2007 FE 650, So Far

Its not Orange Taff, its red, and the same colour as the button on the carb it replaced. I can remember now which side its on, because red on the right rhymes nicely. I linished the Orange anodizing off the cap, to the only Orange evidence is under the screw heads, in the countersink. Im living with that, so far.

I did paint the orange 9.7 WP spring yellow to rid the orange from that obvious spot.

Steve

Sounds great Garry. We'll have a play at the AGM soon. Are you still on a high, or going through withdrawal symptons yet, not having ridden the Berg for a few days now?

Thinking out aloud now, do you think that it might be possible to gain access to the Portland workshop, or similar, for a Force Ride 2008 suspension day on day 1? Once the date is locked down I expect that it won't take much to convince Frank to attend and we could do 4 or 5 Bergs in a day in preparation for the riding, assuming there is an adequate level of interest.

Any thoughts?
Steve

Hi Gang,

I thought it was time for a bit of an update. I'm currently recuperating from knee surgery and hope to be somewhat rideable again in a few weeks.

Not a real lot to tell really, but after my last ride in August before setting off on my around the world adventure to visit Taffy, I noticed that as i parked the bike in the shed, the bash plate was full of coolant from the weephole! No oil this time. Ah well, park it and worry about it when I get home in a few months.

Still leaking when I got home, no magic fairy fix, so what to do. If you have been following this thread then you may recall that the engine has been split twice by Suttos to fix oil leaks already. The first time I gave them an OrangeBerg kit to fit to hopefully sort that bit, which it did for a while, but did start to leak again and was fixed again as well as the cases and the c/s shaft the second time.

I decided that rather than pull it apart myself, I would take it to Orange and get John and Aiden to have a look. I guess that I was a bit suspicious of how it might have been fitted by Suttos, and it is still under warranty.

I rang John, and he was about to head for Milan, but he reckoned that Aiden would help on the day that worked for me, which happened to be the day John got back from Europe.

Arrived at 09.00 as agreed and Aiden got into it. He discovered that the kit had not been installed correctly which meant that the outer bearing had failed, explaining the extra steel on the sump plug at the last oil change, and allowed the shaft to flail about a bit and stuff the water seal.

A new bearing, carrier, seals and gaskets and all fluids are now contained.

The best part was that even though I was happy to pay, Aiden insisted that he'd sort it through warranty. This is my second experience with Orange KTM and Husaberg, the first being the supply of the wp kit originally, and it won't be my last.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the genuine service and interest.

So, 3000 km now and the ride continues to be wonderful. If the body cooperates next year I will have to do some more racing, can't wait for a grass track or two.

Steve

Hi Husaberglers,

Just thought I'd let you all know that we rolled over 100 hours last weekend and going great. Not too bad I guess in 13 months considering I had 2 months off with injury and 2 months off travelling OS, so 9 months for 100 hrs and 3700 km.

As discussed in this thread, a few hiccups with oil leaks from the crankcase join and the countershaft bush eventually sorted by Suttos and the chronic water pump shaft issues were fixed by OrangeBerg with one of his kits.

All routine maintenance otherwise, with Delo 400 and the only wearing part replaced so far apart from tyres a number of times and brake pads is a countershaft sprocket. FYI I go through 4 c/s sprockets, 2 chains and 1 Chaingang sprocket per cycle, so chain is now about 1/2 worn.

Nothing else to report really, goes fantastic, suspension is a dream and I'm looking forward to the next few hundred hours

One of my favourite things is the expression people have on their faces after they test ride, with the view generally being something like, "How easy is this to ride, but how freaking faaast is it?' Trouble can come up quickly as it changes your frame of reference. It just consumes 450s. I test rode an original RFS 250 EXC last Sunday that had a 450 piston for 350. A sweet bike but it was in 6th before the 650 was out of second, a real revbox.

Cheers
Steve

Hi Bergers,

Just thought I'd update this blog with some recent activity. As some of you are aware I had some knee surgery late last year, 3rd time, which meant I didn't ride as much as I'd like and in May this year I dislocated the same knee and snapped the ACL and some other damage. Had a reconstruction 3 weeks ago, it couldn't be sooner as natural healing had to happen first, and am now on the mend with physio every day etc etc.

In an attempt to get the bike even more comfortable and work with my knees I've swapped the modded Force adjustable pegs for some Fastways. I also set them up in a vice and took some measurements, the Fastways end up 12 mm back and 8 mm down. No more guesses, this is what it is.

Some pics in my gallery,
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... php&page=4

I think that I may pad my seat up even higher too to take some more stress off the knees, mind you it'll be April/May 2009 before I can ride again. Force Ride 2009 for the comeback perhaps?

Also based on MegDogRocket's and Cafey18's efforts I've acquired a different thermo switch for the fan to reduce the running time and consequent battery load.

http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _photo.php

A previous thread,
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?name= ... h&start=15

Tridon options,
http://www.toymods.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5125

You'll note that the bike is dusty in the pics, unfortunately not because I tested it, but my brother has and his report is good.

