• 2 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     WR = 2st Enduro & CR = 2st 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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!

125-200cc CR/WR 125 Getting Acquainted

H

Hendricus

Husqvarna
A Class
I'm considering a 2006 CR125 or a 2013 WR125. Both of these available now. That's why I've stated it this way.

(1) In terms of pull off the bottom end (such as when slow climbing a rugged hill), how does a Husky 125 compare to a YZ125? For all intensive purposes, is a 125 2-stroke a 125 2-stroke? Or is there something slightly more enduro-esque about the Husky? (I'm hoping....)

(2) In general, are parts still available for the CR/WR 125's in this year range?

(3) I know I'm in a Husky forum, but I'm curious if anybody has experience with both Honda CR125's, Yamaha YZ125's, and Husky CR/WR 125's? If you were 5' 6'' 110 lb intermediate enduro rider, what bike/brand would you build/ride? This rider has outgrown Yamaha TTR-125, and is about to move away from Honda CR85 (good suspension, but horrible hill climber under 25 mph).
 
Little husky 125 motor lugs surprisingly well for a 125. Think the wr has heavier flywheel n ignition than the cr so better for offroad. Plus the wr u mention has the newer frame(smaller)/hubs/swingarm/linkage/forks etc.

The only yz125 I've ridden was a brand new 2015 n it was good fun on a moto track but like a light switch-nothing.....then hold on. Could adapt to offroad with exhaust/gearing/carb/engine mods

Parts still available sum may take a few weeks to get in but on the whole readily available. Plus can 144 or 165 or 177 the husky
 
My experiences with a late model YZ125 was that it made superior low end power to the stock Husky. They're fairly well known for having good bottom end. If it's a choice between the late model YZ (06+) or one of those Husky's, the YZ will be the easier bike to live with, based mostly on support and parts availability. My choice would be the Husky every time - I think it's a better bike, but they all make good woods bikes.
 
I have an 08 cr125... now a 165 and a 09 wr125...now a 165. These are both woods bikes for me, here are my impressions. The cr125 is a great bike, suspension is ok. The bike comes on the pipe hard and fast and it really takes off when you are on it. It is harder to control in slippery gnarly conditions but, when you have all kinds of grip, it is my choice of the two.

The wr seems to have more bottom but it has a heavier stock flywheel than the cr. it doesn't come on the pipe near as hard and has far more Controllable power. The suspension on the 09 is better for the woods.

I think the 13 would have the kyb suspension which would be far superior to the 45mm zokes so for me,I would take the wr As an all rounder.

The small huskies have a good following and most parts are available but you might have to wait to get parts or order from a larger dealer online.

I've never riden a yz so I can't comment but I rarely see them at offroad races.
 
The 2013 WR 125 is the bike I have. It is the most forgiving, broad powered 125 I have ever ridden. I installed a 53 tooth rear sprocket on the back in place of the stock 50, and now the little bike can crawl up some pretty nasty stuff. It feels like it has a pretty long and useful, albeit unimpressive powerband.....until you get almost to the top of the RPM range, and then the usual 125 rush kicks in, and away the bike goes! Best small bike for singletrack, feels more like a slightly underpowered 200 than the usual breathless 125. In fact, I replaced a KDX 220 with it....leaps and bounds better!
 
Great input! Thank you! I think I'm onto something good. My daughter is growing into a pretty capable rider, and her interest level remains high. Who knows she might end up a lifer like her pops - and all of you too. I'm committed to getting her on the right weapon, just like I would for myself. I tell all the young riders that it becomes even more fun as your skills increase. This has been my experience anyway.
 
So what will throw me over the top would be to hear from someone with both Honda CR85 experience, compared to Husky 125 experience (or other 85's or other 125's), used for enduro riding. I'd love to hear that there is a definite difference between between the 85's and 125's. Although, I think I can infer this already.

I would call our riding "desert enduro." My daughter is not quite ready for the Piutes or the southern Sequoia's, but maybe someday. The desert is not all fast whoops, although there is plenty off that. We find rocky climbs where only a pro can go fast. The Honda CR85 just cannot do this stuff - no way no how!
 
