125-200cc Heed the WR 125 "performance upgrade" lest this happen to YOU!

Most of you know I've been paying attention to all the poop about the '09 WR 125 upgrade to see if it applies to my '09 CR 125. So far there's nothing from Husky or dealers admitting that the CR is affected.

Well I'm here to prove that if the CR isn't covered by the "recall", it SHOULD be!

Our '09 CR's upper engine mount bracket after about 5 hours of practice and 2 races:



The rear suspension bottle after the same:



Our engine seems to be doing OK however. After this weekend's race, it was apparent that the Husky was one of the strongest 125's on the track. I've been able to mitigate the mid-range flat spot by raising the needle a clip.

At this time, Husky isn't providing CR owners any warranty support for the engine mounts or the pipe rub or the exhaust valve issue like the WR owners are getting. That pisses me off quite frankly. I sing Husky praises to at least 5 or 6 people at each practice session and race who seek us out and walk to our pit specifically to ask about the bike. I'm still high on this bike, but Husky needs to extend the same consideration to CR owners like us who are on the front lines advertising for free weekend after weekend!

I'm sure Husky will make the CR125's right.

Me too Norman. I'm just a bit frustrated right now. We're slap in the middle of race season and the kid is really doing well on the Husky... so well in fact that we have YZ and KX owners coming up to us asking what we've done to the CR to make it so fast. A lot of people we talk to don't even know Husqvarna still makes motorcycles! On Saturday, in a practice heat, Cody was running with 250F's and holding his own. After the practice, 2 KTM 250SXF riders came over to our pit to ask about the little Husky. One of the KTM guys was several seconds behind our Husky for the entire practice heat.

I LOVE this little smoker. I just want it to be 100%.

Originally in early March when word came down on some WR125 "issues", they were going to deal with them on a bike by bike basis. Now its a blanket upgrade for all WR125's. It's possible Husky has a CR125 plan taking shape. Talk to your dealer soon.



Kelly.... What does Jeff Tasky have to say?

I kinda figured something was up..when Rasputin mentioned the head stay brackets....I parked my bike just in case....he did say they would break eventually

the change up brackets are curved more... to allow more "give"


I am lucky as I have two other bikes to ride.....

Just guessing but...I suspect the power valve update does not apply to the CR....

The bracket update and pipe.....YES

I was lucky my dealer didnt waste anytime informing me of this issue....but husky should have advised those to not ride until this was solved....


Keep the faith up guys.........it could be far worse

I remember a best left unnamed japanese manufacturer 450's had piston pins fail exactly at 10 hrs......and blamed riders coming off 2 t's from revving them too high..until so many came back they couldnt ignore it....or suzuki's crankcase failures last year.......lots of heated exchanges at the service dept I'm sure

Or my reasons for coming to Husky... NO... RUNNING to Husky from the Pumpkin patch: A brand new 144 SX with grenading pistons and a brand new 250 SXF recalled within the first week of ownership for disintegrating connecting rods! UGH. We raced the 144 the second half of last season and said a prayer before every heat to ask the Gods to not let the piston fry. We ended up being one of the lucky ones. I was able to trade the 144 and the 250 (after the recalled rod was installed).

My experiences with Husky have been wonderful by comparison and I plan to stay around despite this minor issue with our CR 125.

I just bent the offending pipe bracket a smigden so the pipe doesn't rub the shock body.As far the engine bracket goes I'll keep riding it till either an upgraded part comes in or it cracks.Whichever comes first I suppose.
Otherwise all is well & richening the needle cured the flat spot so all is well performance wise.

My bike had the pipe right against the reservoir, so we bent the tab so pipe wouldn't hit. Fran Bottone pointed out that head stay is going to be more of a problem on CR that is getting MX'd seriously. I'm going to keep riding mine (when I get it back from P3) until the parts come in.

The area where the brackets are cracking is also in an area where the modern phrase "controlled flex" comes in to play....engineers looking for ways to improve the feel by allowing a certain amount of flex in the backbone/steering head area....however the brackets(rigid) look similar to the ones of past huskys...wonder if they are just a bit too rigid..????

looking at the new brackets...they look like mild steel curved to allow some movement..

It would not be to difficult to have some made up interim...at least for the time being

just a thought though....

would loosening or removing 1 of the 2 top bracket bolts as an interim work? It would allow some flex rather than the break. You just have to mind and check the snugness of the 1 in the meantime as well as check for cracks. Should be viable for the woods guys as they are not launching off huge doubles and impacting huge G-outs also.

Just a thought

Joe

Ask your dealer about B009 Service Bulletin, BIKE UPGRADE WR 125 E3 MY09. It's got a pipe offset fix and new engine mounting brackets besides other things.

If I were you I would ride the bike. In re-reading the original dealer note (at least the one posted here) it said nothing about parking the bike until all parts are replaced. It even said parts would show up in staggered shippments. It looks like it's up to the dealers to put the parts order in. It doesn't refer to or read like it's a kit the dealers will get. At least that's the way I read it in the original post. The bike is too much fun to be parked. I'm sure Husky would stand behind it if it breaks.