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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

Thoughts on going from KLX351 to TE250

J

jckid

Husqvarna
AA Class
The new TE250 Low has renewed my interest in getting one. Currently I have a KLX351 and a Husky SM610. I use the 610 for traveling and road riding, while the KLX is for mild trails and fire roads. I would have to sell one bike to get a TE, and the logical choice would be to sell the KLX. I know this is a Husky forum (so may be a bit biased), but do you think the TE would be an upgrade for me? I'm a non-aggressive, lightweight rider. What attracts me to the TE is that it's a Husky :cool:, it's about 50 lbs. lighter than my KLX, I think it would have more power, and probably has better suspension (not sure because I'm light, so KLX may be valved better for my weight).

I like my KLX, but it feels so heavy on trails. The weight makes me ride less aggressively than I could, and I avoid some trails that I used to ride on smaller bikes. The TE is lighter, but do you think it would feel lighter? I can't lift the front wheel of the KLX over any obstacale, and I cannot jump it at all--not even just a tiny jump. I used to have great fun doing small jumps when I was younger and riding small, light bikes. My KLX has decent power now with the 351, but naturally it's still uninspiring compared to my 610. Do you think the TE250 would be more exciting to ride and feel more powerful than my 351? And do you think the suspension on the TE would be better for me than the KLX (keeping in mind that I'm very light)?

Oh, and not to be complicated, but the new KTM 350 Exc has also caught my eye. But with that pricetag, I would have to sell both my 610 and my KLX. Any thoughts on that? I've read reviews that sounded like it might make a decent mini-adventure bike and would do some shorter trips. But then I've also read that KTM has had issues with their fuel injected bikes.
 
Hye mate. Being a KLX250S owner I reckon you will benefit from a lighter bike in the TE250. Power-wise I reckon you won't be able to tell much of a difference, though I suspect the te engine is more of a performance engine than the KLX. The 350 kit on the KLX does improve it a lot, but more so on the top-end rather that the punch of the engine - and I reckon the TE will have more of a punch.

Suspension-wise, the TE will be far superior IMO. Remember, the KLX suspension has not changed much in almost 2 decades, and it shows its age. I have made mine as plush as I can and put heavy duty springs on it for my weight and it's better, but still not in the same class as modern machines.

I primarily use my KLX as my daily commuter, and have a TE450 s my weekend bike. You already have a much better suited commuter bike, so are looking for a lightweight and nimble dirt bike - I reckon you will not be disappointed with the TE250 and keep your SM610 as your commuter bike.

As for the KTM 350 EXC, the owners of them I have spoken to love them. How much of that is coz they don't want to be ambarased about buying a 100cc smaller bike that is a mere 4 or so pounds lighter, I don't know. To me, if you lose 100cc of power, you need to lose a lot of weight to keep the power:weight ratio in the same ballpark as the 450cc machine, while getting the nimbleness of a 250 that they speak of. Basically, I am yet to be convinced by the 350EXC, but I don't know that much about the bike so maybe ignore me. :)
 
Arctra said:
Hye mate. Being a KLX250S owner I reckon you will benefit from a lighter bike in the TE250. Power-wise I reckon you won't be able to tell much of a difference, though I suspect the te engine is more of a performance engine than the KLX. The 350 kit on the KLX does improve it a lot, but more so on the top-end rather that the punch of the engine - and I reckon the TE will have more of a punch.

Suspension-wise, the TE will be far superior IMO. Remember, the KLX suspension has not changed much in almost 2 decades, and it shows its age. I have made mine as plush as I can and put heavy duty springs on it for my weight and it's better, but still not in the same class as modern machines.

I primarily use my KLX as my daily commuter, and have a TE450 s my weekend bike. You already have a much better suited commuter bike, so are looking for a lightweight and nimble dirt bike - I reckon you will not be disappointed with the TE250 and keep your SM610 as your commuter bike.

