New Bike Time!!!

2020 Husky TE300TPi Part 2

So I forgot to mention in my first article that I had installed the Rekluse and Air Cells that were on my KTM 250XCW. Although the 300 motor chugs down to the last stroke I’ve gotten lazier with the clutch in my advanced years. The Air Cells always help the initial few inches in the stroke especially in the slow tight stuff with rocks and roots.

The one of the latest additions was a left hand operated rear brake. I’ve had a cobbled together unit I’ve been transferring from KTM to KTM over the years, but this unit won’t work with a Magura master cylinder so I had to look for another solution. Rekluse is in the process of changing the unit they’ve been selling for years so it’s not available right now.

I ended up with a fairly new on the market product called the OX-Hydra Brake. OX has made a cable operated unit for some time, but this is an entirely new approach. The unit starts at the handle bars with a Hayes Bicycle hydraulic master cylinder, a line that runs down to the rear brake master cylinder area and on the end of the line is a little slave cylinder that replaces the heim joint at the bottom of the master cylinder. It’s a completely separate self contained unit pre bled so all you do is install it which makes it completely separate from the rear master cylinder. You can adjust the pull needed near the lever on the bars. From what I’ve heard it’s at least a hundred dollars cheaper than the soon to be released Rekluse. And I can tell you it works flawlessly you can adjust the pull for the type of terrain your riding. I’m sold on this thing.

So far the Flex Bars I installed to help with the vibration has taken care of that problem plus I’ve come to really appreciate the feeling the Flex Bars provide.

Since I had borrowed the Flex Bars I decided to buy a set, I bought the Enduro version which is 31 inches wide and with a 12 degree sweep and set up for my top mount steering damper. I set them up for soft compression and rebound, they worked great.

I also installed a Tusk fan kit, the price was right and they say the TPi bikes run hotter, so I decided to be pro active about this, don’t think I’ve needed it so far though. Well I was surprised during my Chalk Bluff ride on a moderate heat wise day the fan came on a lot and stayed on for a while. It’s set to come on at 190 degrees which is where most if not all the fans are set to come on. Based on it staying on and for other reasons I’m going to buy a better battery, don’t want the battery running down and having to adjust the Rekluse so I can bump start it.

During our ride at Chalk Bluff for those who don’t know it has very tight trails lots of switch backs, not side of the hill switch backs. This time of the year finding traction is tough, a lot of riders refer to this as like riding in dry mud. At the end of our ride my riding buddy tells me he was having trouble finding traction and I realized it was a non factor for me. The 300’s torque coupled with the Rekluse allowed me to ride most of the time in third gear so spinning the rear tire wasn’t a problem.

I’ve got 9 hrs on the bike now and have ridden it just about everywhere I typically ride, including a return to the scene of my racing accident Prairie City’s Hang Town track. I was very timid for most of the time I spent there, I did become more comfortable on the 300 but it in its self is different than riding my FC450 on a MX track. The AT-81 tires work ok, I noticed the wear on the rear is certainly greater than the same tire that initially came on my 250XCW, power difference no doubt.

I’m going to put more time on it and will report back later.

Doug 21J