WTF? I mean really? maybe an odd ball bike but wow. It is weird how polarizing the 449/511 is. Almost every mag hates them and almost every single actual customer who buys one LOVES it. I have owned piles and piles of bikes and rode even more. Short of a mag tester i have ridden more bikes than most (and i am sure I have ridden more euro off road bikes than most testers) . After sampling piles of bike I love the 449/511 platform. I understand they are saying from a MX standpoint which i get, this was never an MX bike and started from a bike that was not even a very good DS bike (BMW 450X) so i get that but this just seems like a slam to slam.
Is all about the advertising buck. The mag reviews are all biased on dollars spent and I dont buy the mags anymore becuase of it.
I rode a friends 450 and was completely blown away how much I loved the thing instantly. A 450 or 511 will most likely be in my near fiture. Oh and whos MXA?(lol)
On a more positive note tho. Check out dirtrider mag. They chose a cr125 as a personal bike! Giving it a great review so far. They had pro circuit's bones bacon do the suspension and pc pipe etc. Sorry if off topic but I do think some mag testers get it right and like you say the 449 maybe isnt the most cutting edge mx bike husky make?.
Jody; oh my. There you go again. The TC 450 is made by Husky in Italy so it's a given MXA won't like it, too Euro. He left out the 1973 through 1986 Kaw's. Fim MX-3 it did very well, of course that's not So-Cal. Enough snark, it just the absolute acquiescence of a player in the game. Jody..........
I met Jody once. I found that if it was not a CRF it was crap. Laughed at my sweet and very nicely setup WR250 husky but then said he had not ridden a husky in 10 years... so he was completely prejudging a bike he had never ridden. Zero cred IMHO.
I think the 449/511 look pretty slick. Havent rode one yet. The multi part fenders would bother me. The rest of the bike I am sure is awesome. Oh geeze, just wait untill the mags get there butts on the up coming 650 Terra/Strada. I bet they will try to compare it to a Austrian 690 instead of a Jap 650.
I'm not sure it's the worst bike ever but it sure wasn't for me. I would take my 08 TXC450 (sorry I got rid of it) over it any day of the week.
I had a real nice 08 TXC450 and now own a TE511 for 3500 miles. Like the 511 far better. To each his own.
They are talking about Moto Cross bikes , and if we are honest the TC 449 has not been a great bike for Husky ! How many compete in MX in the USA ? In europe its almost zero at both club and national level . You can buy new ones here for next to nothing ! No one wants them . I saw a second hand 2012 advertised today for £3000 (they were over £6000 new) ! That bike has at least halfed in value, in a few months, bet he wont buy another ! I have not riden a TC449, but did try a TE449 (I had a 2010 TE450) and I found for racing it was just too big, heavy and clumsy and I hated it . I bought a 310 and have not looked back . I can see the 449/511 platform would make a good "trail" bike but its not a racer and IMO they are right its not a good Moto Cross bike !
MXA is MX, they ride MX bikes and get to ride the best of the best MX bikes, for a hardcore MX guy a KXF or CRF etc will be light years ahead of the TC449 in feel, ergos etc on a MX track. Again even though the OEM called the TC an MX bike it really is not in its current form....Its a big trail bike that works good for most normal guys offroad and for ammies even on the MX track. TC449 will never stack up against the latest evolution of 20 years of MX machines, note how they have all evolved into clones for the most part, and note how the TC250 is an engineering clone for the most part. And thats the direction the big bore needs to go to "fit" into that evolutionary mold (ask KTM about that). PS MXA folks have a big spot for Husky and are glad to see the marque (in its TC250 form) return to the track competitively. They loved doing the WR to CR300 project for one example. Jody is an old school moto head and the Husqvarna brand plays a big role in his moto-world view. Just ride and enjoy your bike of choice, If a magazine tested all the F1 cars they would have a worst car among them, and yet that car is off the charts in the real world.
