FE/FC 2017 FE501

Doesn't look like there's really a 501 thread, and I just picked mine up, so I'll start one. Or maybe I'm the only one that owns one?

Working in Homer, AK. Caught a literal last minute flight to Anchorage yesterday after getting the call that my bike was put together. Bought the ticket as the last people were boarding. That was close.


Caught a cab to The Motorcycle Shop. This is a great shop if anyone on here is or plans to ever be in Alaska. The owner, Don, has a pretty kick ass collection including a few vintage Husky's and some Triumphs. Anyways, while it is less than an idea way to break in a bike, I had no option other than to ride the sucker 200+ miles home. Good thing it came with street tires.



The ride was brisk but I kept her around 50 for the first half of the trip then as the incredibly hard seat started to take it's toll and channel fever started to set in I stepped her up a bit to the 60's on the last leg. Got home, changed the oil, she's ready to rip.

Initial thoughts: This bike is bone stock, haven't done a thing to it yet. I've read till my head went dizzy about "desmogging" and whatnot. Apart from plugging some air return that a mech recommended, I don't think I'm going to do a damn thing except probably change the muffler. Didn't seem to be running lean, no "popping" or "backfires" on decel. I didn't get much offroad time in besides the little ATV side trails through towns, but the gearing didn't seem terrible. I believe it's 14-45 out of the gate.

Long term plan is to ride this thing up here while I'm working this summer and then ferry/ride combo back to Oregon in September.

Beautiful picture Willyons of the FE501 with the mountains. Café Husky has helped me a lot with advice, some awesome Husky riders here.

I actually just started a YouTube channel called WADZ UP that's dedicated to adventures and the Husqvarna 2017 FE501 plus much more.

I just finished a Crash Protection Series but I think you guys may find this project build helpful and all the links. Thanks again for everyone's help and support. Enjoy~! WADZ


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkqBGutFOgU

Brand new YouTube channel "Offroad Rider" where I start to document adventures with my few weeks old Husky FE 501 (EU)

Have been really interested in the thoughts on the 501's.. I'm excited stop see where this goes.

First of all, I've been getting about 60mpg/120 miles per tank. That's awesome. Can't wait for some summer Idaho next year! Got a couple oil changes and about 15 hours on her so far.

Changed a few things so far:
1) put in the optional grey throttle cam that came with it. Definitely adds some hit at the expense of smoother throttle control.
2) drilled out the outer exhaust screen (with a hole saw, definitely the easiest way). I do think this is making the bike a bit leaner as now I'm getting more popping on decel (not a lot, but more than original). Also, I'm a 2T guy, and this is my first 4T so what the hell do I really know?

I'm still running the stock tires and since I'm more on road/gravel/mellow trail territory, they're fine. Actually, I think they do pretty damn good. Time will tell how long they last. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get some knobbies on her when I get home to Oregon but for now, they serve their purpose well.

I haven't ridden too much trail, found a few miles of singletrack locally. I have to say, stock gearing is pretty damn good. I've been riding over a bunch of boulders on the beach and while first is a little high, it's pretty spot on for an all around dualsport kind of bike. It'll crawl around boulders and cruise 60 comfortably on the road. That is awesome in my mind.

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I ordered a JD tuner for her. I feel like she runs a little leaner since removing the exhaust screen but I don't want to get into tweaking TPS and whatnot. I am 4 hours from the dealer so for now, mapping/TPS is out of the question and I have heard such good things about the JD kit on previous generations of the 500 I figued I'd try it. I'll post an update when that happens.

Very happy with this bike so far, I feel like it's the 300 2T version of the 4T family.

So down a tank of fuel after installing the JD tuner, with the stock exhaust minus the two screens on the end. I feel like the tuner definitely smoothed things out a bit in that it wasn't quite as aggressive to respond but had all the power. Made the bike smoother and "easier" almost on the little bit of trail that I got it on. This is keeping in mind I have the stock gearing still which is a little on the tall side for any tight singletrack.



Then I put on an FMF 4.1 silencer and man does it sound good! I just ripped her up and down the road a minute so I'll try and get more time on that and share. Definitely more bark. One thing I noticed is there is a lot of popping on decel, sounds kind of like little backfires. I haven't done any of the emissions delete stuff which might help with that. Also wondering if that's normal, or if it means I'm running lean. I'm about to ride this thing home to Oregon from Alaska in August so I'd rather err on the rich side just to keep the motor a bit cooler. Any advice from any 4T people out there?

Cheers,
Will

Fuel off the bottom seems fine, seems popping is happening more coming off the other send of the throttle. Gonna bump mid throttle up .5 and see what happens. Thanks for the info!

Alright, after some more research I found some hard data from JD Jetting regarding dyno's and certain mods. This has been the single biggest change I've made to the bike and this is where I'm at. I called JD and asked about my bike maybe still being pretty lean and they said largely the pops I'm hearing are because of an air link between the header and the FMF. I asked if it was worth sealing and they said no because they things expand and contract so much sealant doesn't really work.

1) removed air intake reed cage. (I was hesitant about this until reading that none of the Euro bikes have this. I don't know if I would recommend without modifying the map to a Euro map or adding a tuner like the JD because the bike would seem like it would be excessively lean without.)
2) JD tuner with following settings: Green-5, Yellow-6, Red-6.5, GB-6, YB-5, RB-4. He recommended taking each of these down .5 for slightly better mileage and still a large power increase
3) Open 'saust/FMF 4.1. I ordered this when I bought the bike because if I was already going to sell the farm to buy a $11k motorcycle what's another $500 right? Well, while it looks and sounds cool as hell, JD found almost identical dyno performance with the stock pipe with just the end cap screens removed.

I have left the emissions stuff intact and feel like this is a good way to squeeze the most (i need anyways) out of the bike and get it running more like the intended design seems to be (without intake reeds) without drastically changing anything or messing with the ECU. I saw a post on another forum recently that said KTM in the lastest firmware update to their software has disabled euro maps from being able to be installed on flashed US ECU's. So in honor of 4th of July weekend, I think the above is a pretty solid American option!

I bought a 2015 FE350. NOT the S model. I love the bike except I thought it would have been better at road speeds since it has a 6 speed. I was making this assumption compared to the last 4 stroke I had a 2002 KTM400EXC. That bike stock would cruise 60 MPH with out revving the crap out of it. My 350 starts screaming at 45, in my opinion, some may not. On the FE501s at what RPM is it spinning at say 60MPH? Stock condition.

My riding has changed a little in the last couple years and I want to do more Dual sports and back road exploring, and the 350 just screams too much to do any road miles.

With stock gearing (15T&45T) on my 16 501, I was really low in 6th gear between 50-60mph.. To the point I had to downshift the 5th if I wanted to accelerate out of any sticky situations. I would estimate she was running just above idle speed, maybe spinning 2200-2500rpm.
I've since upgraded to a 13T c/s sprocket and that flat spot in sixth is gone.
I think you'd be please with her road manners. Before I changed sprockets I had her up to 108mph. The lower gearing helps her pull, and helps keep me under 100 on dirt tires lol

So there must be a big difference between my FE and the FE'S