1. Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

86 WR400 review

Discussion in 'Vintage/Left Kickers' started by Motosportz, Aug 10, 2010.

  1. Motosportz CH Sponsor

    Location:
    Vancouver WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    2021 TE250i, 570 Berg, 500 KTM, 790R
    Other Motorcycles:
    many
    Don't see many reviews of old bikes. I had nearly nothing to go by before purchasing my 86 WR400. So I thought I would do a little writeup for those looking for info in the future. I encourage all of you to review your Vintage bikes here for reference. :thumbsup:

    So the bike is a 1986 WR400. Stock and in good shape but not a beauty. (will be soon) :D I have never ridden his vintage in fact the oldest one I had ridden and actually owned was my very first husky the 1993 610.

    Fit / finish / feel:

    Well it is old so it feels old. Tiny footpegs, low seat that angles forward and then slopes up at the tank, odd bulbous left side panel etc. Footpegs bother me being used to wide platforms. Will widen or replace. Seat to footpeg relationship is tight and makes standing to seating more effort than it needs to be. Seat is comfy but kinda forces you to the tank. Will replace seat with a flatter, taller more modern feeling one I will build. Overall the bike feels as old as it is. No surprise.

    Suspension:

    Was told before hand the forks kind suck and they do. they are OK and work well for rocky rooty stuff. Pick up trail trash very well. They get confused and floppy when pushed and will bottom EZ at speed. Both seem to be leaking real good. Nice stuff :p Sending them to LTR to see if he can do anything with them. Already considering a whole front end replacement but would like to keep it stock if I can make it acceptable. Rear end works very well. Nice trail suspension. Shock needs refreshed, maybe stiffer valving and a new rubber bottom out cone.

    Brakes:

    The front one is crap. Heard they are crap. Mine has fork oil on it as well. Crap is what it is. Will be upgraded. Rear is surprisingly very good drum brake. I am a rear brake dragger, often times dragging the brake while applying power. I like that it is powerful enough, EZ to modulate and gets better as it heats up. I can roast a rear brake and have a few times on the trail, this one can't be overheated (no fluid) and actually works better when hot. Not the ultimate in barking but very functional as is. Might be interesting in deeper water. has grooved pads.

    Handling:

    Actually pretty surprising. Stable and quick turning all in one. Bike actually feels pretty light and can be flicked through the trees pretty quickly. I can see why Terry Cunningham and crew railed on these. Back then this must have been one heck of a machine as it stands up well to modern offerings. No it does not handle like my 125, duh, but VERY good indeed. Nice. Take a different approach than a modern bike but i am fully up to this having ridden many older bikes. Oh, the bike flies nice, EZ to jump and EZ to come off the jump face level. Like a 450F it is EZ to control the takeoff with a blip. (smaller woods type jumps not MX)

    Motor:

    I purposely saved the best for last. How does this 24 year old non power-valve motor work so well? It has maybe the best bottom end woods power ever. So controllable yet powerful. Amazing. I feel invincible on any hill. Short shift and rip. Perfect flywheel weight to power ratio. loft the front end, blast up a hill, get the rear out for a corner, it is all right there with a flick of the wrist. It is so fun I have been running up to a local area almost every night to burn some fuel. Been seeking out the nastiest loose rocky hills I can to motor up in 3rd wheeling wherever I feel. What a joy to use. It does vibrate pretty good mid to top but all you need to do is short shift it. Also by the time you get to the mid it is going so freaking fast it's time to reel her in anyway. It does have good mid and top if you want to go there, almost to much for the woods. Things happen fast when spinning it up. I just short shift and squirt around in that glorious bottom end. Sweet. The transmission shifts like butter, has a first gear that might literally let it idle up a tree and a 6th that I can't find enough room for with no gaps in between (big power allows that). the versatility is amazing. Oh, i have done nothing to the old round slide Mikuni and it carberates perfect. Cold it is 3 kicks every time and warm one kick every time. EZ starter. The motor, trans and the way it runs is for sure the highlight of this package.

    Final thoughts:

    I like this bike much more than anticipated. Got it on a whim because I traded a bike for it which was not in use that I got for a song, and it has a licence plate which will be useful for camping / exploring. What I found is I really like riding it. The motor, handling and relatively light weight feel make it a joy to rip around on. I feel if I sorted the brakes and suspension some I could go as fast on this as about any other bike. That is amazing to me. Bikes have evolved a long ways since this machine but it still holds up well in comparison. No, I'm not saying it is on par with current hardware, far from it, yet it does poses one great motor wrapped in a good bike to get down the trail with. This bike will see some use. Much like my beloved 94 WXC250 this bike will find a place in my garage for a long time i think. Will be a great bike for many non-competitive rides and fun times. Shes a keeper.

