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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

To buy or not to buy that is the question

ghte

ghte

Husqvarna
Pro Class
Hi Guys, I am now seriously considering a proper DS bike. By that I mean a single cyclinder 600+ cc machine capable of extended highway use before arriving at the desired dirt/fire trails. The bike must be ok to sit on 70 mph comfortably whilst on the black top and have sufficient off road cred to handle with aplomb some pretty oridinay fire trails. I am not looking at ST stuff, I have my 310 for that. Nor am I looking at a commuter bike nor a pure road bike-my Multi does that (its not an off road bike imho). I need a bike that will mostly do whole day trips with the odd 2-3 day trips on roads less travelled.
I have discounted the BMW twins and KTM twins based on weight and limited off road capacity.
The Yamy Tenere 660 is just in the picture but I think it is heavy and over priced in Oz.
Soooo, I am considering the following
TE 630-still some new ones unsold over here
New Husky Terra 650
KTM (shhhhhh) 690 Enduro

My research to date has caused me more angst than I thought possible. The 3 bikes above imho are the best of the best, however they each approach the DS genre from divergent perspectives.
I am in my late fifties, still ride pretty hard on the ST and like pushing it a tad. My concerns are as follows:
TE 630-more dirt orientated, limited range stock-question what is it really like on the black top given I need to get some distance from Sydney before I am really in the bush. Is it capable of say a 2000 km round trip for instance.
Terra 650-limited suspension travel and suspension adjustment, (I am 6 foot 250 pounds rugby fit dressed), would it be too limited
KTM 690 what is its real on tarmac performance, maintenance regime and reliability. This might be a hard question on a Husky forum-anyways I would prefer to stick with a Husky

As you can see I am in a bind, my dirt bike mates have a mix of single and twin ADV bikes as well, so I need one that can keep up with the bigguns on the road and perform well off road.
I know it looks like I want my cake and to eat it as well and am cognisant that there is not one perfect bike. However I respectfully defer to my learned Cafe Husky mates for some guidance.
Thank you for any considered input that might be forthcoming.
Regards.
 
I've got a TE250 for the ST stuff and a TE610 for the other stuff. The only problem I have with the 610 is that it feels very similar in handling and ergo's to the 250, and that it's easy to get going a little too fast sometimes. It keeps up just fine on the road, and is a real eye opening holy crap fast on the fire roads. I ride it on most of the tighter ST stuff also just a bit slower. I looked at the 630, but was able to get a left over 610 for 2K less. That got eaten up with the suspension upgrade (valving), the Safari tank, and a few other bits. I'm sure that a little extra torque from the 630 or 650 would be nice on the road. My buddies BMW Xchallange uses the same (sort of) motor as the TR650 and it's nice on the road.

Good luck,

Mike
 
I had a KTM 640 Adventure with the stock7 gallon tank I took that bike just about every where and places it should have not been.Worked well on and off the road Then I got a TE 510 thought I would still dual sport and do some 2 to 300 mile days on it NOT the TE 510 is a dirt bike with a plate just like it is advertized as.Should have keeped the 640 I do not dual sport but miss the long days of looking for new trails on the 640.My 510 sits alot now becuse I really only like to race 2 stroke BUT if I could do it over I would have keeped the 640.I did also but a wrecked 950 fixed it and tryied to ride it off road it was way to much sold it after a few days
 
I believe the 690R would probably best meet your needs.

The Terra 650 is too heavy, undersprung and lacking ground clearance for serious offroad work. I guess it depends how serious your offroad work is.

The 630 is a terrific bike (I bought one new in mid-2011 and it has now done 11,000kms+). With a Seat Concepts seat it is comfortable enough for quite a number of hours in the saddle and even with the lowered gearing (14Tcs instead of 15T) it can sit on 110kmh all day, more if needed. It does require some sorting though, e.g.:

· Power up kit (ran like a dog in standard trim)

· Aftermarket pipe - I fitted the twin Arrow cans & ECU - expensive but work a treat but cheaper alternatives are available

· JD tuning kit - $220 from the US & best bang for buck mod there is. Turned it from mild to wild(ish)

· Sub-frame reinforcement - I ignored the warnings & snapped mine.