As for the KTM 350 EXC, the owners of them I have spoken to love them. How much of that is coz they don't want to be ambarased about buying a 100cc smaller bike that is a mere 4 or so pounds lighter, I don't know. To me, if you lose 100cc of power, you need to lose a lot of weight to keep the power:weight ratio in the same ballpark as the 450cc machine, while getting the nimbleness of a 250 that they speak of. Basically, I am yet to be convinced by the 350EXC, but I don't know that much about the bike so maybe ignore me. :)
Click to expand...

I pretty much agree with EVERYTHING he said. Very well put. Forget the KTM, and not because it's a KTM. Take the money you save and do something with the wife or family, and if that doesn't work, go on a cool vacation (riding)****************************************!!
 
Code: 
I don't know. To me, if you lose 100cc of power, you need to lose a lot of weight to keep the power:weight ratio in the same ballpark as the 450cc machine, while getting the nimbleness of a 250 that they speak of. Basically, I am yet to be convinced by the 350EXC, but I don't know that much about the bike so maybe ignore me.
It is impossible to apply that theory. A 250 barely weighs less than a 450 and yet there is certainly a market there for them.If what you say is true than why would anyone want a 310 much less a 350. Is it not the effect of larger displacement on handling that is the selling feature of this "magical" 310-350 range. Truly though I feel most of it is hype and just to create a market niche. There is no magic involved and no way to avoid each displacements compromise.
 
justplayin said:
Why not consider the TE310?
Click to expand...
Yes, I suppose I should consider a 310. I'd have to lower it, but of course I'd have to lower a KTM 350 EXC as well. I've been told that the TE250 Low has been imported in limited numbers, so by the time I'm ready to make a decision, there may or may not be any around.
 
I'd look into a TE310 with the Factory low seat it would'nt be too different from your KLX seat height wise. I went from a 07 KLX250 to a 2009 TE450 with the lower Factory Husky seat they were both about the same to me.
 
I was told the Husky NA are the ones lowering the TE 250, not Husky Italy. I say find a good deal on an x-lite 310, left over even, and then have it lowered.

If you would entertain the idea of a KTM 350, I would say look instead at the street legal Beta 350 RS.
350RSfront.jpg
 
jckid,
I'm new to Husky and traded in my 2007 KLX 250s for the 2011 TE 250 a couple months ago. It's a way better bike in many ways (including weight) than the KLX in regard to suspension and mid/top end power but there is an issue with the low end power with the new fuel injected bikes (2010-2012). It's a pretty big issue and I want you to be aware of this before purchasing the fuel injected 250 (The dealer will probably not tell you about this). To help with the problem, you will need to budget extra cash for tuning the Electric Fuel Injection and exhaust... this can cost up to $1000 or so. You should go over to the thread here and read about the low end bog issue that a lot of people are dealing with.

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/12-hole-injector-upgrade-for-te250-te310.19669/

If you ride tight, technical trails at low speeds, then this issue will be huge. If you ride dual sport and are mostly in upper gears, then this won't be too much of a concern.. The main problem is a hesitation or BOG right as you are about to need a burst of power to jump a log or make it up an obstacle. The new engine loves to be revved and you will find yourself needing to use that clutch a whole lot more than you did on your KLX.

You will find with Husky that the purchase price is cheaper than the KTM, but you will be dumping more money into the Husky to make it the perfect bike.... Budget for new tires... the stock dual sport tires are not great in slippery or muddy conditions. Definitely bark busters and bush guards too...

Good luck. My boyfriend and are still working out the bugs on my bike, but Winter up here is putting it on the back burner....

Laura
 
Looking at this again, I would say keep your beautiful SM 610. That would be real hard to give up and/or replace. For the money I would say get a x-lite 250/310. If you do find yourself looking at a more expensive bike, a BETA looks better to me then any KTM. The current BETA's (2010 & newer I think) have their in house motor, no more KTM engines, YEA! The BETA's still have carbs though. That is the only thing I don't like about the BETA's, the carb, just my preference. Their hard parts options look incredible. You can order the hard parts, gear and swag online through their web site. How awesome is that! They have a 3.8 gallon fuel tank option to, nice! MotoXotica also sells BETA's. Keep us posted.
 
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