    BTW spoke to Phillip at Husqvarna-parts.com, real nice guy full of info and has a lot of parts in stock. His personal bike is a 86 WR400 and in his opinion it is the single best motor husky ever made. (vintage I am assuming) I can't really argue with that. Says it shares a piston and some design with the air cooled 390 which is said is also a great motor. If it was balanced better and smoother mid to top I would be right there with him. 4stroke or 2 stoke this is one cool motor.

    fun stuff.

    BTW running Motoz Dez HT rear and Enduro IT front and they are working awesome on this bike. Had Ching Chen (or however you spell that) on it and i could not get them off quick enough.

    [IMG]
  2. Croc Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    Sydney Australia
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    TE 511
    I had a WR 240 84 model in 1985, They were one awsome bike. I'm on the look out for the same WR400 as you. There is one on Ebay here, but to far away for me
  3. husky-parts.com Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    arizona
    I have several Magazine articles I will try to post here from back in 1986. One article shows many of the performance mods available then, especially the Damper rod kits from Husky Products. uploaded all but last page from one mag

    Attached Files:

  4. husky-parts.com Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    arizona
    A restored/new 1986 400wr or xc with a properly set-up front/rear suspension and front disc brake will make a believer out of anyone.

    Attached Files:

  5. White Husky Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    UK
    new forum section?

    Great reviews - thanks for taking the time to write up and share.

    Maybe there should be another section of the vintage forum for these sorts of reviews? They'll make a useful archive.
  6. fran...k. Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    eastern ct
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    420ae 98wr125 2004wr250 others
    Other Motorcycles:
    electric freeride 1993 yam gts
    Might I make a few comments on your comments.

    The seat on those 85-86 is a little worse than the ones immediatly before and after but way worse than the current offerings in my opinion. Well ok my newest is 2004 but the seats don't seem that different last six years.

    The suspention of the wr models are shorter by close to two inches in that year range as opposed to xc and cr.

    As for the vibraiton and ballance, seems from the parts sheets the 400 and 430 crank are the same part number but the pistons have to weigh different. Gee isn't the current 250 and 300 two strokes in the same situation?

    As to your piston 390/400 paragraph, I suspect the 400 piston in your bike is significantly lightened over the air cooled version simlar to what the 420-430 air cooled vs 430 water cooled ones. I just don't have any 390 in my bone pile. Does the 390 have a bridged exhaust like the 360?

    I like those 85-86 front brakes I call them the floppy disc. Maybe I should re consider the computer floppy discs from when I rode those in events have bad sectors and some won't even open.

    I had an ICO little white box odometer thing on mine and the forks flex around so much the magnet wiped out the sensor a few times and I removed it. At least that is my theory.

    Fran
  7. Motosportz CH Sponsor

    Location:
    Vancouver WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    2021 TE250i, 570 Berg, 500 KTM, 790R
    Other Motorcycles:
    many
    Is this Phillip? Did not know you were on here. Cool. Just completely the pay pal, send my stuff :D

    thanks for the info / post :cheers:

    Just read the mag review. Worlds best enduro mount? I guess thats why it is still fun to ride today. They felt the same about the excellent motor.
  8. Fritzcoinc Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    Cypress, Texas
    Looks like to me that this era Husky is the starting place for most of the modern designs of off road bikes. Didn't everyone else back then copy the Husky design and go on from there? They were the ones to beat.

    Reading all of this makes me wish I had time to ride my bike I spent so much time rebuilding. But can't complaine, biz is good,..... at the moment.
  9. scoott Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    Goldendale,WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    17 Huskies from 1979 to 1987
    Other Motorcycles:
    12 KTM's from 01 to 2010.
    To get more mid to top, install a v-force. To reduce/ eliminate vibration( and yes they all vibrated) go to a 87-88 spec rod.
    I had a 86 430 Auto I picked up to play with back in 87, vibration put my fingers to sleep and with the auto you couldn't ride around the rpm point. But my 87 430 cr I was desert racing was as smooth as anything.
    I had Steve Doane at Gresham Husqvarna put a 87 rod in the auto and the vibration went away competely.
    If you could track down an 87-88 rod to compare weight, you could probably match weights and get rid of the bad vibes.

