Work Case #17 Husky FE450

[Thedktor]

Previous #16 CRF450R

Work Case #17 Husky FE450
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It was only 4 years ago I left the company ! Anyway, I remembered another problem we were presented with – a customer had bought a new Husky 450 enduro and was using it for beach racing. Unfortunately it would randomly cut-out out at speed, and blew its fuse on more than one occasion - being fuel injected this kills the bike!

Husky FE450.jpg (97.96 KiB) Viewed 2746 times

Needless to say he was not a happy man, but to give an idea of what his poor bike was going through he reckoned it would regularly do 106mph according to the GPS, and that was with sand and salty water flying everywhere. Even if that was a bit optimistic, the point was it was being well and truly thrashed in a very unhealthy environment.

Of course, the bike should be able to cope with that anyway, but it proved impossible to reproduce the cutting out, and even completely drowning the running engine with a hose had no impact. KTM-UK agreed to swap out the stator and a few other bits under warranty, but after another failure the boss agreed to trade it for a two-stroke 300 and off the customer went happy(er).

Now the fun part of this sorry saga was the road testing, as on several occasions I had to take the bike out and “test” it, to try and get it to fail. Which meant absolutely thrashing the thing flat out along the A272 from Cheriton and up and over Cheesefoot Hill towards Winchester, which if you don’t know it is one of the best sections of road in the area.

And I had to do it again and again, and again!

Next #18 Husky TE450

[dodursley]

Used the A272 from Winchester to Petworth regularly by car & bike in the 1980's going from Gloucestershire to Sussex. Used to stop at Cheesefoot Hill car park for lunch as about halfway timewise, but in the 1987 storm many of the trees were blown down, never quite the same after.

[Snaf MKII]

Sounds like the usual problem of salt water conductivity at beach races, you'll find a few in the pit working area with what would be an otherwise working bike suffering electrical problems. Wash it down with clean water and the problem goes away for a lap. Funniest one I've seen is the bike still running but not being able to turn it off due to the kill switch arcing to the salt water drenched rider. Did you ever find the problem on the TE?

[Brenhden]

Now the fun part of this sorry saga was the road testing, as on several occasions I had to take the bike out and “test” it, to try and get it to fail. Which meant absolutely thrashing the thing flat out along the A272 from Cheriton and up and over Cheesefoot Hill towards Winchester, which if you don’t know it is one of the best sections of road in the area.

And I had to do it again and again, and again!

It's a tough job but someone had to do it I guess. How did the front mudguard hold up to the wind? My old DR650's front mudguard used to nod and deflect the steering anything over 70. The first time it happened I nearly sh!t myself... I cut it down in the end.

[P4ulie]

I lived in Epsom for 9 years & for some reason if at a loose end one sunday morning I'd find myself somewhere around Petersfield / Petworth / Midhurst for no particular reason, even if I'd just popped out for milk. Bad bike.

It used to do the same coming back from the Portsmouth ferry, aim for the A3, again mysteriously I'd have missed it & be lost somewhere glorious. I do miss the A272 - A29 combo

[Thedktor]

I cycled out to Cheesefoot Head recently and it was amazingly quiet - normally at the weekend there is a constant stream of motorbikes and cars roaring up the hill.

Then I noticed the police in the car park who had stopped people to check if they were on "essential travel"....

[LeeM]

Steve I’ve found a few great mountain bike routes to that spot

[Thedktor]

Steve I’ve found a few great mountain bike routes to that spot

Oh yes, so have I - been heading that way nearly every day!

Back to the question about whether we got to the bottom of the 450's problem, in a word no!

But we could not reproduce the issue either so bit of a mystery that one....