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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

TE511 Oil change question/issue

At an AMA Dualsport event there are 3 levels A, B, C the Husqvarnas and the KTM street legal bikes are A level bikes...which is a mostly dirt course intended for racers/near racers/experience off road riders. Those bikes can also run the B level course which I would say is aimed at more casual riders/bikes such as KLRs, XRs, etc. The C level is pretty much light Adventure bike territory, pavement and gravel roads for the most part the Terra fits well here and could do B in a good riders hands.

The 610 is a solid B course bike than can also run the A course in an experience off road riders hands and is reasonably comfortable on the C course, too.

Even the AMA gets that there is more than one level of Dualsporting.

Anyone wandering into Cafe Husky and asking where the 449/511 fit in the dualsporting world would have been told it is a competition dirt bike with lights, and many have done so. This is highly desirable to some, and not so much to others. Unless you want to go with the old tech XR/DR then the B level dualsport bike has pretty much been abandoned by manufacturers. The 630 was the last Husky that really fit there. The 511 has a chance to made into such a bike, but it certainly wasnt designed to be a light adventure bike/commuter/long distance ride.

For what its worth I think that BMW/Ducati et al are misadvertising the off-road worthiness of the GS bikes...but some people actually do ride them in gnarly terrain and race them at Dakar.

Back to the BMW/Huskys. Gear it up, change the tires, put a Seat Concepts seat on, add a Nomad tail tank and apply some of Tinkens oil management tips and the 449/511 becomes a serviceable modest distance road bike. Convert to a wide ratio transmission and it becomes both a modest distance road bike and still works off road if the terrain isnt too gnarly. The close ratio transmission pretty much forces you to go one way or the other with the sprockets to fit road speeds or offroad speeds.

I actually rode a TE250 on a 120 mile road trip once with nothing but a tire change and sprocket swap. My butt was not impressed...
nice post. bottom line is that husky usa is blowing out stock (for some unknown reason). they are advertising the te511 as a dual sport.....(my layman thought Is that dual sport basically means dirt/and road......but maybe it means/dirt/trail.........? ) I got into this situation because I own an older te610 with a few years on it.....I assumed. and assumed wrongly i guess that the newer te was an update of the older te.......I AM STARING AT MY BROCHURE FROM MY TE610 FROM 2006......IT STATES IN BIG LETTERS...........DUAL SPORT.......ON BROCHURE.....
now u now why im upset.....I wanted to be a loyal husky customer........I was basically happy with the te610 .....it was a dual sport............and now a few years later they have the same model number te 511........and they are using the same words..........dual sport................yet it is not an update at all......my older bike does decent on the road even with the knobby stock.........this newer bike is literally a danger on the highway......(I think at about 60 mph the front end was shaking)......this is a hazard..........but they still persist...........in saying its a dual sport..........I under stand that if I spend cash on tranny upgrades it might perform as you say.......(and i want to note here tinken has been great and gone out of his way to help). but why do I need to spend money on tranny upgrades to get the dual sport that it was advertised as....? don't you see.? their are alot of te449 and te511 bikes still to be sold at this sale.........and some might find out after purchase the same as me..........and then this same discussion goes on and on.........please tell corporate to tell their dealers to tell the potential buyers of these bikes that they had no intent of making this a dual sport......that the intent was (and this is obvious) was to make a great dirt bike (which it is), which is usable on the road at low speeds.........
I haven't looked up huskys model line right now.......but I know years ago they had sm models which were the same bike as the te just with super moto tires for road use......(i don't think they have these bikes now??????????????? im not sure..............but that is a further clue the bike now,,,the te.....is not road friendly..........the older te610 when sold new in 2006 even had the option for a second set of tires for road use....further solidifying my argument the old te was made to be a dual sport as advertised but the current one not.........oh well its just money. but please here be very clear to anyone thinking the te bike is a dual sport.......it is not.......except for town usage per say , under 55 mph.......I would market the te as a dirt/town bike and stipulate it is not intended for interstate traffic or speeds above 55 mph........its a road hazard. I do appreciate that enuf money spend on the te It could be altered.......but that's not what the bike was made for......and in the end I don't feel comfortable spending money altering a bike for who knows how much money for my desired purpose.........great dirt bike though! dear corporate tell your dealers to tell buyers the above to prevent further discontent.
 
I am lucky my dealer and the things I read, let me know, race bike with a plate.
My KLR could be trail ridden, but not very good at it, My DRZ is closer, but a very unexciting bike.
The TE 511 is for connecting the trails, and it is very exciting,,,love it!
Something wrong somewhere if your bike is unstable at 60mph...most say it fine,
Mine with seat concepts seat is fairly comfy at 60.
 