    I've got an 84 400wr waiting to be gone thru myself.
    Maybe after I get my 500cr,250xc, and 510 sorted out!
  10. Husq.fleet Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    Pendleton Oregon
    Scoot, my 87 430XC vibrated as bad as my 83 500XC but I never knew any of its history, maybe a mismatched combo previously. I have that 87 430 engine down and the rod looks different than my 82 430 rod, more of a H-beam design. It has a Wiseco two ring piston? if that would be of any cause? My 82 430 is very low vibe. I'm planning on putting a air cooled top end on that 87 lower, cautions?
  11. NYWR430 Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    NY
    My 1988 WR430 vibrated like crazy. I am in the process of rebuilding the motor right now. I set up the crankshaft on my mill between two dead centers and checked the runout on the bearing surfaces. Worst case was 0.003" total runout. The Husqvarna shop manual spec calls for 0.0008" total runout. I am wondering if it's out of spec cranks that are causing these vibrations.

    Attached Files:

  12. Motosportz CH Sponsor

    Location:
    Vancouver WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    2021 TE250i, 570 Berg, 500 KTM, 790R
    Other Motorcycles:
    many
    I love this site. :thumbsup:
  13. hedhunter9 Husqvarna
    C Class

    Location:
    Indiana
    I was a Husky dealer back in the 80's and raced the 400 in many different events. Took a 400 WRX to the Am Nationals in 85 and finished 2nd with it. Shocked a lot of people that an Enduro bike worked so good in MX.

    In 86, I again raced a 400WR at the Am Nationals with the only mod this time was the MX internal rotor ignition. Really livened up the motor.
    Finished 3rd that year, with one bad moto taking my results down a bunch.

    The next month I was in Italy racing the ISDE on a WR430. The ones we got to ride there had More grunt and even better power. I raced the whole six days with absolutely no problems with the bike right out of the crate. And at the end of the Six days, I won the final Open moto cross. LR won the 4 stroke class moto on a Husky 4 stroke.

    If you had a 400 or 430 that vibrated, most of the time it was because of a bad balance crank. We got a couple that would shake your teeth out. We rebalanced the crank and it was worlds better.

    I sure loved those motors... Smooth, fast, easy shifting, made anyone feel like a hero !

    Bob Bean
    steadydirt likes this.
  14. Skoalman Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    maryland
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    82 & 83 HUS 430WR
    Other Motorcycles:
    Maico, Penton, KTM, DKW, Rokon, BUL
    These 400's are built like Sherman tanks with the heart (motor) of a German Panzer. Absolutely utterly amazing motors -- no powervalves to contend with, just straight grunt, beautiful midrange and wonderful topend speed. Short shift and lug, or open 'er up -- the bike's motor is just truly astounding. My first Husky (which I still have) was an 85 Husqvarna WR 400 and it's still on its stock bore. Clutch like buttah, shifts smooth. and reliable as my modern bikes. A great post vintage mount, for sure. Ditto Bob, it'll make you feel like a hero, for sure!
  15. Motosportz CH Sponsor

    Location:
    Vancouver WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    2021 TE250i, 570 Berg, 500 KTM, 790R
    Other Motorcycles:
    many
    So I guess I was not hallucinating about the motor :D
  16. Fritzcoinc Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    Cypress, Texas
    And I feel a lot better about putting so much work into mine! Thanks to all for the info.
  17. Motosportz CH Sponsor

    Location:
    Vancouver WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    2021 TE250i, 570 Berg, 500 KTM, 790R
    Other Motorcycles:
    many
    Well after putting some miles on it and loving the bike other than the forks and front brake I have decided to upgrade the bike. Don't worry, will make sure to make it reversible but wanted good forks, great brakes and more control. the Blue will look cool too. Will be grafting on the entire front end. Might have them slightly shortened.

    [IMG]
  18. husky-parts.com Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    arizona
    1984 400wr test article

    First generation water-cooled 400 wr. This bike started it all. I would like to find a new one in a crate.

    Attached Files:

  19. NYWR430 Husqvarna
    AA Class

    Location:
    NY
    Great article. Thank you for that!
  20. Motosportz CH Sponsor

    Location:
    Vancouver WA
    Husqvarna Motorcycle:
    2021 TE250i, 570 Berg, 500 KTM, 790R
    Other Motorcycles:
    many
    interesting, feels like more than 37 hp