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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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

250-500cc WR250 Subframe is Junk!!

Acmesalute76

Acmesalute76

Husqvarna
B Class
I bought my 2010 new as a leftover last winter. That makes this the second season I've been riding it. Now, I ride it hard, and I race harescrambles, so the bike definitely takes some abuse, but certain things should just never happen in the life of the bike, let alone in two seasons.

The lower subframe mount holes, through normal use, became elongated. This is due to bad design. First off, most every other bike designs the mount so the load is taken by some kind of shoulder or by the end of the subframe member, not by the bolt hole. Second, the section of the bolt that takes the load is threaded. Third, they use what seems to be fairly soft aluminum at that joint, when it really needs a steel bushing or something if they want it to take that abuse. So, after 2 seasons, I had to have my subframe tig welded for no reason other than I ride it hard.

And don't get me started on the silencer mounts! This January I was in a race and my silencer fell off. I didn't crash or anything, it just fell off. The mounts broke right in half. Last month I saw another guy on a 250 Husky who had the exactly same thing happen in a race. I was able to get my silencer back and bolted some pieces of steel to what was left of the mounts. Not 2 months later the rear one broke again, this time at the weld. So I made a bracket which used the mount for the right side number plate. The riv-nut couldn't handle it so I ended up drilling thru and using a nut and a bolt.

Just when I thought I was done, last week the front mount breaks off, again at the weld. Oh, and did I mention that both mounts to the expansion chamber are broken? So I have the stinger of the expansion chamber hose clamped to the subframe for lack of a simpler solution. And it's sturdier than ever! Unless of course, the subframe snaps in half from the added load....

Time to sell this piece of junk and buy a real dirtbike!!
 
I weight 170 without gear. I am by no means fast by racing standards which make it even worse! A bike should be able to handle the abuse of an expert racer!
 
Acmesalute76 said:
...certain things should just never happen...
Click to expand...
Correct.

I know little about 2st bikes, but years ago I rode with a couple of people in Oregon. I am reasonably sure one of them had a fairly new 2007 wr250 which had the muffler mounting tabs that had broken off on a ride. Thing is, they had already been welded once. All I could think is "just wow" - super soft metal they used.

It was my hope that things had improved. There did not seem to be a systemic problems with the 2006 4st bikes, although a few people did have to reweld those too.

Acmesalute76 said:
Time to sell this piece of junk and buy a real dirtbike!!
Click to expand...
Not sure about that, but that is something for you to decide. Obviously there are several factors to consider. Could be a good welder could fab up some support where needed and that would fix the issue.
 
Acmesalute76 said:
I weight 170 without gear. I am by no means fast by racing standards which make it even worse! A bike should be able to handle the abuse of an expert racer!
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure on the 010 model machines specifically , but that basic engine and frame has been made for probably > 15 yrs ... Thanks for finally, possibility, finding a real flaw ...
 
Buddy of mine had a 07 with all the same problems you describe except he also had a gas tank that leaked from one of the shroud bolts, he sold the bike and has refused to return to the Husky brand. It's a crying shame that Husky has refused to update the 250 platform and it's just discrasefull that the same problems that existed 5 years ago are still present on the current bike.

Ray Ray- shame on you for sticking up for Husky on this one.
 
My 2011 300 is doing just fine so far. By the time I had the same amount of miles on my 05 KTM, the subframe had cracked and been welded, and all the engine gaskets seemed to be permanently sweating....and there were many failures yet to come, in spite of the fact that I'm just a little old lady who likes to take the tourist route. That bike was one of the reasons that I switched to Husqvarna.
 
Dirtdame said:
My 2011 300 is doing just fine so far. By the time I had the same amount of miles on my 05 KTM, the subframe had cracked and been welded, and all the engine gaskets seemed to be permanently sweating....and there were many failures yet to come, in spite of the fact that I'm just a little old lady who likes to take the tourist route. That bike was one of the reasons that I switched to Husqvarna.
Click to expand...

My 02 CR250 had some issues in the subframe as well as other places (the pipe) due to my crashes and bad riding but to call it junk would be false .. Coming to this forum and screaming that part is junk is not only uncouth and ~childish, but not true also ...

The mud flap on some of the current bikes can carve notches in the SA ... Should we call the entire bike junk? Maybe the SA is junk? Is the mud flap junk? Should we cry like a baby over this or can common sense be applied?
 
It would be fantastic if we could have a nice discussion about bike issues - that is why I started Cafe Husky, to have a nice place for the Husqvarna owners to talk about the bikes - both good and bad.
 
I have an 09 WR250 and have had none of the problems you describe. No matter your skill level, the first question that came to my mind is how often do you crash or even tip over and put the bike on the ground. I have seen posts with pictures of destruction claiming minor tip overs had caused massive damage and also viewed horrendous crashes resulting in little to no damage. Lifting the bike up by the silencer is a habit I have noticed other riders doing that I have wondered if it would cause stress cracks. If my silencer breaks I will buy an FMF but your comments about the sub-frame has me wondering.
 
