2007 FE 650, So Far

And I nearly forgot,

When I was refitting the carb I noted that the closing cable was frayed and close to failing at the carb end, Wildman had this problem at Louee. This should not happen. I had some slightly heavier wire and suitable ferules in the shed so just rewired it.

Keep and eye on your cables, this should not be happening on new bikes, the cable rubs through where it comes out of the threaded outer. The opening cable is OK. I tweaked it a bit for slightly better alignment, but not much in it.

As an aside, these cable systems often get called push pull. They're not, they are pull pull. Pull to open, and pull to close.

Cheers
Steve

So here is the dyno chart:
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php

Note the difference between the before and after curves. Carl is very thorough and the muffler end cap he's developed obviously works. Carl felt that I wouldn't get such a big thrill as most of his customers as I wasn't too far out to start with, the Lineaweaver needle impressing him. A short test ride indicates that it is very controllable and easy to ride at low speed and very hard to stall. I expect to be spooked when I get a chance to give it a proper rev.

The AP seems good at 1 mm too, just a little more snap off a closed throttle, but all still entirely under control of the right wrist.

Not much chance to ride this weekend, but next weekend should give me some time in familiar terrain and a chance to play some more. Still dunno what I'm actually going to do with 1/3 more HP, but I'll have fun finding out.

Steve

Hi Steve,
I have just been talking to Carl about your bike on the phone. I see he still has his old phone number on the Dyno Charts !!!! He really needs to change that. He said he was quite impressed with the Lineaweaver needle, it's a good thing.
I think you will be very happy with the results. I am extremely happy with mine. Not that it was bad before, but it's just so "rideable" now, anywhere, anytime, any revs or any speed. I just love it !!!! It's just nice to know that now you really are getting the best out of what you have.
Important to remember that Carl uses a Dyno Dynamics machine, hence the output figures are lower than what "other" dynos will give you !!! The important thing is percentage gain on what your bike had, and not what the final figure is. If you must compare figures then multiply your results by approx 1.3 to give you a figure relevant to other Dynos. These are outputs at the rear wheel as well.
I shall request a gallery and post my Dyno charts for you to check out.
Cheers
Garry.

Here ya go Steve, check these out.
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php
I am running 98 octane fuel which could explain some difference if you are running 95 octane ? Also I had the ProRider end cap in and larger main jet with the initial Dyno run. It appears that the lineaweaver needle gives you a richer bottom to mid range and slightly leaner top end. I also noticed my peak HP was achieved around 7400rpm and yours was around 7100 rpm. I bet we couldn't tell the difference at those rpm's as we would be to damn busy hanging on !!!! The power curves are very similar as you would expect, so it appears there was no major changes to cam profiles or ignition mapping from the 06 to the 07 models. All looks good Steve. Enjoy.

Cheers
Garry.

Hi Cafey18,

Hope the lurgy is receding, must be crook if you couldn't force a beer down with me the other night. Dunno how I am going to deal with the fact that you've got 2 more HP than me, ride harder I suppose. And yes, this was on 95 and Carl did suggest another few with 98, so maybe if I feel the need, I'll just spend more at the pump for more HP at the AGM.

Carl definitely seems to know his stuff. There are now plenty of dynos around in Oz, mostly Dynojets, but the Dyno Dynamics allows tuning at other than full throttle. A dyno is just a tool, and only as good as the operator, and I would normally be a bit wary until I knew who I was dealing with.

A 15 min ride around my single track here at home to warm the oil for a 20 hr service has confirmed the first impressions, ie its all good, perfect, or at least the best I've now experienced, linear, controllable, and with the 1 mm AP setting, a snap off the bottom into a huge mid range and a scary top end

Here is a pic of the end cap which liberates some/most of the 1/3 increase.
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php

and compared to the original seen here
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php

A disappointment is the leaking water pump oil seal. I got an OrangeBerg kit installed by Suttos when they did the crankcase leak fix, which still leaks a bit too. Here is a pic of the evidence after 4 hours, now 20 hours after installation.
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php

If I can get the oil to stay inside it'll be bliss, virtually is now anyway.

Cheers
Steve

nasty looking oil leak .

Yeah does look not to good at all.

ah just a little oil bleed, no big deal right?

