• 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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!

Hubba hubba....2016 Beta 250RR

Dirtdame

Dirtdame

Administrator
Staff member
I had an opportunity to ride two 250 two strokes on Monday, courtesy of a friend of mine who works for a motorcycle publication. We went out to McCain Valley for some unofficial trail riding fun with a new Husqvarna TE250, and the Beta RR.

It was easy to pick which bike I wanted to ride first....:love:


Sexy red Italian always gets the nod. Sorry Husky.


I hopped on the Beta and Don Williams piloted the TE. I started to feel at home right away on the RR. Sure, the suspension was set up too stiff, but I felt like the dampening curves of both ends were ideal for trail work, and all I would need was slightly lighter springs to get the job done. Brakes were superbly progressive, and the ergonomics really fit me well with comfortable transitioning between sitting and standing. The only thing that bothered me on the bike was gas tank where it stuck out a bit behind the radiator shrouds. My knees bonked into the corners a few times during the day when I would move forward. The bike feels skinny and very balanced for technical work and tight trails, although I'm not sure if it can rival either of my WRs for cutting a tight corner cleanly. I really loved the electric start, the hydraulic clutch and the smooth, powerful engine. The powerband seemed quite civilized at lower RPMs, then tore flat out on the main jet for plenty of wheel lofting fun in the whoops.

At some point, we switched bikes....but I didn't waste too many miles on the TE. It just didn't suit me...in lots of ways. So I soon switched back to the confidence inspiring ride that the RR had to offer. I only had the rest of one day to ride something truly special, so I might as well spend the remainder of the afternoon on the Beta.

Once we finished our cross country loop, we hit a few spots for a photo shoot, then it was time to load up, hit a burger joint and head home. Day in the life of a non professional bike tester for me. I'd pick the Beta in heartbeat. The new oil injection was something that I could really appreciate also. Barely any oil on the end of the silencer, even after plenty of slow poking around through the rocks and brush






P.S. I really enjoyed getting some great shots from a professional.:banana:
 
Thanks for the report. I really like the Beta, particularly the seat height and will be looking at one of them next. What stood out for you on the TE that you did not like?

BTW, nice helmet, have same exact one.
 
Ken Hynes said:
Thanks for the report. I really like the Beta, particularly the seat height and will be looking at one of them next. What stood out for you on the TE that you did not like?
BTW, nice helmet, have same exact one.
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The TE had a strangely heavy and nervous feel to it. It just didn't seem to feel as precise at either low or high speeds. Transitioning from sitting to standing seemed to require a lot more effort than the Beta. Rear brake was too touchy. Suspension felt plush but vague early in the stroke, then spiked at midpoint. Engine had a lot more torque right off of idle, but that didn't seem to make it better in loose, technical situations. Engine flattened out a bit at mid range.

Things that I liked about the TE...seat was a little cushier, and there were handguards.
 
Great pix. I agree on the ergos though my impressions were on the showroom floor. On the Beta I felt right at home. On the TE it just felt different, maybe even weird.

I would love to be able to do a back to back comparison ride, but I'm afraid I'd be in debt soon after.
 
evry Beta I have ridden has been exactly like DD mentioned as far as power goes. Trials like into a nice rush, KTM/Huskys all are little poppy/burbly until you get on the pipe (jetting/timing?)
Out of the box IMHO
Beta RRs more Trials like motor, amazingly clean running, and those are before this oil injection machinery.
KTM/Huskys more racer on the pipe type set up out of the box. (truth is my quest has been to make mine more like a Beta)

Glad you got to ride em DD****************************************
 
For those of you that like the Beta.... How tall are you? The seat height is an inch lower than the Husky....

I rode both a Sherco 300 2 stroke and 4 stroke this weekend.... although it was just around a grass field I really liked them.... 300 felt a little "mild" but again it wasnt a true ride....
 
racemx904 said:
For those of you that like the Beta.... How tall are you? The seat height is an inch lower than the Husky....
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Funny you should mention that. I'm 5 ft. 5 in. tall and I liked how the Beta felt roomier and easy to stand up on. The Husky felt cramped and I felt like I had to rise further from a position where my knees were bent more so than on the Beta.:thinking:
 
thats all in the handlebar seat footpeg position.... i never felt "Cramped" on my TE300 and I'm 6' and 34" inseam..... i had a 09 GG EC300 and that bike was made for midgets it seemed like.... i really dont have a problem with shorter bikes and sometimes it can be a asset.... but sometimes like that Gasser it sucked... lol
 
racemx904 said:
thats all in the handlebar seat footpeg position.... i never felt "Cramped" on my TE300 and I'm 6' and 34" inseam..... i had a 09 GG EC300 and that bike was made for midgets it seemed like.... i really dont have a problem with shorter bikes and sometimes it can be a asset.... but sometimes like that Gasser it sucked... lol
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The TE I rode and the RR were about equal in how easy it was or wasn't to touch the ground....I couldn't tell any noticeable difference, although specs say the Husky is about an inch taller. Maybe the TE was running less preload.
 
When I went to the MXGP at Glenn Helen I got to ride a TM 300. It was just around the dirt parking lot. Holy crap was that thing fast. Actually to fast for me these days.
 
I dont need "fast" because normally "fast" dont get the power to the ground....

Little worried about Beta because of the dealer support or lack of, and same with Sherco and TM even more
 
racemx904 said:
I dont need "fast" because normally "fast" dont get the power to the ground....

Little worried about Beta because of the dealer support or lack of, and same with Sherco and TM even more
Click to expand...
It's no different then the red huskys. Always called halls and bills for parts...just saying
 
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