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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

TE-449 or 511 for a "leatherman" tool of bikes.....why one over the other

hawaii-rider

hawaii-rider

Husqvarna
AA Class
Been looking at new bikes to add to the herd...

#1 requirement = plate

#2 - mostly dirt, single track, plate is for running to town as necessary on long rides to get fuel and chow etc, then back up to the trails, fire roads.

#3 - tired of weight of current crop of heavy 4 strokes and felt weight while riding. Ive been racing vintage MX for a few years ago and the weight of even the old smokers is way less than the "lightest" modern four stroke. Concern is getting a real - valid plate on say the WR300?

#4 - I see the 11 models have a special on the 449 but not the 511 - enough of a torque difference to be worth the concern?

Im 6'3" about 240 or so geared up riding....old Army Paratrooper and not smart enough to quit riding and racing dirt bikes...
:oldman:

If you had to pick one or choose and have good saddle time on both...which one would you POINT me to?...oh....and why?

Thanx

HR
 
I'm a husky newbie myself, bought a 449 a couple of weeks ago. Don't forget the 511 is only a 477, and with the big discount on the 449 currently, is it worth $2k for 28cc?
 
wow.......I am getting old....

I just noticed....

NO KICKER?
:excuseme:

button only?

Battery goes or ?? out in the woods then........................

SPOT GPS unit come with the bike?

HR
 
Get the 449 for the ridiculously low price, spend $200 on a JD tuner and $250 on the FMF slip-on and you'll have a motor that will outperform the stock 511. Then spend another $430.00 on a Motosportz steering damper and you'll still have $420.00 in savings to buy a spare Shorai battery to carry with you! If you buy the Shorai for about $150 shipped, you'll still have $270 in savings versus the 511 which you can use to throw one hell of a party to celebrate the fact that you're a damn good bike shopper! :thumbsup: :cheers:

P.S., my cost saving estimates are based on the Hall's Husqvarna prices on the discounted '11 TE 449 and TE 511. The 449 is priced $1300 less than the 511.
 
You can get smaller batteries of the li flavor...

As for the original question.... I am a very similar size and shape of guy, own both the WR300 and a TXC511. I have owned other big 4 strokes (CRF450X) and will say that riding the 511 feels nothing like the top heavy wrestling match that the Hondas provide. I think you would be pleasantly surprised how nimble a 449/511 feels. As for the 449 vs 511 question I would take the better deal on the 449 in a heartbeat....I dont think there is any significant difference between the 2, some report that the 449 feels a bit revvier and the 511 a bit gruntier, but this is a small percentage thing. In fact I keep thinking that a legal 449 to go with my offroad 511 would be a sweet combination.

http://billshusky.com/archives/1935

It looks like Bills still has some TE449s available at a great price. I paid near list price as an early adopter last spring on my 511 and I have no complaints; got my money's worth, so the 449 discount makes it a steal in my eyes.
 
hawaii-rider said:
wow.......I am getting old....

I just noticed....

NO KICKER?
:excuseme:

button only?

Battery goes or ?? out in the woods then........................

SPOT GPS unit come with the bike?

HR
Click to expand...

When 99% of your customers want a button and don't care about a kicker you drop the kicker.

If your battery is just flat you can jump/bump start it, if it's bad a kick start lever won't do you any good.
 
oregonsage said:
...
http://billshusky.com/archives/1935

It looks like Bills still has some TE449s available at a great price. I paid near list price as an early adopter last spring on my 511 and I have no complaints; got my money's worth, so the 449 discount makes it a steal in my eyes.
Click to expand...
I second that you should call up Bill. I'm currently in the process of getting a TE 310 from him. He will hook you up!

(and don't forget about the lack of sales tax ;))
 
Hmmm I am eagerly watching this thread. I feel the same as the original poster. Im thinking this spring will see the selling of the SV and TC250 to fund a new TE, just not sure which, a 449 or a 511....
 
Been on travel out of state this week (again)...grrr but it pays the bills right!?