Im old, so this is the first thing I think of when someone calls something an enduro bike...
CT175.jpg


And if I hit the Enduro section of the KTM USA site

http://www.ktm.com/us/enduro.html

I find a combination of street legal and not street legal bikes.

In my neck of the woods an Enduro event isnt very common and pretty much implies some sort of timekeeping component to an off road race...with no need for actual street legality. For instance our OMRA ISDE events are purely offroad with a combination of transit sections and test stages. (They are in fact, not International, Not Six Days and probably not Enduros...rendering the acronym bastardized)

Enduro and Dualsport suffer from the same lack of standardized definition IMHO.

Right. Though KTM has no bikes listed as 'Dual Sport' that are 450 and under from what I see...or any. Even though the EXC models sell as being plateable in stock form (450, 350 and 250 I think) that have all requirements to be street legal like blinkers, license plate holder, rear tail light, etc. - much like the TE models. So in that regard, Husqvarna should advertise them as Enduro's ---- which I think they started to since 2012 onward. I still believe any bike that is under 350cc should never be considered Dual Sport as maintaining 50 up to highway speeds is negotiable to the engine/maintenence interval. You can get away with it on a 450 though it's probably not the best for it.

Dirt bike companies in general, should be aware of this when trying to bring in people that are unfamiliar to the sport and how they advertise the bikes.

I think of Enduro as an off road bike with a plate. Dual Sport as a 50/50 bike that caters to road riding then off road.
 
Ok, you bought the wrong bike, no problem, fix up the 610 and ride it into the ground. You will be a very happy camper I think. Forget that he 511 is lighter for the street, it is NOT a street bike in anyway so your weight difference really doesn't matter. The 610 can be a really nice street bike with dang good dirt capabilities too. There are so many more options for your riding style with your 610 its really a no brainer, get ride of the race bike (511) and smile while riding the 610 before you give yourself a heart attack over thinking the 511.:cheers:
 
Right. Though KTM has no bikes listed as 'Dual Sport' that are 450 and under from what I see...or any. Even though the EXC models sell as being plateable in stock form (450, 350 and 250 I think) that have all requirements to be street legal like blinkers, license plate holder, rear tail light, etc. - much like the TE models. So in that regard, Husqvarna should advertise them as Enduro's ---- which I think they started to since 2012 onward. I still believe any bike that is under 350cc should never be considered Dual Sport as maintaining 50 up to highway speeds is negotiable to the engine/maintenence interval. You can get away with it on a 450 though it's probably not the best for it.

Dirt bike companies in general, should be aware of this when trying to bring in people that are unfamiliar to the sport and how they advertise the bikes.

I think of Enduro as an off road bike with a plate. Dual Sport as a 50/50 bike that caters to road riding then off road.

I was reviewing how DualSport/Dual Purpose/Enduro are commonly used by the manufacturers...
Pretty inconsistent actually. Enduro is not used at all by some and Dual Sport is used to cover everything from 200cc DR/XT bikes to 1 liter VStroms by the Japanese brands

A search for Enduro on the Honda website turned this up....

http://powersports.honda.com/experience/articles/090111c0810bd90e.aspx
Quoted from Cycle World....
As the market has evolved in the 37 years we’ve been at this, so have the award categories, and 2012 is one of those years in which we’ve made some changes. As Dual-Sport and Enduro have essentially become one in the marketplace, so has the category been combined in Ten Best
:)


Our former corporate overlords BMW really throws things by classifying the GS line as Enduro. You aint going to catch me singly tracking one of those.

Go figger...
 
After reading this thread, I am thoroughly confused......am I riding an Enduro or a Dual Sport? Is there a difference in the oil changing procedures?:excuseme:
 
After reading this thread, I am thoroughly confused......am I riding an Enduro or a Dual Sport? Is there a difference in the oil changing procedures?:excuseme:

Well, a true dual sport like the KLR or XR series.. you are changing oil must less. Where as an Enduro / dual sport which is more dirt oriented like the KTM brands and I'll say the 511 and down Husqvarnas.. you're changing oil much more frequently cause the engines are based upon the race engines.
 
