21J’s 217th and latest new project

Well I did it again got myself a new bike. Now hear me out, I have perfectly good reasons for doing this, in my mind of course.

If you remember last summer after I was hurt at the Sierra Old Timers MX race at the Hangtown track and had too much time on my hands, I decided I wanted a 2020 Husky 300 TPi two stroke and I made it happen by selling my perfectly good 2017 KTM 250 XCW two stroke, I also sold my perfectly good 2017 Husky FC450 I used for racing MX. Plus a small loan from my personal banker (My wife) I didn’t ride it much as I was still recovering from my big ass crash at Hangtown. But as fall turned into winter and when we finally had some rain, I thought well I don’t want to ride my new bike in the mud so I need to buy some sort of mud bike that I won’t have to feel obligated to clean after every ride. I know, don’t say it, it made perfect sense to me and since I’m only concerned in pleasing me it made perfect sense.

I found a 2009 KTM 250XCFW with a 290cc kit installed on Craigslist, it looked crappy and the price was right, perfect. When I went to look at it, it looked just as bad in person. But it had everything on it you could imagine I wouldn’t need to add a thing except tires. The guy bought it brand new and kept records of every oil and filter change and valve checks. Plus receipts for every part he bought for it and the date installed. I thought his record keeping didn’t match the look of the bike. When I got it home and started cleaning it up I discovered it was not only in excellent mechanical condition it was very clean under all the dried mud. It looked so clean I started thinking I can’t ride this in the mud.

Well I did and enjoyed riding it to the point I didn’t ride the 300 very often. Don’t get me wrong the 250/290 couldn’t compare to the 300 but I did enjoy riding the 4 stroke. So now I start thinking (Dangerous) I prefer riding a four stroke over a two stroke at this point I should have taken a long, cold shower.

So I sold the 2020 300 TPi with 16hrs on it and naturally took a big bath but had almost enough money to buy the four stroke along with another small loan from my wife. You getting the picture my wife has money and I don’t, you would be right, I do pay the loans back, my wife is not that easy.

So I bought a 2020 Husky FE350. The main reason for buying the Husky over a KTM was the Explor forks I prefer them and do not trust air forks for trail riding, or at least that’s my story. The other factors were the Husky came with head and tail lights, odo/speedo, a skid plate, cooling fan and a muffler spark arrestor. The Rekluse I had taken out of the 300 would work in the 350 with some small additions. I also had the left handed operated rear brake I’d taken off the 300 as well, along with the steering damper. I only needed about $300 total to outfit the Husky instead of the usual $1000 to $2000 normally needed.

So while I’m picking up the bike I find out this bike is a Green Sticker bike. It’s the same bike as the FE350s street model, except for the turn signals, horn and street tires etc. So in other words it’s choked down. The good news on the Husky’s is it actually has very little smog equipment on it. A fuel evap system that has nothing to do with horsepower and an O2 sensor system that controls everything else, no smog pump device etc.

The bike is naturally very, very quiet which makes it feel as though it’s very slow. The only place I’ve able to ride it so far is at Moon Rocks outside of Reno. I’m not a big desert riding fan, but when that’s all that’s available right now Moon Rocks it is. I was kind of disappointed in my first ride I thought it was kind of low on power later I find out map 1 is the dumbed down power version. Map 2 is much better. I won’t really know how the power feels until I can ride it somewhere else like the forest.

But in order to ride it at Moon Rocks I had to turn the compression all the way in on the forks and shock. It was ok, but if I primarily rode desert I’d have to put stiffer springs on it at the least. Before the second ride at Moon rocks I pushed the fork tubes down to the first ring, thinking that would make it more stable for the desert, I also put two rounds in on the shock spring. I also cut the spark arrestor it came with off because it is very restrictive, installed a Dr. D. spark arrestor screen. The second ride started out bad I felt totally uncomfortable. I stopped and pushed the tubes up to the second ring, it was much better. Before the third ride I replaced the front tire (AT81) with an oversized Shinko tire I like for the woods. Well the power was now better in map 2 with the less restrictive S/A screen, but I again I struggled, I felt very uncomfortable with the front end and my balance wasn’t good that day so I was all over the place.

The other thing I’m not yet comfortable with is climbing hills; three times now I’ve gotten almost to the top of some of the steeper hills and didn’t make it. Each time it was because I didn’t shift into first fast enough. I was expecting to be able to climb most of the hills in second. Part of the problem is the rear wheel spin the rest is me I believe, but again I thought it would have more lower end grunt than it seemed to have. I totally forgot about the Traction Control feature on the map switch. I haven’t tried it yet.

So for the 4^th ride I’ve made more changes, I put a gummy tire on the rear, I put the front AT81 tire back on for the desert, changed out the 52 rear sprocket for a 51 and I gutted the rest of the muffler, Husky 4 strokes have what they call an all world muffler besides the restrictive spark arrester they have what looks like two tall dunce or tall witches hats installed butt to butt in the muffler tube. It’s definitely louder now therefore it must have more power, right. Now I need an electronic fuel regulator so I can add more fuel throughout RPM range which should also give the bike more power. So it’s off to Moon Rocks tomorrow to try out the latest changes.

Well 45+ miles later and some of the changes worked out and some not so much. The AT81 didn’t solve the knifing issue, at slow speeds the front end feels unstable and the tire didn’t help. I demonstrated that by falling twice on the first twisting, loose, steep downhill, it knifed in and down I went. Certainly my fault I think I applied to much front brake along with the bikes desire to knife in. I must say the bike is stable once you get going and handles great, a little twitchy but I think all bikes move around in the sand. I had several of the other riders ride my bike to see if they got the same impression and the answer was yes. That was a good thing and puzzling, because each rider had their answers as to what I should do and of course they were totally different. So I tried a little of each of their suggestions, some helped and some didn’t. When we got back to the truck I started making changes to front then the back and so forth. I found some things just before I loaded up to leave, after 45 miles I was pooped. Oh and yes it had a lot more power, but was definitely running lean and yes I did use the TC (Traction control) it helped a lot. But I think I now have a better idea where to start suspension wise the next time I ride in the desert. I stopped in Truckee on the way back and picked up an electronic fuel tuner from a guy. I installed it the next day and set the new fuel requirements. It’s been amazing to feel the difference from when I first got this bike to now it’s night and day.

It’s interesting to note The 2020 TE 300 TPi I had I was paranoid about getting it dirty, even bought the mud bike, but with this bike I don’t feel the same. I’ve boony crashed this one I’ve scrapped up some of the plastic already and seem to be ok with it.

Need to ride it in the woods now.

Doug 21J