Husqvarna TE-610 Owners Sign In Thread.

It seems like a lot of people love the do it all nature of this bike. But that compromise also sees a lot of them get sold after not many years.

It certainly has a certain set of strengths and limitations. It seems like it ought to be a little more "Adventure-ized" but BMW has that market well covered with BMW branded stuff already (cross shopped it against the BMW 450X, not the GSs). It might be a lightweight long distance offroad bike ... if it had some fuel capacity (this would be easy to address and wouldnt really move it into the BMW market since an F650 is heavy in comparison) ... where is that Clarke tank we were talking about the other day anyway.

70+ mph for hours on end on my Husky? No thanks. BTDT, and that's a lot of headwind.

Versatile is good.

I love my '95 BMW M3 because it seats 5, gets super gas mpg for a sports sedan (23 mixed-28 hiway with no overdrive, ATs or 6 speeds get into the mid 30s), and is equally at home at the track, windy roads, open slab, or downtown rush hour. I can put a pretty decent load of Costco groceries in the trunk (3 kids at home), etc., etc. I can't see myself in a 'Vette, as much as the new Grand Sport in grey is so much hawtness.

My K1200S is equally versatile now that I've added a topcase (not the most attractive thing). Grinding pegs on Palomar (not easy to do), 1000 mile days, or puttering around in rush hour (actually not so much fun as it is pretty lumpy at 20mph). Costco runs are fun when they see your helmet and wonder where you're gonna put all that stuff. Thank goodness I don't look like a 'winger (yet). I'm not ready for an S1000RR, though I sure would like one, or a 'wing or GSA - though I sure do want one of them too! LOL

One of the things I love about my TE610 is that I can do so much with it, it's so versatile. A KTM 950SE sure would look good in my garage, but it's a lot more bike and I'd cry when I dropped it (because I do things that mean I sometimes fall down).

I can take my Husky to the desert with the kids and plunk along at ultra-slow paces with the little ones on 50s (no longer my kids) or keep up (enough!) with the ones on their 250s (2 smokes) or 450s. It's really not that much slower than my well-tuned (incl suspension) CR500 (Ok, it is, but ssshhhhhh! Don't tell me!!)

It does bottom on larger hits, and isn't the best in deep whoops (and I mean deep Baja 1000-style), which is why the suspenders are out getting redone right now.

Many want more desert, more mx track, more pavement. For me, it was this or a plated XR600 - and this came turnkey with electric start. 6300 miles later (many in Baja), it's still...Awesome.

It always puzzled me that Honda refused to make the XR600/650/400 street legal. I wanted to buy that bike when I lived nowhere near a Husky dealer. You are right that Husky has that niche now, but the fuel range on the EFI bikes is an issue. You cant always have a KLR along to borrow fuel from and there are places to go in the Mojave or eastern Oregon where you dont want to run out.

Yeah, it's one thing keeping me away from the FI bikes. Plus mine doesn't use any oil at all, has been ultra-reliable, etc., etc.

OTOH, I *hear* FI bikes get about the same miles/tank I do with my 5 gallon tank when ridden similarly. I don't believe it 'cause I haven't seen it, but...

I get about 180 miles before i'm in trouble, sometimes less. Surprisingly, about what I get on the K-S.

I did 120 miles on 1.8 gallons the other day, but most of it was gentle gravel road stuff with a fairly slow group.

I've never touched more than 115 before the low fuel light comes on. Mine is uncorked and tuned right also. I rarely ride gently though. I will try next ride out on leisure gravel and see. 100 is my limit until I get a seat.

I can eke 155 out of a full tank, even with semi-aggressive riding. The bike is uncorked and has the Leo Vince. I might move to an aftermarket filler cap to get another liter or so in the tank.

Im running the stock pipe and sensor still. I have heard that doing the power up will cause an mpg hit. If I want mo horsepower I have a K1200RS for that

I could get about 120 - 130 out of a stock tank on my 06 model. I tend to be a bit on the heavy side of the throttle though as it's uncorked and re-jetted.