· Seat Concepts seat

· Longer gearshift lever - Hammerhead

· Bash plate (B&B)

· Barkbusters

· Rear rack (Husky genuine or other)

· Possibly Safari tank if you need the range

· Probably a screen of some sorts if you are doing extended riding

The 630 is far more capable than the 650 offroad but still too heavy at 150kgs for the really technical stuff because as soon as you lose your footing or the front end begins to wash out it's almost impossible to save. However it will handle anything other than that with ease and is an absolute blast on anything remotely open. It simply shreds rear tyres…

I went for a ride at the Watagans last weekend. The other bikes were a CR500, Husaberg FE450, Yamaha WR450 (new) and EXC400, so all around 40kgs lighter. Those guys all trailered their bikes, I rode up from Sydney. I only stayed for the first two hours as I had other committments, and had no trouble at all keeping up, in fact it was easy. Having said that, we did the more open trails and ST first and saved the tougher stuff until after I left.

Regarding the 690R, I see this as being in the same class as the 630, but just better all round – lighter, better suspended, better componentry and more powerful. A hidden advantage is its fuel economy, which is by all accounts is vastly superior to the 630. On mine I’m lucky to get 180-190Kms from its 12 litre tank, whereas I’ve hear reports of 300Kms for the 690R. This is a big difference that would often negate the need for a larger tank or to carry fuel elsewhere.

The truth is no bike will do it all, but the 690R is the one that best stretches both ends of the spectrum.

To help put my comments into context, I am 48 years old, 6’4”, 14.5 stone, been riding all my adult life, am a reasonable rider and still prefer reasonably tough dirt riding to road or gravel, which I find somewhat boring.

If you want to have a look at a TE you’re welcome to take mine for a spin, I live in Kensington (Sydney) but will be away for two weeks from this Friday.

Regards,

Russ
 
Hi Guys, I appreciate your very kind and insightful responses. Thank you for your time.
Russ I should catch up with you for a ride. I belong to a group of guys that is known as SECT
senior east cosat trailriders. Half are in Newcastle and the other half in Sydney. We ride the Wattos and Clarence regularly. mostly grade 3 and 4 stuff. Our ages are 40 to mid 60's, they are top fellows.
With regards to you, these chaps are also morphing into DS country as the ST stuff is becoming more punishing and we can get longer leave passes as the kids are growm etc.
There is now a range of KTMs Teneres, Domis etc and they do a bit of the road less travelled stuff. The rest of us are in my boat, we all have real trail bikes, road bikes and now want a bit of real DS/Adventure. I will PM you when I do the business and see if you want to play.
By the way I live in Seaforth, unfortunately I have 10 years on you but act about 12.
 
Thanks for the ride invitation ghte, am always keen for an outing and to meet like minded riders. I'll be away for a couple of weeks holiday from this Friday, but keen to head out after that.

I'm at an interesting stage with my riding where I find the rides on AdvRider are a little tame, but with the 630 am somewhat restricted with the DBW rides as it's too heavy. My preferred riding would be some tougher off road stuff, but at a less frenetic pace. I really need a lighter bike like a TE310/350EXC to complement the 630.

I'm not sure what type of riding the SECT members are into. I had a quick look at their website but was unable to register, so will try again later.

If you want to try a 630 I'm happy for you to take mine for a ride one day while I'm away, just let me know if you're interested.

Regards,
Russ
 
Very kind offer Russ. What say I pull the pin on the KTM in the next couple of months and call you and we do a ride. I have a trailer etc.
 
I believe you'll find the 690R an exceptionally fun bike to ride. Good choice! Just get the latest model if you can, as it's the full 690 (previously 650 but called a 690).

Am happy to go for a ride whenever it suits. My only enemy is time, as I still have three young kids with accompanying commitments. To maximise my riding time I'm usually up & gone by 5.30-6am & try & be home by midday or so, although happy to stay out longer as required.

Have been unable to access the SECT website, as it displays an error when try to register, so will give it some time & try again later.

Regards,
Russ
 
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