• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
    TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

2012 TC250 fork settings

ray_ray

Mini-Sponsor
I got these words from an online magazine and was wondering how close it is to what the bike is really like and what rider weight amount is the 0.47s made for?

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The 010 TCs I have arrived with the forks about perfect for me ...

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A: Husqvarna overcompensated with their updated 2012 fork settings. Last year the forks had 0.43 kg/mm springs, and MXA bumped them up to 0.45. This year the factory installed 0.47s and 20cc more oil. Last year we complained of the jarring feeling of the forks bottoming out over every big bump; this year we complained of the jarring feeling of the forks not moving through their stroke. But while the symptoms are similar, the cure for stiffness was much easier and more affordable than the cure for softness. We removed 20cc of fork oil and backed out the compression clicker to put the forks within the zone of a typical 250F pilot.
 
I have a 2012 TC250 and love it. I weigh 175 lbs and I am 5' 10". I race more desert than motocross, but I do both and I ride at the intermediate level. The article you are referring to is one I have read and re-read a couple of times. For me, MXA is right, I found the forks to be jarring as well. I think the MXA guys are riding a bit faster and harder than I am though. After reading their article, I figured their settings were for pro speed motocross. A few times, I went to local motocross tracks and rode as hard as I could - above my comfort level really - and the bike was awesome! The forks were definitely much better for that type of riding and the faster I was able to go, the better it handled and I noticed the harsh feel less, but still more stiff than I would like.

I ride more desert and technical single track. For this style of riding, it would get really uncomfortable quickly and I would get tired from fighting it.
At first, I just adjusted clickers, but there was not enough adjustment to smooth things out. Then, I removed oil out and it definitely improved, but it was still a bit harsh. I decided to go further and put the .45 springs in. This was much better for me. Now, I am very happy with the ride. You have to ask yourself if it matches for your riding style, weight etc.

I actually did another thing as well. I swapped the linkage out for the longer one on the rear suspension in addition to the lighter springs and reduced oil. This changed the personality of the bike significantly. I am still getting used to the changes, but it is now so much better to ride that I can't believe I fought the original configuration so long. The link allowed me to level the bike and raise the forks in the triple clamps. Those stock settings with the seat height was not a good match for my height, weight and type of riding.

With the drop link, proper sag on the shock, lowered chassis, lighter fork springs and lower oil level I am amazed at how much different the bike is (I know, I know, that is major change it should be amazingly different). It carves lines and allows so much more control. Going through the exact trails, whoops, washes and rocks that I was fighting before the changes are now a joy and required significantly less effort. I am riding a lot faster now. I find myself running in 3rd and sometimes 4th gear where I was more often in 2nd and 3rd, but it still feels smooth and I am more confident in going faster with the improved feel.
 
Thanks for the your experience here with these forks ... I ride some on MX type tracks but nothing too big. I am not an AMA type rider. I'm more of fast ST rider.. meaning fast trails that are not too technical ... I am not a rider who wants a plush suspension .. I like to feel my forks up there doing a little work.

On all my other 010 TC bikes, the KYBs on the front fit me very well with no changes really :) ... So your words on the springs up front are a little scary as I do not want to trade my USDs for new springs ... But I might be pushed into a corner on this one though :( .. I'm maybe 160lbs in all my gear ...

How much oil did you drop out of the outer chambers as a starting point?

Did you do anything to the inner chambers? The inner chambers on the Marzocchi forks from earlier model Huskies had to have the air blend from them or the forks were ~harsh and deflected...

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That lower linkage stuff is a little interesting also .... :)
 
I experimented with a number of oil settings in the forks, but after putting the softer springs on, I went back almost to stock. I currently have 350 mm oil in the outer chamber (stock is 360) and the inner chamber is unchanged. The softer springs did the trick for me. If you do like a little bit more stiff up front, try lowering the oil in 10 CC increments. It is so easy to do that you should try it if you are not happy with the ride at the moment. It is a little annoying to put the oil back in through the air bleeder, but a little patience and you can raise it easily should you remove more than you like. Suspension tuning is a lot of fun for me, I like to try stuff on the bike to see how the ride changes.

These bikes are almost too adjustable! Many people make changes without knowing what should be changed and how much for the issue they are feeling on the ride. But there is a lot of info on the web that help you learn what changes affect the ride in specific ways, and, it is fun!

I will say one thing about that linkage. If I were to walk into a shop and buy a brand new bike, I would probably order a lowering link at the same time for almost any brand out there. Not because I am having trouble with the height, but because the improvement of the handling is so significant. For my riding style, being able to just look at a different line and then go there is more important.

Case in point, late last fall after getting the entire setup the way I like it, I was in a long desert race in Central Utah. The people laying out the course always throw in a big knarly hill or two and usually have something that you have to avoid at around the two thirds distance up the hill - Tree, Boulder, etc. This has been a real difficult point for me and before getting this latest suspension mod, about half the time, I would try to correct my line in the middle of the hill without success. I would either kill the bike, or simply lay it over in front of the object rather than keep driving and run into a boulder/tree. These long desert rides just drain your energy enough without having to pick up and restart your bike in the middle of a steep hill. Post suspension changes however have made changing course in front of those trees and boulders fun where they were quite difficult and stressful.

I know much of this sport is mental, but now with the changes on the suspension, I definitely have much more confidence for this type of thing and I had my best finish of the year. I am dying waiting for spring thaw!
 
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