Thanx for the posts and insights...why I asked the questions!...superb!

Personal opinion of a guy that has raced/ridden for gosh almost 40 years, a dirt bike with happy button is AWESOME

...NOT having a backup kicker is not a good thing, especially when I ride SNOTTY single track back into no where.

I love water cooling, FI etc so Im not afraid of new tech in bikes, in fact I WANT FI....but taking a kicker off a bike that is a back in the wilds backup if elec goes bad....hmmmm....makes me hesitate. Just being honest.

without a kicker BU, that kills my option of a Rekluse cause I cant bump start it if I have any, ANY electrical issues downrange.
Yes thats happened to me before on another brand without a kicker, did it to me twice, and I sold her. DONE>

Ive never had a kick starter fail on me, and I race vintage MX including Husky left kicks.....Personal thing...but I like the kicker, and for me it could be a deal killer. If I were to get the 449 on the killer deal, I do love Al Youngbloods stuff....and for the larger motors in snot single track trails his stuff is magic.....but if you cant bump start the bike IF you have start issues....you are DORKED.

Yes carrying around a $120-$140 extra battery is an option. That said, if thats a valid consideration = carry a spare battery, then that "idea" just supports my concern about no kicker = battery could leave your butt in the woods.

Sure its an awesome bike...the execution of its design for ME is a consideration and point of hesitation.

thats all....

awesome feedback everyone!....thank you!!

HR
 
Kelly

Thank you for the offer....!!!

Im sure your 511 is superb....

How do I get past the no kicker back up?

(my issue)

Sure if I asked if folks had been left on e start only bikes (ive read quite a few on the husabergs etc) there would be a few with a touch of head banging.

Yes I know other things can leave you stranded out on the trails, part of the sport, but why INVITE murphy along for the ride.

I will head down to Ride Motorsports and give em a saddle rub today, see what they got and HOW they feel!

HR
 
You make very good points about not having a kicker, especially the Rekluse issue. All that considered, the odds of an electrical gremlin causing starting issues has to be weighed against any electrical issue that causes a dead battery is likely to affect starting/running of a fuel injected bike regardless of kick, bump or electric start methods. I'm not certain of this but I do know every bike I have owned that is FI will not run with a dead battery, even when jump started as it will die as soon as you remove the cables. So yes, you do have a point, but your concern might go beyond the kicker issue and include any modern bike with F.I.
 
true, but its based on the design and implementation of the FI on the bike

honda CRF-450
RMZ-450
YZ-450

all are FI and no battery....

enough juice is generated through the stator and starting circuit to keep things moving.
True?

HR
 
If you're in the middle of nowhere in the state of Washington state I'm sure there will be a hill near by, just bump start it. In all the electric
start bikes I've owned, TE511, TE610, KLX650, I've never had an issue with the electric start not working. 15 Yrs and never even replaced a starter.
I wouldn't worry about it.
 
The list of bikes you choose are fine examples of off road machinery but they aren't great examples of off road bikes for conditions you describe as your type of riding. Now does anyone know if an electric start, fuel injected bike that obviously uses a battery in the circuit can start/run if the battery is dead? I mean by any means possible , ie bump or jump. I'm curious about a KTM example.
 
jerbear610 said:
If you're in the middle of nowhere in the state of Washington state I'm sure there will be a hill near by, just bump start it. In all the electric
start bikes I've owned, TE511, TE610, KLX650, I've never had an issue with the electric start not working. 15 Yrs and never even replaced a starter.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Click to expand...

Yep.

My 04 TE450 was pretty much impossible to start via kicking. I put tons of hard miles on that bike never kicked. I kicked my 2010 TXC250 once just to see if I could and never again. got 220 miles on the TE511 and it is an EZ starter even in COLD conditions. Seems the starter / compression release works better on this motor than others. Always spins over EZ. Some of my older E-start bikes would struggle to get it over TDC the first rotation. not this bike. If you ride real remote carry a lightweght battery. I have had lots of things stop me on the trail, never a starter. Also bring some wire for a jump.
 
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