I am thinking about buying a big bore Husky. I was wondering what the year to year updates were on this series of bike. I hate to say it, but I was actually thinking about the possibility of building one of these bikes up for a 600cc or 650cc hill climber class...
I think 2008 was the first FI bikes. My dealer loves these 610's and prefers carbs, so probably a 2007 TE 610 would be a good choice. 610's were SOHC, 630's got the DOHC head.
If you want to build a hillclimb race bike, I'd recommend starting with a different base platform. I love my 610, and it's certainly not slow, but much of what makes it good/reliable makes it also heavy and less powerful. A Husky or KTM 500(ish) will make the same power and be quite a bit lighter than a 610/630. 610s are better than 630s in my opinion because they are simpler. I don't think that the 630 got anything that I would call an "upgrade" from a performance point of view, and there are several downgrades (heavy dual exhaust, less fork travel, more weight). 06-07 were carb, 08+ is EFI, pick which you prefer.
I was thinking '06 and prior carbed bikes. When did Husky start using this engine, like the '01 TE570?
If you want a race bike, I'd look for a left-kick offroad model 610 without electric start. They are way lighter and simpler. Any year from like 2000-2005 should be fine. I see them on craigslist fairly frequently.
The 02 TE570 was the fire breather of the bunch. They shaved 2.5 pounds off the crank and hot rodded it. I had one and it was crazy fast. Way faster than my 06 TE610.
Shear power wise the 02 TE570 smokes the 511. Also geared for 100+. If you can handle the vibs it is fire breathing rocket. Should have never let that bike go. I also had a very fast Up-tite motored TC610 (93 I think, cant remember) and it was fast but the stock TE570 was just as fast, maybe faster. Both of them absolutely smoked the 06 TE610 I had. I was kinda disappointed with the power of the 06 610 after the other two.
This is great knowledge guys, please keep it coming. I had a '06 YZ450F last year that I almost converted to a hillclimber. I just could not do it, I REALLY wanted a Husky. Then, someone offered me about $1500 more than I had in it, so I thought I better sell it. This is close, but the wrong brand;
I loved the 570, but it won't smoke a built up 511. 511is light/flick able and won't require such a long swing arm. It's a lot better engine than most people even know. I like that KTM you posted, love the RFS engine, tons of torque.
Well of course you can build any bike to have piles of power. That stock with a pipe 02 Te570 will leave my uncorked 511 for dead. I owned the 570 for several years and own an uncorked 511 so I feel pretty confident saying that. For reference I bet my 511 would walk away form my 06 610 until gearing takes over. Yes a highly built 511 like yours might keep up with it but if you put the same time, money and effort int he 570 to keep it apples to apples the 570 will still smoke the 511. It has 100cc more and can be a VERY powerful motor.
I would rather go for a carbed Cagiva instead of going to an injected BMW. I do not have the coin to throw at something that new. I love the body work of the '06, but I was thinking that can be swapped to the '03 to '05 bikes as a bolt-on deal. Looks really isn't a big issue. Kick start only sounds right to me. Right or left kick does not matter to me. If I were to big bore and/or stroke one of these bikes, I need to stop at 599cc or 649cc.
The 2007 610 has the electronic injection, but the fork and the handlebar (22 mm) are the same of the carbed model. On the 08 and 09 models the forks are black and they don't have the compression adjuster screws; their handlebars diameter is 28 mm. The FI models have a water temperature sensor on the head, while the carbed ones have it on one of the coolant system hoses. The FI models flywheel generates a little more electric power. On the left crankcase cover of the carbed models there is a smaller cover to check the timing, while on the FI ones there isn't and there aren't marks on the flywheeel (there are other marks under the right case to find TDC). Accroding to what they wrote onto the logbooks, the carbed engine yields 39 kw. The FI one should yield 36 kw, according to some technical specifications found on the Internet. You can "rejet" the FI models using iBeat: http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/ibeat-semco-efi-info.6079/.
I love the 610/570 Huskys, but a 650 Husaberg would be all over the Huskys. On the other hand if money is no object, a Ron Wood Rotax powered bike would be my ultimate pick.