nice post. bottom line is that husky usa is blowing out stock (for some unknown reason). they are advertising the te511 as a dual sport.....(my layman thought Is that dual sport basically means dirt/and road......but maybe it means/dirt/trail.........? ) I got into this situation because I own an older te610 with a few years on it.....I assumed. and assumed wrongly i guess that the newer te was an update of the older te.......I AM STARING AT MY BROCHURE FROM MY TE610 FROM 2006......IT STATES IN BIG LETTERS...........DUAL SPORT.......ON BROCHURE.....
now u now why im upset.....I wanted to be a loyal husky customer........I was basically happy with the te610 .....it was a dual sport............and now a few years later they have the same model number te 511........and they are using the same words..........dual sport................yet it is not an update at all......my older bike does decent on the road even with the knobby stock.........this newer bike is literally a danger on the highway......(I think at about 60 mph the front end was shaking)......this is a hazard..........but they still persist...........in saying its a dual sport..........I under stand that if I spend cash on tranny upgrades it might perform as you say.......(and i want to note here tinken has been great and gone out of his way to help). but why do I need to spend money on tranny upgrades to get the dual sport that it was advertised as....? don't you see.? their are alot of te449 and te511 bikes still to be sold at this sale.........and some might find out after purchase the same as me..........and then this same discussion goes on and on.........please tell corporate to tell their dealers to tell the potential buyers of these bikes that they had no intent of making this a dual sport......that the intent was (and this is obvious) was to make a great dirt bike (which it is), which is usable on the road at low speeds.........
I haven't looked up huskys model line right now.......but I know years ago they had sm models which were the same bike as the te just with super moto tires for road use......(i don't think they have these bikes now??????????????? im not sure..............but that is a further clue the bike now,,,the te.....is not road friendly..........the older te610 when sold new in 2006 even had the option for a second set of tires for road use....further solidifying my argument the old te was made to be a dual sport as advertised but the current one not.........oh well its just money. but please here be very clear to anyone thinking the te bike is a dual sport.......it is not.......except for town usage per say , under 55 mph.......I would market the te as a dirt/town bike and stipulate it is not intended for interstate traffic or speeds above 55 mph........its a road hazard. I do appreciate that enuf money spend on the te It could be altered.......but that's not what the bike was made for......and in the end I don't feel comfortable spending money altering a bike for who knows how much money for my desired purpose.........great dirt bike though! dear corporate tell your dealers to tell buyers the above to prevent further discontent.


The wobbles at speed are 100% due to the crappy Karoos that come on the 511. It felt like crap on the highway when I first got it and I felt exactly the same as you. They were not even balanced. I did my research and figured out the best option for me. I changed to Dunlop D606's and had them balanced (shops normally do not balance knobbies unless you request it). I also changed the rear sprocket to a 45 tooth and she is smooth as butter on the highway now. It gets a bit buzzy above 65 still, but i rarely go faster than that. I wanted a dual sport like the te610, but that didn't weigh 320+ pounds. My 511 sure ain't as comfortable as a KLR, but a KLR would also eat my dust on or off road. There is no perfect dual sport. You have to make a "must have" list and go from there as far as what you want in a bike. I wanted it light as possible for off road, plenty of power, and able to do some freeway miles. I got exactly what I wanted in my 511. My only complaint is that they put a motocross transmission in a dualsport bike. A wide ratio transmission would make this bike absolutely perfect for me. As it is, changing the rear sprocket to a 45 makes it so I can go on the highway comfortably, but I have to use the clutch more than I'd like on the really tight trails. I have a need for speed so don't do the really tight stuff that often so it's not that much of an issue for me.
 
606's for me too. I never rode on the karoos. I still have my stock gearing. I do mostly woods with mine, and
Quite abit of 2 lane, I seldom go over 55mph,for very long, though I feel it's solid at 75 plus,
Your right on about the KLR, after the 511, it felt like a model T ford.
 
Im old, so this is the first thing I think of when someone calls something an enduro bike...
CT175.jpg


And if I hit the Enduro section of the KTM USA site

http://www.ktm.com/us/enduro.html

I find a combination of street legal and not street legal bikes.

In my neck of the woods an Enduro event isnt very common and pretty much implies some sort of timekeeping component to an off road race...with no need for actual street legality. For instance our OMRA ISDE events are purely offroad with a combination of transit sections and test stages. (They are in fact, not International, Not Six Days and probably not Enduros...rendering the acronym bastardized)

Enduro and Dualsport suffer from the same lack of standardized definition IMHO.


+ 1 >>>>> Truth.
 
Ok, you bought the wrong bike, no problem, fix up the 610 and ride it into the ground. You will be a very happy camper I think. Forget that he 511 is lighter for the street, it is NOT a street bike in anyway so your weight difference really doesn't matter. The 610 can be a really nice street bike with dang good dirt capabilities too. There are so many more options for your riding style with your 610 its really a no brainer, get ride of the race bike (511) and smile while riding the 610 before you give yourself a heart attack over thinking the 511.:cheers:
I might have bought the wrong bike...........but now Ive bought another bike!.....im the proud owner of a new ktm 690 enduro...r.........took out on test ride to see if would do interstate............LOVE IT......shifted into 6th gear at 63mph********************************************************************************! finally , a bike that will handle interstate with the big boys.
 
