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

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TE511 reliability as a daily ride?

SoCal Tacoma

SoCal Tacoma

Husqvarna
I Guess I'm having some day-before-purchase jitters/second thoughts. I have little experience with dirt bikes beyond riding my brother's YZ250 around out there when I was younger. Aside from that, the past two decades have been spent primarily on sportbikes, so maybe I'm spoiled and expecting too much in terms of reliability from a thumper?
I'm buying this bike primarily as a desert bike, but it will most definitely see a goodly amount of day to day use as well on the road, running errands and whatnot. Am I mistaken in thinking it will handle that kind of duty well or am I walking a path towards maintenance hell?

Will it handle highway use well?

Am I buying the wrong bike..?

Help ease my mind!
 
Highways it will do but I'd keep it short. It doesn't have a wide ratio transmission. Running some errands with it shouldn't be bad but it wouldn't be ideal for long commutes to work. They are really reliable but won't be anything like a sport bike.
 
I would not want mine for a daily driver. It is a race bike with a plate. If you use it on the highway very much, you
Won't like the handling. It requires frequent maintenance, more than most dual sports. It will probably need
rebuilt around 15 or 20 thousand miles. If you want a commuter and a husky, a terra would be a better choice.
The bike is really for dirt riding, with the ability to connect the trails. Look at huskys website.
That being said, I love the bike, it is a ball to ride. But it is what it is..
 
Oh, it's definitely not going to be a commuter. I would just like for it to handle a little daily grind now and then. Beyond that it will be mainly a desert/fun bike for connecting trails in Anza Borrego, etc. My days of commuting on two wheels are over, over, over!
As for handling, I'm not even remotely concerned with that. How good can a dirt bike possibly handle on the road, anyway? Haha.
 
I usually do 12-15 miles of road work to get to the local areas to ride my 449. A 511 has a little more grunt but the same bike otherwise. It works fine as long as you don't try to drag a knee on pavement. Buy it for what its designed for and you won't be disappointed.
 
Thanks! I live on the coast, and the desert is a good 60 miles away, so riding to the trails seems out of the question unless, again, I'm mistaken about this bike's capability. Even so, I think I'd prefer to truck it out there and have a base camp to return to at the end of the day in most cases.

But I guess that's more of what I'm trying to get a feel for. Can I, in fact, make that 50-60 mile ride at 45-50mph to get to my trails, ride In/camp, then ride home? Or am I just better off trucking it there?
I understand it's not an adventure bike or anything. I'd like to be able to ride there, but it's not a dealbreaker if I can't.
 
If you are commuting non superslab and less than 30 miles or so it will be fine. You will have to change your oil a lot and it is not ideal but will do it fine. If you are doing 80% off road and just using it to commute sometimes to break up the monotony then it will be fine. If you plan to ride it ever day down the highway for 40 plus miles you will hate it.
 
SoCal Tacoma said:
But I guess that's more of what I'm trying to get a feel for. Can I, in fact, make that 50-60 mile ride at 45-50mph to get to my trails, ride In/camp, then ride home? Or am I just better off trucking it there?
I understand it's not an adventure bike or anything. I'd like to be able to ride there, but it's not a dealbreaker if I can't.
Click to expand...

Very possible / doable but not ideal. I did that last summer. Rode epic off road gnarly trail for three days and then rode it 70 miles home.
 
Gday Socal, I ride mine to and from dirt rides. if your expectaions of a super fun dirt squirter with a plate is it, you are not going wrong. I run mine to and from the local shops as well and as long as your happy to cruise down the black stuff and not road race it is more than adequate.
 
Fuel will be an issue at 60 miles to trailside, if you have hands like me they will be asleep before you get to the dirt.
Your title to this question is "TE511 reliability as a daily ride?" but your not really talking about daily rides are you? If so then yes the bike is reliable but there are much better choices than this one (maintenance, comfort, range, parts etc..). If your trucking in, its a great bike.

SoCal Tacoma said:
Thanks! I live on the coast, and the desert is a good 60 miles away, so riding to the trails seems out of the question unless, again, I'm mistaken about this bike's capability. Even so, I think I'd prefer to truck it out there and have a base camp to return to at the end of the day in most cases.

But I guess that's more of what I'm trying to get a feel for. Can I, in fact, make that 50-60 mile ride at 45-50mph to get to my trails, ride In/camp, then ride home? Or am I just better off trucking it there?
I understand it's not an adventure bike or anything. I'd like to be able to ride there, but it's not a dealbreaker if I can't.
Click to expand...
 
To me - investing in handlebars / dampeners when dual sporting a dirt bike is probably one of the best investments you can make! I'm not too keen on TE449 or 511, but my 250 makes my hands numb after riding 20 minutes on road. Not sure if bigger bores would be worse or better - but I have a different 450 with aftermarket handlebars and dampener - 0 vibration and I could ride it on road all day without going numb.
 
For some this works, didn't work for me with Fasst Flex bars and dampeners. This is the only bike of three I own that I have this issue with this bad though. Its fine in the dirt, hell on the street at speed for me.

henson802 said:
To me - investing in handlebars / dampeners when dual sporting a dirt bike is probably one of the best investments you can make! I'm not too keen on TE449 or 511, but my 250 makes my hands numb after riding 20 minutes on road. Not sure if bigger bores would be worse or better - but I have a different 450 with aftermarket handlebars and dampener - 0 vibration and I could ride it on road all day without going numb.
Click to expand...
 
McKay said:
For some this works, didn't work for me with Fasst Flex bars and dampeners. This is the only bike of three I own that I have this issue with this bad though. Its fine in the dirt, hell on the street at speed for me.
Click to expand...

Yah I guess it may just depend on the bike.. Don't mean to derail the reliability topic. But couldn't help to mention the vibration on pavement. I didn't think it was bad on my TE250 cause I was riding it mostly off road. Then I took a few longer trips on road - and vibration through the handlebars is what really keeps me from riding more on pavement with that particular bike, and I believe it's true with TE449 and 511's..

Solid bikes just need to change the oil often is the biggest issue as others have stated if you do longer trips
 
Great onfo, guys I appreciate it. I pushed back my purchase a day or two so I can get some more info and figure out if this really is the right bike for me.
Figure as long as I'm realistic with my expectations it'll be great. At this point it's looking fine for around town, but I'll have to truck it to the desert, which is fine.

And keep plenty of oil filters on hand!
 
Should be fine on fuel. There are a few places to fill up depending were you enter the state park and at opposite ends. Julian, Borrego Springs, Salton sea, Ocotillo. But yeah, it does sound like vibration could cause issues for me on longer road rides. My hands go numb on long mountain bike rides.
 
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