It's the small flat oil seal that fits on the back of the bearing KTM part number 0625062013. Just done mine but it wasn't as bad as yours, might be wise to repalce the small pump seal at the same time.

Regards

Sparks.

Oil Leaks!

As noted elsewhere, I've got 3 since new, now 49 hours old.

1. Crankcase join. The underside of the motor is wet with oil after every ride. Based on photo evidence, Sutto stripped the motor and resealed. Its better, but I still don't think its completely oil tight. He's told me to take another photo and he'll have another look and talk to Husaberg Oz. I haven't got a real good pic yet as its been full of mud and other crap and the motor has also been wet with oil from the other sources. Its so long since I've ridden in mud, I've forgotten how. 8" of rain here in recent weeks. 10 year drought might not yet have broken, but its a start.

2. Water pump oil seal. A slight weep since about hour 3. I wasn't going to get too excited, as it seems to be standard. When Sutto said they'd fix the case join I got the OrangeBerg kit and they fitted it when they did the cases. Seemed good initially, but then after 4 or 5 hours it started to get a film appearing. More recently, you've seen the pic.

3. Countershaft seal. After the attempted crankcase seal fix, it became apparent that some of the oil accumulating underneath was coming from the c/s seal. I had a spare in the shed so slipped it in. Even worse. A closer examination revealed that the c/s bush that goes over the shaft and runs against the seal had a 'dag' on it on the inside rebate that sits against the O ring on the inside. It also had a nick on the outside, but seemingly is OK where the seals runs. A little stone work got most of the dag polished off and a new O ring and another seal might have fixed it now, but I can't really tell just yet as Carl, the dyno guy, lubed the chain up extremely well and there is now oil down there from that. I've cleaned it all up and will get some riding in next weekend and pay close attention to where it is coming from. Hopefully the c/s is OK now.

I will get on top of it. OrangeBerg has contacted me and offered a replacement seal so I'll talk to him next week.

For all the wonders of modern manufacturing, you'd think that it wouldn't happen in 2007! Still, so far it is really only cosmetic, and it is wonderful to ride.

Steve

What gearing are you running on the big girl...


15/45?

15/47 closes the gears up a bit and makes first a bit more useable in the snot. http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php

Steve

Hi Steve,
Yes mate I was very sick, everything hurt !!!! I didn't want to share that flu with you mate.
Glad to hear the Dyno work is bringing joy. I suspected it would. I used some emery tape and took the sharp edge off the modified end cap and ran a small bead of engine silastic inside the end cap and smoothed it with my finger to keep those annoying little strands of packing inside.
That oil leak is a big disappointment !!!!! I believe Orangeberg has version two of that kit in development. I find oil leaks damn irritating as well. There is no excuse for them now days.
I noticed you have replaced your LED rear blinkers ? I have just fitted LED's and a variable load flasher unit. They don't look much until you get a few meters behind the bike, then they are quite bright.
Cheers
Garry

Jeez Gary,you are paying attention!

One of the original LED blinkers that I fitted went largely AWOL so I replaced them with some Hella parts that are heavier duty and brighter as well. Almost as low profile as too. No crash, but the glue holding the lense to the body seems to have let go, maybe encouraged by some passing scrub, dunno.

Spoke ro OrangeBerg today and replacement seal and gaskets bits will be in the mail ASAP. Riding this weekend so the plan is to fit the following weekend. Riding this weekend is part of the suspension workshop. 3 Bergs out of 8 and I'm accused of sponsoring the Berg owners club!

Steve

Yes you can't get away with anything you know Steve !!!!
I believe John has sourced some "better" double lipped seals. Care in fitting them goes a long way to their success or not in sealing.
Good luck with the suspension workshop. I'm looking forward to ours in a fortnight.
Cheers
Garry.

A Cautionary Tale!

Did a 20 hour service a week ago and a brief test ride suggested all was OK, apart from the oil leaks. No time for any more bike until this weekend when we had another suspension tuning weekend which I'll start another thread about. 650 started first kick this weekend from very cold, and I had some fun riding and wrenching and dialing clickers. Problem was that the 650 didn't seem real keen to crank over on the starter, the starter labouring. Started first kick though. Ahh well, work to do and I'll think about it while I'm working on other's bikes.