Right. Though KTM has no bikes listed as 'Dual Sport' that are 450 and under from what I see...or any. Even though the EXC models sell as being plateable in stock form (450, 350 and 250 I think) that have all requirements to be street legal like blinkers, license plate holder, rear tail light, etc. - much like the TE models. So in that regard, Husqvarna should advertise them as Enduro's ---- which I think they started to since 2012 onward. I still believe any bike that is under 350cc should never be considered Dual Sport as maintaining 50 up to highway speeds is negotiable to the engine/maintenence interval. You can get away with it on a 450 though it's probably not the best for it.

Dirt bike companies in general, should be aware of this when trying to bring in people that are unfamiliar to the sport and how they advertise the bikes.

I think of Enduro as an off road bike with a plate. Dual Sport as a 50/50 bike that caters to road riding then off road.
Henson, this is exactly what im talking about here............their are potentially so many new clients for bikes......but people who are confused stay at the sidelines......this Is a very good post by you and I hope others can elaborate on this.......im not a husky disliker..........im a disliker of companies that market bikes in such a way that buyers. buy the wrong bike for themselves........due to confusion and then get upset.............im considering just keeping my te511 as a dirt bike.....and using my new ktm 690 as my road bike...........
 
ktm 690 is not a duel sports either, guy I know who has one says it is no good off road because of the tyres and exhaust being too low. I ride my TE 449 with him on the road, he's bike has a little more power, but he still has to mess with gearing to get it to get the top speed up. Nice bike though, expensive, but still not the answer you were looking for.
 
im the proud owner of a new ktm 690 enduro...r.........took out on test ride to see if would do interstate............LOVE IT......shifted into 6th gear at 63mph ! finally , a bike that will handle interstate with the big boys.

Congratulations on the new bike & glad you took note this time, even though I'm not a mechanic... "KTM 690 Enduro (which in my opinion is the bike that best stretches either end of the dirt/road spectrum)"

I think it is the bike for you & you'll love it. It's a beast. How does it compare with the 610 on road and generally (is it noticeably lighter & more powerful, smoothness, revs at say 70mph etc). From what I've read it's the same class of bike as the 610, but probably a little better and more modern all round. Would want to be for the extra cost though.
 
ktm 690 is not a duel sports either, guy I know who has one says it is no good off road because of the tyres and exhaust being too low. I ride my TE 449 with him on the road, he's bike has a little more power, but he still has to mess with gearing to get it to get the top speed up. Nice bike though, expensive, but still not the answer you were looking for.
I disagree........lets go riding........lets go do some gravel roads.......and then lets go on the highway.....lets see who eats a lot of dust........
 
Congratulations on the new bike & glad you took note this time, even though I'm not a mechanic... "KTM 690 Enduro (which in my opinion is the bike that best stretches either end of the dirt/road spectrum)"

I think it is the bike for you & you'll love it. It's a beast. How does it compare with the 610 on road and generally (is it noticeably lighter & more powerful, smoothness, revs at say 70mph etc). From what I've read it's the same class of bike as the 610, but probably a little better and more modern all round. Would want to be for the extra cost though.
thanks for the nice post......hope other companies will take note of the ktm 690......as I can see it , its the only bike out their like that.......1. good quality 2, does decent in dirt.......very good on gravel/fire roads.........3. will go on highways without a hiccup......I don't know of any other quality bike that does that...........heck im 52 years old.............I want the bike I want........at a certain point in ones cycling life..........YOU BUY WHAT YOU WANT......REGARDLESS OF COST......heck for 10,000 bucks.....how much joy will it bring? and it will probably have a decent resale in a couple of years when I upgrade to the newest and best.......with the flooding of the market of the te right now.......what will their resale be?
 
thanks for the nice post......hope other companies will take note of the ktm 690......as I can see it , its the only bike out their like that.......1. good quality 2, does decent in dirt.......very good on gravel/fire roads.........3. will go on highways without a hiccup......I don't know of any other quality bike that does that...........heck im 52 years old.............I want the bike I want........at a certain point in ones cycling life..........YOU BUY WHAT YOU WANT......REGARDLESS OF COST......heck for 10,000 bucks.....how much joy will it bring? and it will probably have a decent resale in a couple of years when I upgrade to the newest and best.......with the flooding of the market of the te right now.......what will their resale be?
its time people stop the ktm/husky comparison. they are one company now........time for them to coexist.
 
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