I have a YZ125 that's set up for the woods and the only changes to the engine are a FMF Fatty pipe and V-Force 3 reeds. I'm 6'6" tall and 210 lbs and even though it's not the ideal bike for my build it is the most fun to ride. I haven't liked the 144s that I've ridden, they do have more in the mid-range but don't over-rev like the 125. I've got to sell my YZ but I'm pretty sure I'll own another 125 in the next few years. There are a bunch of threads here on the Cafe that address the Husky jetting and improving the mid-range power on the WR and CR 125. I believe a Suzuki needle is the trick ticket to remove the low bog followed by the hard hit. Twice before I almost pulled the trigger on a Husky 125 when BMW and KTM were clearing them out... probably the best bang for the buck ever on a new bike. You really can't go wrong with the WR, CR or YZ.
 
Hendricus said:
So what will throw me over the top would be to hear from someone with both Honda CR85 experience, compared to Husky 125 experience (or other 85's or other 125's), used for enduro riding. I'd love to hear that there is a definite difference between between these two bikes. Although, I think I can infer this already.
Click to expand...
I had a CR85 Big Wheel. I bought it for a hoot and thought it might be fun to ride on trails. It is NOT a trail bike, unless you want to ride some pretty untechnical trails with it. I put a flywheel weight and an SST pipe on mine, and that smoothed out the powerband on it, but it still had absolutely nothing for getting over obstacles or up steep sudden inclines. Also, I am 5 ft 5 in. tall and the bike made my knees bend too far for much sitting to standing transitioning. The bike weighed 145 pounds and had a very short wheelbase, so I felt like I didn't want to move around on it very much, especially over jumps where I almost managed to loop it a couple of times. Technical trails found me burning up the little clutch. It is a track bike, and it's one for a skilled mini racer that weighs less 140 pounds. I hated the bike. It sat in my livingroom for several years, then I sold it to a lady who wanted to do a little bit of racing and some easy trail riding.
 
Hendricus said:
So what will throw me over the top would be to hear from someone with both Honda CR85 experience, compared to Husky 125 experience (or other 85's or other 125's), used for enduro riding. I'd love to hear that there is a definite difference between between these two bikes. Although, I think I can infer this already.

I would call our riding "desert enduro." My daughter is not quite ready for the Piutes or the southern Sequoia's, but maybe someday. The desert is not all fast whoops, although there is plenty off that. We find rocky climbs where only a pro can go fast. The Honda CR85 just cannot do this stuff - no way no how!
Click to expand...
The guy I bought my YZ125 from was a 5'6" "A" rider, he won an Oklahoma hare scramble series on the YZ against all other bikes in the open A class.
 
Dirtdame, I love your input. Thanks so much! How about the lowered seat and suspension? Have you done these mods to your WR125?
 
Here she is on CR85. Looking at this pic, and considering the WR125 frame size, I think my daughter is plenty large enough for a 125. What do you think?
CR85_01.JPG
 
Hendricus said:
Dirtdame, I love your input. Thanks so much! How about the lowered seat and suspension? Have you done these mods to your WR125?
Click to expand...
I don't lower any of my machines. I tried it once on a KDX220, but didn't like the results all that well, especially the part where I lost ground clearance.
Hendricus said:
Here she is on CR85. Looking at this pic, and considering the WR125 frame size, I think my daughter is plenty large enough for a 125. What do you think?
View attachment 75254
Click to expand...
Probably so. I don't look very tall when standing next to mine, but it is the proper size for me to be comfortable while riding, and for that matter, so is my 300.
 
I'm (barely) 5'6"/145. My CR has a cut down seat, but the suspension is not lowered. It's a tall bike, but it's fine for my height. There are easy ways to make more/better power. That motor has a lot of potential and is very stout.
 
I'm 5'6" with a 28" inseam. Have a 2010 CR 144 and a 2017 TX300(just got it). The seat height on the TX seems lower....anyways...yeah, I had a rekluse on my prior TE 450 which helped me out a lot in some technical riding but I think us shorties become better riders because we CAN'T dab that foot on a technical hill climb or through a super deep mud/water hole which just makes us COMMIT ;) The 144 is a SUPER forgiving bike to ride...anticipate your daughter will love the 125 platform.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top