I have owned many WR's 125 and 250. They have been pretty solid. But, I friend has a 07 WR250 and has had the sub frame welded several times and is not happy too. Seems they went backwards on the quality of the subframes at some point.
 
On my 10th Husky, all 2T , wr mostly. Always run a stainless hose clamp around the subframe/pipe stinger[with a spacer that will not burn] and one around the silencer/subframe. Very simple to replace a broken hose clamp. Any enduro/xc bike gets tortured.
 
Acmesalute76 said:
I bought my 2010 new as a leftover last winter. That makes this the second season I've been riding it. Now, I ride it hard, and I race harescrambles, so the bike definitely takes some abuse, but certain things should just never happen in the life of the bike, let alone in two seasons.

The lower subframe mount holes, through normal use, became elongated. This is due to bad design. First off, most every other bike designs the mount so the load is taken by some kind of shoulder or by the end of the subframe member, not by the bolt hole. Second, the section of the bolt that takes the load is threaded. Third, they use what seems to be fairly soft aluminum at that joint, when it really needs a steel bushing or something if they want it to take that abuse. So, after 2 seasons, I had to have my subframe tig welded for no reason other than I ride it hard.

And don't get me started on the silencer mounts! This January I was in a race and my silencer fell off. I didn't crash or anything, it just fell off. The mounts broke right in half. Last month I saw another guy on a 250 Husky who had the exactly same thing happen in a race. I was able to get my silencer back and bolted some pieces of steel to what was left of the mounts. Not 2 months later the rear one broke again, this time at the weld. So I made a bracket which used the mount for the right side number plate. The riv-nut couldn't handle it so I ended up drilling thru and using a nut and a bolt.

Just when I thought I was done, last week the front mount breaks off, again at the weld. Oh, and did I mention that both mounts to the expansion chamber are broken? So I have the stinger of the expansion chamber hose clamped to the subframe for lack of a simpler solution. And it's sturdier than ever! Unless of course, the subframe snaps in half from the added load....

Time to sell this piece of junk and buy a real dirtbike!!
Click to expand...

The lower subframe mount holes can only elongate if the bolts weren't tight enough - movement allows the elongation not the fact it is a threaded or shouldered bolt. If you know anything about 2T you will know that vibration causes monuting brackets etc to crack - you are obviously are an ace rider (at least keyboard warrior) would it not be worthwhile checking for cracks, tighten bolts etc when doing you race prep or have your team check it over?
 
I've not had or seen any of these issues with the WR's. All the ones I've been around have been very solid bikes.

Now, I could go on for hours about my other friends different brand bikes and the issues they've had, but then I don't think they maintain there bikes very well, either. Might be the problem here.
 
ray_ray said:
My 02 CR250 had some issues in the subframe as well as other places (the pipe) due to my crashes and bad riding but to call it junk would be false .. Coming to this forum and screaming that part is junk is not only uncouth and ~childish, but not true also ...

The mud flap on some of the current bikes can carve notches in the SA ... Should we call the entire bike junk? Maybe the SA is junk? Is the mud flap junk? Should we cry like a baby over this or can common sense be applied?
Click to expand...


I ground away the notches on my my mudflap like Motorhead suggested, but it's still wearing on the swingarm some. I was thinking of adding some washers behind the flap to move farther back. Does anybody have any other tricks for the mudflap problem?
 
You can make a rub block from some hard plastic, like a chunk of teflon, or rubber and fasten it to the swingarm in front of the flap. Then the flap can ride on the block and not the swingarm.
 
PowerKord said:
I ground away the notches on my my mudflap like Motorhead suggested, but it's still wearing on the swingarm some. I was thinking of adding some washers behind the flap to move farther back. Does anybody have any other tricks for the mudflap problem?
Click to expand...
i also ground the notches down on mine, albeit after it had chewed into my swingarm so just cut a section of heavy duty tube out & siliconed it onto the swingarm where it rubs. maybe not the prettiest fix but effective & easily replaced when worn out(probably done 80-100 hours & hasnt wore tube through bugger all yet!). subframe, silencer mounts all sweet. did have a pipe bracket mount hole(thread in frame) get flogged out but only for the fact i didnt check bolt tightness. put my hand up for that one-it is a 2 stroke after all!
 
I have abused my 300 a lot over the last 1.5yr and the subframe quit breaking when I loosened the silencer bolts. You can not run the tight at all, about 1/2 turn past the "unable to spin by hand" point. Sounds like the lower bolts were too loose.
 
PowerKord said:
I ground away the notches on my my mudflap like Motorhead suggested, but it's still wearing on the swingarm some. I was thinking of adding some washers behind the flap to move farther back. Does anybody have any other tricks for the mudflap problem?
Click to expand...

I just use a couple plastic black tie wraps around the cross member of swingarm. It keeps the mudflap off the swingarm and doubles up as a wear surface.
 
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