not vintage but oppinion needed

[caps 999]

im considiring a modern upgrade just wondering if any one has an oppinion on the 07 tc250 husquvarna

[fatboycrash]

I have an opinion but you may not want it!
Do yourself a favour. Get a WR250 two banger if you really want a Husky. Half the hassle. Much Much easier to maintain. Good solid reputation. But if you want the king of modern trail bikes, Get a KTM 300 exc from 2005 onwards, spring it to suit your weight and your grin will split ya head in two. Fit a Rekluse clutch and your mates will start stealing your lucky socks to try to catch up.
FBC

[caps 999]

id prefer to jump off a clif before i buy a orange bike or modern 2 stroke (2002 onwards)

[fatboycrash]

Gudday,
How come no two bangers? Simple, light, relaible and easy to maintain. They are not like the old ones, no hidden on off switches... My 300 had a serviceable piston at 60 hours. Rebuilding a modern 4 stroke is a breathtakingly expensive proposition..
FBC

[Nathan S]

Rode a mate's 07 KTM450EXC ysterday. Despite him slagging off at 'stinkers' (ie: 2-strokes), he was pretty impressed with my old 99 WR360... "Like a BMX bike with a lot of power!".

I thought this was funny because the Husky is the biggest, fattest bike I own... 
Christ knows when I'll be able to afford another newer modern bike, but it'll definitely be a 2-stroke.

[Rosco400]

Do yourself a favour and wait for the 2008 fuel injected husky 510, you wont look back

[All Things 414]

Just rebuilt a 2000 YZ 250 (a stuffed one off of E-bay), put all the after-market Yamaha stuff on it and it truely is the Ducks Nuts!!

[yzhilly]

Hey Rossco bring that to the flat track too they go around ok .

[crash n bern]

I had a WR250F, it was a giant killer. I rode a mates '05 250 EXC KTM with the 350 kit fitted. Loved it so much I sold the Yam and bought one of the last of the '06 models single cam 250's and fitted the 350 kit. Love it. They do tend to wear valves a little quicker than their big brothers as they rev harder. The Yams rev too much 13,000 is too much for a 4 stroke. The 250 KTM isn't as fast as the Yam and was caned for this by the magazines, but it is a much sweeter bike to ride and way easier to work on, and probably the most reliable. And it's ready to go out of the box. I don't know how good the new twin cam motors are. I was reluctant to go the new model as the old engine has proved itself. I know they're faster and lighter. 
 I know, everyone says go 2 stroke but some of us hate the noise and love the sound of the thump and prefer the down low torque.  Although 250's lack a little there.
I don't know a lot about the Husky's except they are Italian. I know a few Husky 4 stroke owners that are happy with their bikes and a few that are annoyed with little glitches. Performance and handling wise they would be as good as anything else on the market and I would consider one myself except my shed is geared for KTM's.

Four strokes cost more to rebuild than 2 strokes. But you don't have to do it as often so it probably balances out. I know a guy with a 450 KTM he's an Australian safari winner. He rebuilds his top end every 5,000 k's that's extreme usage. My mate just did his 520 at about 11,000 and I've seen a 400EXC get it's first top end at 32,000k's and the bike looked flogged. Average top end rebuild usually runs at around $1,200 with labour on average.  Usually they just need rings, valves and a camchain

[GD66]

  "Four strokes cost more to rebuild than 2 strokes.  But you don't have to do it as often, so it probably balances out...."
 
 Think again, Crash. Or may I call you Mr Berm ? Check out the rebuild times/schedules on the new bigbore fourstrokes , say the WR450 Yam and the CRF Honda. Utterly beyond belief, especially when compared to the  bulletproof reliability of the XRs etc, from only a few years ago. What's their thinking ? It's around 18 hrs for a CRF, bloody hell you could knock that off in a weekend. Make sure you do your homework, then can the idea altogether and buy another vmxer. Heh, heh......

[crash n bern]

Sorry, I was talking KTM's.  I wouldn't touch a CRF. The 18 hour rebuild schedule would be to cover Honda's ass in case you blew it up at 40 hours.  "Oh sorry you didn't do the 18 hour rebuild, warranty now null and void, see ya".
yes the XR's go longer, but the new bikes pump out way more power and weigh a lot less. That comes at a price. Horses for courses.   You have to remember most guy's who buy new bikes don't keep them for ten years like us old bike hoarders. They trade them up every year or two before things get sour anyway. Same with new cars, I hear so many problems about new cars I'll stick with my 68 falcon because I don't want to trade up every year and I don't want to pay $6,000 to rebuild my gearbox at 100,000 klm's.  Does every Holden really blow a diff at 20,000k's
I rode for many years on old technology bikes. I thought water cooling was the stupidist thing they ever put on a bike. I also thought records where better than CD's. Ha.. I now have an MP3.  It took me a lot of years to embrace the new technology but now I would rather bash through the bush on a new KTM than lug an old XT500 up the side of a gully on a 40 degree day.   

 I think the big problem is that they are trying to extract 2 stroke like performance out of the 4 strokes to appeal to the 2 stroke riders and get them to make the move over to 4 strokes.
Personally I don't like this. I ride 4 strokes because I like using the down low torque. I have been riding 4 stroke KTM's for the last 7 years without a problem. 

My 2000 KTM 520 has been bulletproof, oil and filter changes and a couple of valve adjustments when I remember. My last ride on it was 2,500 klm flat out blast in deep sand across the desert. That's hard work for a motor.  Didn't miss a beat. Most of the rides I do are 2-300 klm's so it gets used. When this bike was new, it was touted as a high maintanace bike.
 Would I buy the new '08 530 with the new motor? No, I bought the last of the '07 525's with the old motor as it's proven. But I keep my bikes for a long time.

New bikes have one advantage over old bikes.. it's a phenomenon called metal fatigue, they don't suffer from it yet.  At the end of the day no matter what you like or want to do there will always be naysayers. If you like the Husky 250 and it floats your boat, buy it, ride it, enjoy it, love it. Life's short. If it blows up, fix it, sell it, move on. At the end of the day it's still cheap entertainment.

Now..somewhere I have a list of all the siezed and rod through case 2 stroke story's...just can't remember where I put it........it must be with the list of old VMX bikes that just wont run right anymore...

[All Things 414]

Here is my new 450 four-stroke beater. Pick 'em up for nicks off of E-bay. Buy every hot item you can for them from The States (for half the price of what you'll pay for it here), get a GOOD engine man to work the head/barell/carb, nag your mate into giving you all his race-tech stuff that he had left over from '00 and you've got something that'll run with any of the latest model 450's (if ya can hang onto it!).

[cappra]

Traitor!.........

[All Things 414]

Nah Jared. We all know my true love is The Big M!