What I'm saying is that the rear subframe is designed to hold the fender, and that's it. A lot of us have used the 610 for long trips. On a recent trip from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, I had about 15# on the rack, and the result was:


All of the weight on the rear rack is supported by two Aluminum welds that are 3/4" x 1/4" or less.

Now, of course other people have had other results. On Mine I had the gas way back, adding leverage to the subframe. Others have had a ton of weight back there with no problems. Course it also depends how you ride, we were going fast on this ride over a ton of washboard. On this ride we had TWO frames break, each with 15# or less on them. More or less weight, more or less jumping, and you might be fine or you might break it in 20 miles...

To me it's not worth the risk to lose it on a trip. Get a giantloop coyote, and if you can't fit it in there don't take it

I'm exactly the same on a 08 EFI.

Hey Mike, when R we gonna see some pix of the 610 in Moab

Y'all are probably sick of seeing this pic but for the noob's they need to know that it can be done. Xymotic has been a trail-blazer in finding subframe weaknesses. Lots of high-g force hits at speed can kill the subframe with a bunch of weight on it (just making a point, not pointing fingers). I rode with a guy last year that broke a Happy Trails pannier rack (they are built like a battle ship) but I also noticed that he indiscriminately hit everything on the trail and made no attempt to avoid the big hits, even at speed. It's kind of like not getting a flat; if you're bashing into sharp edged rocks all day and not trying to avoid obvious trouble, a flat is in your future. Not to say you have to baby our bikes but you do have to ride with discretion and not just bash over everything in sight. It's the price we have to pay for riding these bikes off-road with weight on the tail. I rode 3000 miles off-road with the set-up below with no probs.

LOL,

It's hard not to take it personally, but you are absolutely right that how you ride makes a HUGE diff.

Looking at that road, I could ride 3k on that with no problem. I was airborne a few times, I had a 50 MPH get off where I nearly endo'd, and I like to wheelie, a LOT My fork seals are leaking, but I'm not exactly calling them defective...

That being said, I won't recommend that packing the tail is advisable. There have been more than a few failures, and if you just look at how the thing is built, all of the weight on the back foot of the bike is supported by two small pieces of alminium that are 3/4" wide. And not for nothing, but the tail itself weighs far more than I bet most of us realize.

How do you guys keep your bike on the stand with all that gear on it. Mine wants to tip over even on hard packed dirt with a half empty coyote bag. You get it to set, and can lightly touch it and it will start to tip. I know the stand is a joke, but I refuse to put a center stand on a bike like this. Not a chance.

There is a guy just to the right, out of the picture. He is holding the fishing line that keeps it upright.

Have a look at cigarmikesblogspot, you might change your mind about a center stand..

Are talking about because of how short the sidestand is?? If so, do like alot of us have done, including me, bring it to a local welder and spend 10-20 $$ to make it a lil longer.. probally a lil over an inch. Just remember to have them do it below where the spring attaches, unless you wanna do like I did and and look for the perfect new spring at the hardware store. Still not that much of a biggie though. I think he added about an inch and 3/4 on mine, and now it's alil on the tall side.. LOL. My fault, I didn't spend much time measuring. Before at the stock too short length I was always looking for rising ground to put it on so it didn't look like it was gonna tip over on itself, and now I'm always looking for PERFECTLY flat ground, or even a sloping spot so it doesn't wanna tip to the opposite side of the stand. LOL...

I tried to remove the flywheel tonight with a Motion Pro puller and it would not budge. First question. Are you supposed to remove the six Allen bolts in the center of the flywheel first? The Husky manual isn't real clear, but it seems to say that they stay on. True? If yes, what suggestions for getting it off? Things to look for? I'm trying to replace the cam chain.

For earlier posts, my riding buddy gets a pretty solid 60 MPG with his stock EFI set up. No real single track, but no putty around either. With a 3+ gallon stock tank he has a pretty reliable 180 mile range.

I get 40-45 with a carb bike. With a 5 gallon IMS tank on my bike, he and I have about the same realistic range - mine a little greater. If my EFI bike was only getting about 100-120 between full fill ups (3+ gallons) and I was not riding WFO most of the time, something might be wrong.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers,

Jack