• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

Te 310 or Te 449? Trying to see which may suit me better

S

scubadds

Husqvarna
First of all, thanks for letting me join in. Seems to be a nice group of folks here.
I would appreciates some advice. I hope I placed this post in the correct category.
I am looking to purchase a bike in the next few weeks. I was looking at orange, but have come to appreciate the huskies. I am thinking it would be nice to be able to ride a small but on the road, so I am drawn to the te 310 or te 449. Dealer has both, I can't tell much difference in height between the two. Not sure what all the variables are to help select a bike, but here are a few. I am 6' 2". 186 lbs, have not ridden much dirt since childhood, had an xt350 for years in college and grad school. One problem is I don't know all the places I will be riding as I don't have a bike yet. Seems like the 449 is more versatile, Not too much heavier, and not much more money.
I did take a friends KTM 250 sxf to our farm, even after 30 minutes of riding I realized I might want a bit more bike. At our farm,we have some wider trails, nothing to tight, gets extremely muddy along the river during heavy rains. I will build more trails soon. My gut feeling is the 310 is all I need, but fear after I ride it for some time, I might want more. I am not a chugger, and might track it some if I don't feel like I am being overly risky.
I have tried to read all the comparisons I can find, read the stats, but hoping someone may have had similar choices and can provide more insight. Thanks.
 
I rode the 449 on a road, and I've ridden the 2011 TE250, and several other Husqvarna's. The 449 is much more stable on the road, and the 250/310 can be tossed about much more easily. So it depends on how you like to ride..

Personally I think the smaller bikes are way more fun off road. A 15 second test ride would give you a much better idea, if that is possible..
 
Coffee said:
I rode the 449 on a road, and I've ridden the 2011 TE250, and several other Husqvarna's. The 449 is much more stable on the road, and the 250/310 can be tossed about much more easily. So it depends on how you like to ride..

Personally I think the smaller bikes are way more fun off road. A 15 second test ride would give you a much better idea, if that is possible..
Click to expand...

heres something that might put you in the right direction of your choice, im not smart enough to do the link thing yet but type " DAVID FRETIGNE avec la nouvelle 310 husqvarna " into youtube and have a look at a 310 on the track it looks pretty bloody good to me
 
Yep you have to ride both and assess where you will most likely ride. Both machines are great but definately present different attributes.
I have had a 510, a 450 and now a 310. For me (mid 50's) the 310 is perfect as I ride mostly ST. If I were 10 years younger the 450 might still be viable. I must add that I am just over 6 feet and 225 Lbs. The 310 has more than enough grunt. That said I would not want to DS the bike too far. But as a real bush bike its a cracker.
 
thanks guys,
The dealer let me take the TE310 around the parking lot for a few minutes, but he hasn't let anyone on the TE 449 yet. I guess when i am ready to pull the trigger, he would be willing. But until I get either on a trail its hard to say.
I imagine I would adapt to either bike fine. I didn't get what the abbreviations of ST and DS? Can you spoon feed me a bit. Thanks
 
I am 51 5'6" 157 pounds. Came from Honda CRF450x. There is not one perfect bike for a guy my size and age. The 2011 310 works for me. It is light and fine for dual sporting. I got tired of the heavy CRF. Great bike but to heavy. In California we have so many types of riding a small cc bike just can't handle it all. Especially for small old guys like me. If I was a bigger dude I would stay with larger bike. If I do a long ds ride in desert i will just change gearing.. If that is the worst thing I have to do I will live with it.. The 310 forces me to slow down the top speed which isn't a bad thing. You just need to make a decision based on your personal preferences and abilities. I am happy I ca ride.. Enjoy.
 
I've owned a 2010 TXC 250, 2010 TC 250, and I currently own a 2011 TE 449. I agree that it would be best to ride both bikes and see what feels best. But my only word of caution for a potential first time Husqvarna buyer is "Mikuni". The 250/310 Huskys are still equipped with the disgracefully inferior Mikuni EFI. While the Mikuni system can be made to function adequately with tinkering, and futzing, and magic pixie dust... it is an undeniable blemish on an otherwise awesome machine. I've owned 2 Mikuni EFI Husqvarnas and loved them both, but both needed a bit of tinkering to get them to run flawlessly.

My TE 449, on the other hand, came equipped with a Keihin EFI system and has been absolutely flawless out of the crate. Don't be fooled by the dry weight of the TE 449, when it's in motion it handles and feels like a much smaller bike. In my opinion, it handles better and feels lighter than my 2008 TE 250 and my 2009 TXC 250. The 449 plows over rocks like they are pebbles, climbs like a helicopter, and is stable as a steam roller at high speeds on open trails and fire roads.

Again, if you have a chance to ride both (in the dirt, NOT in a parking lot), do it and make your own decision. If you choose the 310, be ready to futz and tinker with the EFI. If you choose the 449, be ready to ride and smile.

All that said, knowing what I know from experience... I would recommend the 449/510 over the 310 any day. Husqvarna needs to pull their head out of their ass and admit that using Mikuni EFI is a huge blunder.
 
I have a TE 310 (2010 model) and have had ZERO issues with my EFI. No futzin or tuning, BUT! I did have my shop instal the Husky Race ECU from the start, so I never experienced my bike truly stock. It has been trouble free except for the Fuel Pump unseating and that was cured with SS safety wire. I use a 07 KTM 525 for my DS bike. The 310 does extremely well in the woods. Only limiting factor is the stock tank size. While I like my 310 for the woods and Enduros and such, for extended rides like a DS, especially if there is some road miles mixed in, the 525 (or 510/449) can't be beat. The 310 starts to buzz about 65mph where as the larger bikes will run easily at those speeds for long periods of time.

If you are wanting a bike to "do it all", a 449 or 510 would be my recommendation. Not that the 310 couldn't do it, it can, just not as totally versatile as the larger bikes. I agree with one of the other posters though, smaller bikes tend to be more fun overall...............
 
Great words. I am still all over the place. I am trying to get seat time on different bikes to help me choose. Took a ktm 250sxf to our farm and tried to get a feel for how and were I will be riding. Some of the tight trails that caused the sxf to choke out, as I was carving new trails in the woods. I briefly road a friends 09 ktm 300 and liked the low end chug. ( another parking lot test)
Started looking over at the two stroke huskies, but I really like the idea of e start.
Just confuses me more.
Thanks so much for the input, it is helping immensely.
 
Have you decided? I've owned a ktm 250 sxf and it is very different power-wise from the TXC and TE line...and its lighter (feeling, as well). I'm in the same boat now that I've decided I need a plate. the 310 looks great, but that damned mikuni efi spooks me. And I like Krieg's report on the 449...I find most of his opinions very helpful...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top