CelticDude
Historically Fast!
In my opinion, THIS is the bike that Husqvarna should be making for the American public. It's been a long journey. This bike (WR125) was purchased from Motoxotica Dan in Vacaville, California last year. It was virtually unridable out of the box. The lean carburetor needle and poorly adjusted power valve linkage gave it no power at all until about 8000 RPM and then it all came in at once! Lucky for me, the Husky god Walt came to visit and helped me install the 144 kit, hand filed my power valves and advised me on jetting my carb properly. Now it was rideable! I did get an opportunity to ride his 165 but decided it was not for me. All grunt and no rip.
Thereafter I sent my carb off to RB Designs where Ron did his magic with the divider plate and idle circuit that made it actually idle properly and pull much stronger from the bottom to the midrange. I rode many events last year and the bike worked well and always finished. After the 2 Day ISDE event at Gorman, California last year, the CDI died. I could have just replaced the unit and gone on but I ordered the CR ignition instead. So glad I did. Instant throttle response. No more waaaaaaaWAHHHH! Now it's all WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Now you're talkin'!
Then I rode an enduro in Nevada that blew out my right knee in October so I was down for a while. More time for screwing around in the garage. Walt did a posting about being busy putting some real wide ratio gears in his personal bike so I PMed him to find out what he was up to and he said the earlier pre-2003 bikes had a real wide ratio gearbox but they were really hard to find. Well...in about a week I received a box from an E-Bay vendor with a perfect set of 2002 gears. I really like this motor because it is so easy to work on. You do have to watch the center case gasket because it is very brittle as I found out. A little RTV holds it in place. Anyway, today I finally got to try it out with my new Scalvini exhaust. The first run wasn't that great because since I now have the "Official Factory Service Manual", I used that to set the power valve. I pulled the pipe and reset the power valve setting the way it should be and Woo-Hoo! It's finally come together. The Scalvini pipe really makes the 144 come alive from mid to top and doesn't take anything from the bottom. Wheelies at command and more power than I have ever felt from this motor. I don't currently have a speedometer but I am running a 13 tooth countershaft sprocket with a 47 tooth rear sprocket. It runs through all six gears very quickly. It will pull everything from a slow walking pace to where the blurry fence posts are flying by. I finally have a Husky 144 Cross Country.
Thereafter I sent my carb off to RB Designs where Ron did his magic with the divider plate and idle circuit that made it actually idle properly and pull much stronger from the bottom to the midrange. I rode many events last year and the bike worked well and always finished. After the 2 Day ISDE event at Gorman, California last year, the CDI died. I could have just replaced the unit and gone on but I ordered the CR ignition instead. So glad I did. Instant throttle response. No more waaaaaaaWAHHHH! Now it's all WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Now you're talkin'!
Then I rode an enduro in Nevada that blew out my right knee in October so I was down for a while. More time for screwing around in the garage. Walt did a posting about being busy putting some real wide ratio gears in his personal bike so I PMed him to find out what he was up to and he said the earlier pre-2003 bikes had a real wide ratio gearbox but they were really hard to find. Well...in about a week I received a box from an E-Bay vendor with a perfect set of 2002 gears. I really like this motor because it is so easy to work on. You do have to watch the center case gasket because it is very brittle as I found out. A little RTV holds it in place. Anyway, today I finally got to try it out with my new Scalvini exhaust. The first run wasn't that great because since I now have the "Official Factory Service Manual", I used that to set the power valve. I pulled the pipe and reset the power valve setting the way it should be and Woo-Hoo! It's finally come together. The Scalvini pipe really makes the 144 come alive from mid to top and doesn't take anything from the bottom. Wheelies at command and more power than I have ever felt from this motor. I don't currently have a speedometer but I am running a 13 tooth countershaft sprocket with a 47 tooth rear sprocket. It runs through all six gears very quickly. It will pull everything from a slow walking pace to where the blurry fence posts are flying by. I finally have a Husky 144 Cross Country.
Luckily, Walt was there and he hand filed my 125 powervalves to fit the 144 bore.