Any TE450 or TE510 owners here?

[Seppo]

good morning
i thought i could post some videos here of my and my TE 450!

first, a short trip around my village, something i don´t do very often because its not exactly legal, but no one really cares as long as you keep it quiet and don´t go there all the time. and it was the 6th of january and temperature just above freezing, so nobody was in the woods anyway.



next, 1th of feb., temperature far below freezing, a round trip around some villages. again, people don´t like dirt bikes/dual sports using the gravel roads, but we farm some of the fields here and are well known family, so its ok.



now, a short lap in my private offroad terrain. its about 5ha of uphills, downhills, single tracks and some easy jumps. its our private property, and officialy no one is allowed to ride there exept me (legal reasons). but like i tell my fellow dirt bike riders: i haven´t seen anything.



and finally, a compilation of videos from my trip to sardinia this spring. 5 days of riding on this beautiful island in the mediteranian sea. about 1000km and 10hrs ferry crossing away from home.



hope some of you enjoy a little distraction from work
cheers
josef

[bobnoxious67]

Originally Posted by Rusty Rocket

I just test rode a 2007 TE 450 that a friend was considering as a purchase. He took me along for moral support. When he rode it, he says to me to see if I thought it vibrated too much. He has never had a 4 stroke single, only 2 strokes so he didn't have any comparable input. Rode down the street and back about 3 miles total. Honest to God; my feet were falling asleep from the vibrations. Was something wrong with this one, or do they all vibrate quite a lot? He wants to ride dualsports with it and would be riding 5 - 10 mile transfer sections on tar. He decided to pass on the deal. We came home to try my KTM 400. A comparable ride to see if it was just our imaginations. My KTM didn't vibe half as much. The feeling in the footpegs was not gonna be a problem on a dualsport ride. I honestly think some was wrong with this TE450. What do you all say?

BTW: it only had 950 miles on it and was nearly showroom.

Normal...no counterbalance shaft, and LOTS of compression.

[Seppo]

i own a 2007 TE 450 and ride a fair amount on the street with knobbies. that vibration that you discribe sounds a bit much. i have no problems with vibrations. it does vibrate, but not that much that i would have a feeling of dumbness in my hand or feet. sounds like something is wrong here. but that´s only based on your description and your personal ability to suffer.

[AustinJake]

Originally Posted by Seppo

good morning
i thought i could post some videos here of my and my TE 450!

hope some of you enjoy a little distraction from work
cheers
josef

Awesome Josef, I loved the Sardinia ride, that's my kind of terrain!

[Beez]

After coming off a KTM 620 LC4 my 2007 TE450 is Goldwing smooth.

I'm probably not the best guy to ask because the LC4 never really bothered me but I was always good about maintenance and maybe I got a good one. I only noticed it on that bike when droning on tar.

The Husky certainly has vibrations but nothing crazy or out of the ordinary. I have ridden some KTM 400s and they are smooooth.

[Rusty Rocket]

Originally Posted by G600

Normal IMHO. The 2007 has no counter balancer, Husky took it out in 2006 probably to make the bikes more "snappy". They are focused race bikes. Not good on the blacktop, as they vibrate a lot. I would not choose a post-2005 Husky 450/510 for dual-sporting.

KTM400 is very different, very smooth.

Thanks. I found the same story on Thumpertalk. They were talking about putting a counterbalancer back in. Not in the cards for my friend. It's a shame because otherwise it was perfect.

[Fast1]

Originally Posted by Rusty Rocket

Thanks. I found the same story on Thumpertalk. They were talking about putting a counterbalancer back in. Not in the cards for my friend. It's a shame because otherwise it was perfect.

When the vibes seemed to increase on my TE510 I fortunately found that the engine mounts had loosed a bit and tightening them back down resolved the issue.

Many have also found that improperly balanaced knobbies on the pavement due to the rim lock cause problems and it takes almost three ounces opposite the rim lock to smooth things out.

[dirtydeeds]

Originally Posted by G600

Normal IMHO. The 2007 has no counter balancer, Husky took it out in 2006 probably to make the bikes more "snappy".
.

Did they ever smooth out the engine, as in put a better/heavier counterbalance back in?

[Fast1]

Originally Posted by dirtydeeds

Did they ever smooth out the engine, as in put a better/heavier counterbalance back in?

They never took them (counterbalancer) out of the SM version engines only the TE and offroad versions.

[dirtydeeds]

I'm starting to look at a TE...

[drrags]

Time to bump this thread up a bit.
The TE450 to my TE610 is like my TE610 to my F800GS - a marked improvement. I had no idea a bike could be so awesome. This is the bike I will take to Baja next time.

My 08 TE450 north of Reno, NV.

[AustinJake]

Originally Posted by drrags

..... I had no idea a bike could be so awesome. .....

+1

[JustRon]

Originally Posted by drrags

The TE450 to my TE610 is like my TE610 to my F800GS - a marked improvement. I had no idea a bike could be so awesome. This is the bike I will take to Baja next time.

I'm looking for a "new" (to me) trailbike, and the smaller TE's are on my list. But, I love the WR tranny on my 610.
Since you own both... what's your opinion on the close-ratio box on the 450?

[Beez]

The close ratio tranny of the 450 is probably the TE's worst feature. I have no idea why anyone would want 6 gears so closely spaced.

[drrags]

I thought the close-ratio transmission would be a problem at first. But over the short amount of time that I own it I see that I'm doing different kind of riding than I do with the TE610. I range out into the desert, but only within 50 miles or so, and doing way more technical stuff where the close ratio tranny shines. The TE610, with it's 25L tank is the bruiser that I take on long rides of at least 100 miles. On those kinds of rides I'm not doing hillclimbs or powerline roads anyway, so it works out.

Here's a couple of graphs for comparison.