Good bike or not, its been shown over and over throughout the yrs, that most, if not all these guys in the states rating bikes are just talking heads receiving a pay check ...Some cases, as we saw with someone of a great name value (Lewis?) was comparing a TE Husky to some dinky hondos, are meant to be read and make an impact, on the lesser informed cycle rider ... They are just lending their names out as if they are actually important or something .. Sorry but I don't know this ego jody (girl or boy?) person but isn't this person just another ama lacky and another piece of the ama racing puzzle that discriminates against nearly all bike brands except the asian models? It may have taken 50 yrs of living, but these payed lap-dogs are as transparent as a sheet of glass ... When this bike is ridden by a real top rider, with real factory support, AS is the case with all other bikes racing today, and the bike finishes dead last, I'll agree. Until then, the words written buy this person of no-real-interest, is nothing more than another opinion that will not be proven ...
"When this bike is ridden by a real top rider, with real factory support, AS is the case with all other bikes racing today, and the bike finishes dead last, I'll agree. Until then, the words written buy this person of no-real-interest, is nothing more than another opinion that will not be proven ..." Sorry but this will never happen as Husky themselves know this is not a race bike ! They have to my knowledge never supported racing the TC 449 at any reasonable level (MX1 or MX3). They tried with the TE 449 ( & BMW G450 ) with "real top riders" in WEC and gave up with that too ! ALL Husqvarna MX and Enduro racing is based around the x-lite (and is doing rather well ! ). I hope and believe that we will see a new 450 range (based on x-lite motor etc...) soon . Hopefully this will be a better bike and will get better reviews !
I don't care for this bike but I've never rode one either. I can say that I have witnessed CoryGrafunder and hic tc449 make a bunch of good riders on every brand of bike look foolish in the WHS and Worcs series. I think mxa is justified in there opinion from a pure moto point of view. My 2 cents.
If the issue is MX racers of all time, that's one hell of alot of MX bikes. How about the early YZ Yamaha's they were no more than a 2-stroke version of a Triumph that was copied, no turning them or the 70's Kawasaki's open class scooters; junk. Their riders were loyal and the Mags pumped them up so the learning curve took effect, although the only person who could ride the works bikes were rider's of super star quality where as Maico made one for the ricky-racers of weekend fame, the Maico and CZ's were head and shoulders above the Japanese except on the pages of MXA. {JODY} If everyone was to buy the ultimate bike of all time get a Zundapp Rickman 125cc or Walt's 165 and squirt in the dirt. Robert makes the most valid point which is that the industry scribes or Editors like things the same just a color change now and then, then they can continue with generic write up's about nothing at all.
Same here too! Buying the mags has become a waste of good money. You can slam any bike, but what alternative is there to Husky and Husaberg? Are there any other makes? (Please no suggestions that´d just make me wrily laugh)
Nothing like the power of the press! I remember when the yamaha yz400f came out and the magazines all raved about it. I saw them slowly but surely appearing more and more,then the other manufacturers jumped on board and the 2-stroke mx and off-road bikes suffered in up-dates and refinement until the 250 2-stroke mx bikes were phased out. I resisted jumping on the four-stroke band-wagon and ended up being one of the few riders on a 2-stroke and loving it! I remember over-hearing other riders talking and saying things like "These four-strokes are great,did you read the test in the magazine?" The truth is both the 4-strokes and the 2-strokes are good it's just that the magazines were telling us that one is better than the other and from what I saw, alot of people believed them! I eventually bought a 4-stroke husaberg and I used to ride it in single-track but now that I have my wr144, the husy only is used for longer off-road trips and the wr gets the call any time single-track is involved.Ok rant over! I just wanted to say that I don't base what a magazine says to make decisions for me, I base my decisions on what I know will work or what is proven by other people and the good people on this forum of course!
When we were at the Husqvarmna dealer show at Anza race park,we rode all the bikes on the Carlsbad replica track,Husqvarna invited world champion Chuck Sun to ride,hes getting up there but we all agree knows how to ride still.Chuck , I have known since 1973 we bsssed about the Tc449 after he came back in on it and really loved the motor and how light it steered and he was making some really good laps.I dont think the TC449 would even be in the top 500 worst bikes ever. WE have the best out of the crate motorcycles ever built in history of motorcycles to pick from,I dont think anything in the 15 years would be considered 10 worst of anything built by any manufacture you choose. Ill agree all the new mx 450s are tough competition but believe any 450 made today with correct set up with a great rider could win anytime against anything else.but im just another old guy likre Chuck,Rick,and ,and and what do we know.