The thing was, in the back of my mind was that the exhaust valves had seemed tight when I did them and I was pleased that I'd picked it up before it became a problem, and the starteing problem seemed to be related to the auto decomp not working.

Another quick check of the valves revealed that somehow I'd got them too loose, loose enough that the decomp didn't work, but not so loose that there was any excessive tappet noise.

Not sure what/why/how I got it wrong. I've been doing the valves on my 501 since 1998 and now 3 times on the 650 so I think I know how to do it.

All I can think of is that I didn't get the base circle on the cam on the follower, or maybe that as it was very cold when I did it and the Delo 400 is a bit thick when cold it didn't squeeze out, or something. Inlets were OK though. Dunno.

Accelerator Pump and Dyno

I also got some more time in between clicking suspension to have a play with the AP stroke. As noted previously, with a Lineweaver jet kit and no AP I was really happy. Still, others (Taffy et al) seemed to think that some AP was good, and my 501 needs 0.8 mm in its current form otherwise its a bogs a bit. 650 didn't bog, but?

So I fitted a set screw and reinstalled the AP actuating rod as discussed above and decided that 1mm was good. I rode Louee this way 2 weeks ago and liked the snap off the bottom. The dyno work followed and I got to try that this weekend.

Heaps more snap, not to mention pull everywhere. I started thinking that for the first time in my life I could see the need for a SLOW action throttle. It was a bit of work in the tight stuff compared to what it had been. I played a bit with the AP set screw and am now at 0.5 mm and happy. Still snaps, but its in control now, and boy does it go. We had a standard 06 650 here this weekend and its flat by comparison, no snap, and doesn't rev!!

The modded muffler is OK too. I was concerned about noise in particular, I hate noisy bikes. It has a bit more bark, and deeper note, but it isn't obnoxious and I'll live with it, its OK.

All up, it'll light up at any speed, crack it at 100 k and it'll spin up and snake away. Lots of fun and the $400 for the pipe mod and dyno work that gets 1/3 more hp out of a standard 650 has to be money well spent. Overall, to get 1/3 more hp than standard, how much would you normally spend?

Happy, yep. Get the oil leaks sorted and I'll be ecstatic

Don't you just love it when things just work !!!!! I'm having a chuckle reading your last post Steve as I can see that smirky smile on your face after a good test ride on your freshly dyno'd bike. That smile has that "yes, how good is that now !!!" look about it. Am I right?
Every time I ride my 650 now I get that smile as it never ceases to amaze me somewhere during the ride.

I have just had the Kurtz bearing and seal mod fitted to my bike by ORANGEBERG and he was telling me that yours leaked. It is mandatory that the shrink tube be fitted and great care be taken when fitting the seal, as one small scratch or mark in the seal and it's working life is shattered. Did the other workshop fit it correctly the first time ???? Makes you wonder ???? Good workmanship, care and cleanliness is gospel at all times. I used to be a mechanic and I know how the standard can slip at times in some workshops. I suspect though that if ORANGEBERG had done both your oil leaks that you would now have oil only on the inside of your engine !!!! Anyway it should be OK now if your going to put the new seal in. The instructions are very clear that come with it.
Only six more days until suspension day !!!! Do you think I'm excited !!!!!!

Cheers
Garry.

Leaks Fixed!

Well I hope so. I got some replacement seals for the wp from OrangeBerg and pulled the motor from the frame last weekend. Took a day off work and delivered the lot to Suttos on Thursday at 09.00, a 4.5 hr drive there and drove off at 14.00 heading for home, another 4.5 hrs. Another warranty job, he was keen to sort it, and frustrated that it hadn't been fixed last time.

Engine back in Sat am and 0.75 hr shake down run. Looks promising. Dump oil and fresh filter and 3 hrs more today. Still dry, just like a new one should be, only its now 57 hrs young.

The countershaft leak seemed to be caused by the bush. The 07 design is different to earlier ones and this one seemed to float a bit. An older bush, a new seal, so far, so good.

I am now a happy camper, loving it, torque, hp, GRUNT, wonderful. Swapped today onto my old 501, its rider onto the 650, and it feels sluggish and doughy by comparison. He was spooked by the 650 though. Rode a KTM EXC 450 last weekend back to back with the 650 and it was like a 125, kept running out of revs and gears.

650s rule,
Steve

The power is addictive...