'05 or '06 450 Berg

Hi guys, i am going to buy a new berg this week, time to step off my old 98 KTM LC4 400cc.
I have been into the bike shop and they have 2 '05 450 bergs left as well as a bunch of '06's.

My question is what would make me choose the '06 over the '05? There isnt as much of a difference between the two in price, i expected more.

Any help would be great, as this will be my first berg purchase.

P.S For the past month or so i have been riding a mates '05 KTM 250EXC 2 stroke, how will the 450 berg match up in thrill factor power wise?

If there is not much price difference, get the '06, no question. An '05 would need to be deeply discounted by now to get my attention. The two years are still very similar, of course the '06 has the updated tank/plastic, and revised suspension settings.

At the end of 5 years finance the price difference will end up Aus $2340 (Around US$1750)

Go the 06- as well as the updated tank you also get a different crank compared to the 05 too- and Husaberg would have only upgraded the old part for the better.....
And the 05s also had the toque limiter teeth shearing issues that plagued the KTM RFSs too.

Wait a couple of months for 07 bikes to hit the showrooms, and dealers will be virtually giving away floorstock 06 450s.

As for the difference between the 250 EXC and the FE450- the KTM is approx 10 kilos lighter, and its virtually all in the engine- 21kilos for the EXC, around 30kilos for the Berg.

A two stroke will always give you more of a "rush" to ride, but as to actually being any faster ?? Who knows ??

It all comes down to how fit you are and skill levels.

the 450 berg will outshine that 250 ktm smoker.

bigbob said:

the 450 berg will outshine that 250 ktm smoker.

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Depends on what he expects out of it. As a general trail bike I would say the FE would easily be the best pick, no contest .

However, wether we like it or not the 2 strokes are still the weapons of choice for the majority of the serious GNCC runners- and there has to be a reason for that :?:

AUSBERG said:

Go the 06- as well as the updated tank you also get a different crank compared to the 05 too- and Husaberg would have only upgraded the old part for the better.....
And the 05s also had the toque limiter teeth shearing issues that plagued the KTM RFSs too.

Click to expand...

The Gear Wheel Torque Limiter problem was not a gear teeth shearing problem. The vendor that supplied that part mistakenly built them with too low of a slip value so they would slip under normal use. This part is replaced by the dealer under the factory warranty before the bike was delivered to the customer.

The other differences between the 05 and 06 model bikes are so minor it makes basically no diff whether you get one or the other.

supertireguy said:

AUSBERG said:

Go the 06- as well as the updated tank you also get a different crank compared to the 05 too- and Husaberg would have only upgraded the old part for the better.....
And the 05s also had the toque limiter teeth shearing issues that plagued the KTM RFSs too.

Click to expand...

The Gear Wheel Torque Limiter problem was not a gear teeth shearing problem. The vendor that supplied that part mistakenly built them with too low of a slip value so they would slip under normal use. This part is replaced by the dealer under the factory warranty before the bike was delivered to the customer.

The other differences between the 05 and 06 model bikes are so minor it makes basically no diff whether you get one or the other.

Click to expand...

That may be the case in the US- however I know that this has been an issue on some Australian supplied bikes that failed after customer delivery. They were fixed under warranty after failure, not prior to it.

Remember, different distributors in different countries have different ways of dealing with things :shock: .

I also believe you will find they were actually built with a too high torque/slip level- which meant that when the engine suffered a kickback/misfire the torque limiter would not allow the gear to slip as it was designed to do and would damage the gear, as the momentary reverse rotating clutch basket has the sprag all locked up and is trying to spin the stationary starter. .the weak link is supposed to be the slip of the torque limiter, but some dont. All the failures I know of resulted in damaged teeth.

Every year Husaberg have been slowly making improvements to their bikes- some they dont even directly tell us about.
Surely its up to us acknowledge this and maybe realise that a little bit more spent on the current model will maybe result in a more reliable bike with a higher resale?

I stand corrected.

I guess some batches of the torque limiters had the torque limit were too low and some were too high.

Oops.

AUSBERG said:

bigbob said:

the 450 berg will outshine that 250 ktm smoker.

Click to expand...

Depends on what he expects out of it. As a general trail bike I would say the FE would easily be the best pick, no contest .

However, wether we like it or not the 2 strokes are still the weapons of choice for the majority of the serious GNCC runners- and there has to be a reason for that :?:

Click to expand...

I've asked those guys and other AA riders why. the asnwer is they ride the 2 strokes because they are light and kick start easy, that's the only reason. The converted kick start MX 4 strokes are rode for the same reason light weight but they can be hard to start.

My Fe450 kicks starts with one kick, take of the battery and E starter off and you will have the hottest damn 4 stroker there is for GNCC and Worcs and Enduros too. anyways I have riden a KTM 2 stroke - nice toy that's all. My HusaBerg Fe450e is a much better off road bike for weekend riders IMHO. Lightest E start bike on the planet.