Been down sick for a couple of weeks with some horrible upper respiratory virus, but finally had to get out for a ride last Saturday. Took t he old TE 450 out for a little saddle time up in the mountains. It was quite therapeutic.
Lovely "Rainbow Nation" graphics DD. The 450 is a great grunty bike that will keep you on your toes. Thank you for sharing. I am currently laid up as I sprang a couple a planks and did my AC with a hard low side on a greasy clay jeep track last week. Still popping the drugs. Hoping next week will be enough confinement time.
I consider that bike to not have very much low end torque which is why I am considering adding a new FE501 to the stable. I'll gain a whole bunch of low end and lose about 12 pounds compared to the old 450. But I do't have any plans to ditch the the old TE. Hope you are back in the saddle as soon as possible.
Hi DD. I am surprised the 450 is a tad lacking in bottom end grunt. It has a close ratio box and was top of the HP heap in its day. Anyhoo please try a Beta 480 before finalising the FE501. I ride a mates KTM 500 six days a bit and it is very powerful but a handful in the dirt. The front brakes are only ok. The front end is heavy and a bit ponderous. It is also very tall. The Beta 480 has a truck load of grunt, is about an inch lower than the KTM and turns in and brakes better than the KTM 500 imho. It is also about $1.5 k cheaper in OZ. My bike now has 4000kms and has not missed a beat and the valves are still in spec. I know the KTM and FE are siblings and not identical, but what have you got to loose? Good hunting and let us know what you end up with please.
Have ridden a 390 Beta and didn't like the feel of that one. Ergos were all wrong and the bike felt heavy. I really liked the 501 that I rode. Suspension was surprisingly good, even though it was set up for somebody much heavier. Handling in the tight trails was superb. The bike comes with an extra throttle cam for milder power delivery off the bottom. The dealer is about two miles from my house and is offering exceptionally low financing rates...1.9%. Betas are expensive here and the dealership is far away.
DD If you can dig up a set of powernow intake splitters fro FCR 41mm Keihin carb bikes you would be surprised at the change in low carb slide opening power, the both sides of carb set up turns the Italian 450 twin cammer things into tractors. my 06 and 08 both had them along with the set by the chart JD jetting kits with leak jet and mod installed. both started better when hot and chugged like tractors. It was a very noticeable difference, I could ride a gear up through the ugly stuff and keep the chassis ans suspension unloaded for smooth going.
