new FE650E owner

Greetings from California,

Low tolerance for bike neglect along with an inability to resist project bikes have resulted in the recent acquisition of a 2001 FE650E basket case. Someone needed to save this bike so I decided to step up and have a go.

A little bit of background...

Been riding since about 1988. Currently own a 2008 CRF450X for the trails and a 2016 KX450F for the track. A few years ago I bought a basket case GasGas 300 and had a blast rebuilding it. So the Husaberg project was tantalizing.

About the bike...

Originally purchased new at Malcolm Smith Motorsports in So Cal. My buddy bought it from the original owner. Eventually the inevitable happened and my friend had to nurse the thing home stuck in third gear. He decided while fixing the shift plate slider, he would tear the whole bike apart and do a bunch of other things to it too. That was many years ago and the bike's been apart since then. It's plated for street use which is nothing to scoff at here in California.

I think I may be in over my head with this thing. The engine doesn't need to be split but the LHS stuff is going to need to be serviced/assembled as will the cylinder head. It's going to be a big project.

I don't have any good pics yet. Here are some of the pieces as they appeared when I picked up the bike last night. I'll have to start a "rebuild thread" in the main forum (or mechanical section?).

In the meantime, if anyone can verify that the newer shift plate mechanisms were improved/hardened, I would appreciate it very much. Seems like a lot of people are de-burring or polishing the old plate but my friend was telling me the newer variant was more robust and less prone to the "stuck in gear" syndrome. If true, what year did this get implemented?

Cheers

Hi MX563:

Many parts can be substituted from later model years as the motors were of the same basic design from 01-08. 02-03's were similar also the 04-08's were kissing cousins. The 01 is truly the red headed step child of the bunch of which you will soon come to realize.

The 01 counterbalancer had a single row bearing which was upped to a double row bearing set up in 02 due to some failures. The 650 being the hardest on the CB.

Also keep in mind that in 01 some of the transmission gears were not interchangeable with late 02-08 models because they had a different tooth profile. The gears include: Counterbalancer, balance drive shaft, drive gears on balance drive shaft and crank shaft and the outer clutch basket.

The Torque Limiter was replaced under warranty in 01 because sometimes if a backfire occurred during e-starting it would take out some of the gears mentioned above. It would be good to know if it was replaced as many 01's never started on the button and that issue may be lying in wait.

Good luck and we will try to assist the best we can.

Thanks very much for the insight, husabutt. I'm in So Cal on biz and will be bringing the parts home to NorCal late this week. Once home, I'll slowly begin wrapping my head around this project.

I don't suppose you know anything about these "improved" shift plate slide actuators from newer models, do you? Is it true they were improved after 01'? EDIT: Never mind, found it in the Wiki area! This site is amazing!

I am not certain which part you are referring to when you call it a shift plate slide actuator. Do you mean the drum, locating lever, selector, or perhaps fork? Check out the attached parts manual.

The most common issues with the tranny is that it is hard to find neutral while the engine is running. This quirk goes back to 89. The problem is much less pronounced on the later models.

I think it's a Swedish thing my Huskys 1986 are the same way (finding neutral) you get use to it. Work around it.

yeah, I suppose "shift plate actuator" is not a good description. I was referring to this thing (pic). There's a little "plate" there that slides against another "plate" and is part of the shifting mechanism. Anyway, further research indicates that this do-hickie got updated in 2004.

Thanks very much for the [invaluable] parts manual.