2000.
The only things that may have changed in regard to weight are market specific: Metal tank, steel subframe and pillion pegs.
These are DRZ400S only differences, we are lucky enough in Australia to get the road legal DRZ400E, complete with hotter cams, Keihin FCR39MX pumper carb instead of the wheezing CV carb, alloy subframe, more open exhaust (bung removed), plastic tank, I'm unsure if the suspension is stiffer, but believe it is.
These are considered to be the Honda XR400 dual sport replacement in Australia in terms of reliability, ease of use, economy of servicing, low maintenance, electric leg, plus handling and performance.

In dual sport terms, about as good as you can get.

This is why so many Australian tour companies use them for long distance rides and why so many down here "Adventurise" these bikes with long range (20+ litres) tanks, luggage systems and other mods primarily designed for long cross country adventure rides, and this is a very wide country with some very remote areas, like few other in the world!
Again, no they are no Husky, but to underestimate them would be foolish. Just be aware of the difference between the "E" and the "S".
Tony.
 
The xr400 would be a cool bike, but in most U.S. states they are not registerable. There's ways around it but for the most part it's a PITA.



dukkman said:
XR400r with a TRX400ex bottom end .
Because you're in Amerika the conversion is cheap.
Brilliant tough stuff/single trail bike and ok up to 700ks a day on the tar and pretty well unkillable.
Stick through the radiator , na.
Click to expand...
 
I have owned both a 76 WR 360 Husky and the DRZ. The DRZ is much heavier obviously but has adequate suspension. Much taller than the Husky but can be lowered and has better brakes and e start. Lots of aftermarket support and still has a carb instead of FI. A pretty good option overall. I am in a similar situation looking to get a dual sport I can use for mostly off road and I can still work on myself without too much drama. I currently have a 76 Husky 250 WR that I use as a casual trail bike. Seems like there is always a used DRZ for sale.
Sam
 
I will be looking for a DRZ400 after I sell a 86 KX250 and a couple of Husqvarnas later this year. I am still keeping the 78 390WR and 83 430WR because I have always wanted one of each and now both are in reach
 
I should have taken a picture of my buddy's DRZ-He bought it new in maybe '02-04. We promote races at his farm and it is used by him for checking the trail, a loaner bike and a cow herder- 650 acre diary farm. It has had wheel/spoke issues, a little electrical, nothing major. 13 years later with moderate maintenance and a lot of use it's still on it's first bore. He won Vet B hare scrambles overall with it in our district in '04.
It works
 
Thanks for all the replies. They're really, really helpful. I should've been more clear. I have a 1977 360 WR with tags, a 1974 250 WR with tags, and a Ducati Monster 750. I'm keeping the Huskys no matter what. I was thinking of getting a dual sport like the Suzuki and getting rid of the M750. After looking around, I think what I'm going to do is keep the Huskys, not get a modern dual sport, and replace the M750 with something a little more low key. Probably a Harley Sportster Roadster. I may revisit this in a few years. Again, thanks.
 
In '98 I purchased a '98 wr250 husqvarna and it came with a speedo, electrics and tags. Street legal, I could ride to the trails or do my church route on Sunday mornings through the country. I even liked putting along in the country side listening to the popcorn in the pipe. She was a blast to ride.

I tried to teach the neighborhood kids to ride legal. What started it all was I was jetting my 81 250cr atv plated when the local Leo pulled up and said I see your an adult. I went to the husky dealer and purchased the 98 250wr. Let the fun begin. It was pouring rain on a Friday afternoon when I first took the plated 250 for a spin. I pulled into dunkin dounuts because I seen a state police cruiser parked there. He came out and said he hasn't seen these bikes in a longtime. Then he said you pulled in here with my cruiser parked there? Then he walked around and seen it's plated. Yup I'm an adult right?

In '99 I purchased the 250's twin a '99 TE 610e dual sport Husqvarna. I wasn't fond of 4t but the 610 was a fun ride too. The dual exhausts looked neat.
 
KIM750 said:
Thanks for all the replies. They're really, really helpful. I should've been more clear. I have a 1977 360 WR with tags, a 1974 250 WR with tags, and a Ducati Monster 750. I'm keeping the Huskys no matter what. I was thinking of getting a dual sport like the Suzuki and getting rid of the M750. After looking around, I think what I'm going to do is keep the Huskys, not get a modern dual sport, and replace the M750 with something a little more low key. Probably a Harley Sportster Roadster. I may revisit this in a few years. Again, thanks.
Click to expand...

Harley? Do you plan on riding or pushing? Sorry I had too. Look at the Suzuki 600 or 1250 bandit. She's a dependable, reliable fun ride.
 
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