Hanging for my next test ride, just 159 sleeps to go!

Cheers
Steve

So, I've managed a couple of easy rides now and the surgeon isn't happy. In the meantime I've had a couple of goes at repadding the seat to make life easier again for my knees.

Some pics are here in my gallery:
http://www.husaberg.org/index.php?set_a ... _album.php

The new seat is now about 30 mm higher than the factory high which is itself about 25 mm higher than the standard one.

After a couple of attempts with different foam and shapes,, I ended up using the original foam from my 501 and cut and sanded the underside to create a saddle out of it that fitted nicely onto the top of the standard seat. Bit of fitting at the back and its all good.

the extra height makes life much easier for the knees and being flatter its easier to get forward. Being wider also helps as the transition to the tank width is less. And the old Berg foam is as comfortable as ever.

Recommended if you are tall and/or have dodgy knees. I can still sit on the seat and have both feet flat on the ground so perhaps it could go higher yet, but in combination with the pegs and bars it works well for me, better than ever in fact. Just got to get the body working better than ever now :roll:

These knees are also causing me further expense. As much as I love my ZX9r, its now too cramped in the leg and playing with the seat compromises the ergos with the pegs and bars. So its now for sale and I collect a GTR1400, or Concours in the USA, today.

Retire in a month, so i'll have some time to ride it.

Steve

Ok, time for another update.

160 hrs and 5714 km. Should be more by now, but unfortunately my old body isn't always capable of late!

Both wp seals, ie coolant and oil, were weeping so I got the latest version of Orangeberg's kit to put in. I also had previously got a cam chain kit and a DVSK from Taffy in anticipation of putting them in sometime. So now seemed like a good time, as its been a bit hot for too much riding of late, mid 30s most days, so why not some shed time?.

I also got some new valve stem seals, cam bearings and roller followers while it was apart.

Pull the rocker cover and it all looks and feels like brand new, a good start.

Pull the cam chain tensioner and its on 17 of 20 clicks, at what appears to be 1 mm clicks. Looks like the cam chain is due. Its also loose on the cam sprocket, so definitely due.

Ground the pins off a link on the original DID endless chain after stuffing the tunnel with some rags using a Dremel. Easy!

Pulled the head and couldn't believe that there was no carbon buildup. A wipe with the finger in the combustion chamber and on the piston and its down to aluminium! Good jetting perhaps?

Pull valves and all look perfect. Test fit new springs and no material to be removed, so quick lap, and reassemble with new stem seals. Test fit rocker cover and some material needs to be removed, so Dremel to the rescue again.

Debate with myself whether to change what appear to be perfect roller followers and cam bearings, and decided to put the originals back, so now I have some spare bearings in the shed for next time. Hmmm.

Pull the clutch cover and setup the wp kit. The existing bearing is OK, so its just the seals gone. A new, bigger bearing is with the new kit anyway. Put a new reed valve in as they are cheap, and the 501 used to wear them out, but the original looked fine.

Everything else under the cover looks pristine too, nice!

Pull the DID chain out and feed the IWIS in. No need to rotate the crank as I've got the clutch cover off. FYI crank end float is about + 0.5 mm.

Reassemble the top end with new head gasket. 3 clicks on the cam chain tensioner now, and its tight over the cam sprocket. Nice!

Put clutch cover on and it won't pull up the last 1/2 mm. Bugger! Stuff about, but have to pull the clutch and find the kick start return spring has slipped, so fix that and the cover now tightens up nicely. Must have slipped when pulling the cover. Note to self, apply pressure to kick start shaft if and when removing cover again. No sealant on the gasket, just a new one with a smear of HT grease.

Nearly ready to go, but I couldn't resist finding out what my jetting is. Some posts previously, mention the dyno work I had done, and there is a plot in my gallery of an apparent 63 dynojet hp. Whatever, the work also included a muffler end cap mod opened out to 47 mm ID with perforated straight through tube. Throaty, but OK, and I don't like noisy bikes. On Carl's dyno with the Lineaweaver jet kit installed and the stock muffler it showed 33 hp. When he finished it was 43 hp, almost 1/3 increase.

Using my jet drills as a gauge, where relevant, the carb is setup as follows.
MAJ 190-200
PAJ 3/8 t or say 55
R&D Flex pilot screw 1 3/8
main 150-155
pilot 40
start 85
Lineaweaver needle 6/7 from top
ap 0.2 mm stroke

Fresh coolant and oil and it coughs on the first kick, fluffs a bit the next couple and dies and then settles into a nice quiet idle on the 5th kick.

10 min shakedown and back to the shed to check for leaks, and none to see, I'll let it cool, and write this post while it does. Next is crack the coolant bleed in the head again, and do another 10 mins and then dump the oil and filter.

Should be good to good for heaps more of my riding pleasure.

Thanks to Taffy and OrangeBerg for their work on coming up with their upgrades.

Nearly beer o'clock!

Cheers
Steve

PS
For sale, conical valve springs, only 160 hrs! Appear to be in perfect condition, and mostly only used on Sundays.