Adventure riding question

I've done a few multi day rides on my 2007 FE650 and changed the oil each day.

Now I ride a DR650 on my adventure rides, with a 790 top end and a full Nova gearbox.


I even cloned it for the wife, but stock top end for her.

Kelbor said:

Quick but honest question:
How do you go about adventurer riding your Husaberg with the maintenance needs as as they are? I am a fairly new owner and recently went on a 88 mile, sprited trail/some very fast gravels road/OHV road ride (approx 4 hours of riding). 2008 fe450. My steering stem bearing went out during the ride (its been getting loose and Ive tightened it several times to no avail) and since I didn't have time handle it myself I took it to a mechanic straight from the trail. He got on my case about my filthy oil and how I needed to be more diligent on changing it. I had just changed the oil/filter prior to this last ride. So that's 88 miles and needing new oil.

How do people who do 100 mile + days stay on top of this? Change oil several times a day? Carry oil multiple liters of oil and change every evening? Can you effectively take a multi-day trail ride/camping trip on a Husaberg?

Click to expand...

So, you had 88 miles on your oil and your mechanic got on your case about filthy oil? How much oil does it hold?

My understanding (I'm not an expert) of the later, pre 70° Berg engines is that they were very similar to the KTM RFS engines. Those engines were solid!

If you really want to know the story of your 88 mile oil, order a kit from Blackstone and have them do an analysis. It's not costly at all.

I change the oil on my 70° Berg (1.35L) every 500-600 miles-ish and it's fine. Many have gone longer and racked up 10's of thousands of miles.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-husaberg-70º-fe-adventure-traveler-thread.782994/

My 2012 FE570 is superior to the 2007 KTM 525 exc that I upgraded from.
My 07 KTM 525 did Finke Race (450+km),many many trail rides, and then 3800 km from Brisbane to the top of Australia and half way back. (2100km on highway/bitumen, rest dirt trail).

on that last trip If i was to change the oil every 88 miles that would have been 35 oil changes.
I did 3 oil changes for that trip. Rebuilt the top end at the end of it and it was fine.

my friend whom I rode with, rode on a FE570. His only issue was fuel range (not oil!), but he only travelled 1800km (and only one oil change). His bike was as fast as my race KTM 576. I was impressed, so I bought one.

The other fella had a XR650, Don't think he did his 10 yearly oil change. He joked he had the maintenance free model. 6 years on, he still has his bike and it still wheelies in 4th gear so it must still be a-ok?

Somethings not right with your bike, its history, or your mechanic.

As above- get some data on oil condition through analysis before spending big dollars (I like the frame sump mods, but have no data to say 1.35 L is insufficient for adventure riding)
The factory engineers know a thing or two!

I am recommending to increase the engine oil capacity to 3 liters. Or at least 2 liters as I have done. You get 3 if you do wet ignition upgrade. My remote filter has choices of different microns. Now I have 3 Moro filter. Factory I think is about 16, so with my upgrade you are getting much cleaner oil,cooler and large capacity. Search three liters oil capacity in a Husaberg.

if your oil is getting filthy that fast I think you have a problem causing that, or only drained part of the oil.

did you oil your air filter properly, and make sure it was sealed right?

is your crankcase breather hooked up right? it'd be possible for dust to get into the engine through it (maybe) if things aren't right.

I don't know anyone who changes their oil that often for anything other than full race use. It's an awfully different engine but after a couple dozen miles of real trails (couple hours) and 5-6 hours of mostly fire roads and some pavement (140mi) my oil still looks ok... I'll probably change it soon just to be safe, though.

what air filter/filter oil are you using? bad filtration in a dusty environment is absolutely a way of getting oil filthy fast... and destroying engines fast too.

In that case it doesn't sound like the problem, I was just trying to figure out what could cause your oil to look dark sooner than expected. Did you look at it and did it look dark?

Have you verified that your petcock works properly, by removing the fuel hose and verifying that it doesn't flow when set to off? If it works right, your best bet is to turn off the gas a bit before you turn the engine off, and let the float bowl run dry, so that there's no gas in it to spill. I haven't had a carb'd 'berg, but that's been my technique on other bikes.

GREAT question. I ride a 2011 FE 390 for day trips and sometimes longer. My Husaberg "mentor" had 2 FE 390s and also owned a dealership for a number of years. He told me that for my specific riding style (70 years old, very mild rider and almost NO clutch slipping) that I could go 1,000+ between oil changes. Clutch fibers in the oil ain't good, and if you slip the clutch a lot, then change oil more often. After several years, I'm still getting great service and having great fun on this machine. Rode 436 miles on the Trans-America Trail last year (2019) and didn't change the oil during that trip. My ride partner has the same model and follows a smiliar schedule. For adventure riding, I pack up the "tank" area just in front of the seat and also the back of the seat, very close to my own rear! The plastic sub-frame is NOT made for luggage, so don't pack any real weight on the tail piece! Judicious packing and a back pack are my standard fare. (BTW, recently bought a Kawasaki Versys X300 for longer trips. It as a steel subframe and the pillion seat can carry more gear than I would ever need on trips.) But the Berg is still the king of the trial for more backwoods situations. I live is SW Colorado and we have some rough, remote trails! Both bikes are street legal.

When you drain the oil don't forget to kick the bike over to pump every last bit out. Riding the whole weekend is not a problem for the Berg without oil change....remember you are using the clutch and trail riding not race speed power shifts and revving in bog holes etc. Change oil every race or 500k trail riding...