FE450e is NOT a Desert bike

Took the bike to Nevada today as my Husky is down for the count with a bad wheel bearing. Sorry Husaberg fans but the Fe450e Sucks in the desert........really bad. Great woods bike and on the few nice single track we had I smiled again but ruf cut wide open blazing trails..no way no power too wide gearing with only a short sweet spot in each gear............it just ain't great. So if you live in the west or Austrailia and have open play and desert and other big riding areas get the Fe550e or the Fe650e. Save the 450 for the woods and tight stuf. It rails in the woods love it there.

I did ride a 550 e out there last month and it is a great open bike.

LeFrog said:

And what if you add a tooth in the front?

Click to expand...

naw I don't see this doing anything , maybe making it worse. the bike's wide ratio tranny is WIDE and tall to begin with, not complaining I trust Husaberg engineers. I believe the bike's tranny is such for a reason - I mold myself to a bike not the other way around.

part of my problem is me. My Te-510 has a close ratio tranny and I have geared it slightly taller......so it has open top end. When you first ride a Husky you may react negativley in the desert as you seem to shift a lot and then the bike tops out at like 60.........once you gear it taller though, that close ratio tranny is sweeeeeet never in a wrong gear.

The Husaberg wide n tall ratio is all different.....I geared it down a touch from stock added 2 teeth in back. its gappy out in the open, I find in the woods it's not that noticeable and the wide ratio makes me go faster cause I'm using the throttle more to keep up in the next gear............. using 1st-3rd in the ever changing Woods environment and the Fe450e becomes this light powerhouse flickable fun machine. Out on the wide open it's kinda a small dog ( yes a 250? is a girl bike in the desert haha) and I don't mean fire road haull *** 70 MPH desert I mean the trails up and down and hill climb and sand wash and jeep wide sloppy climbing deserty trails..........then I find the bike, my 450, like said above small out of place.

I did later in the day find the sweet spot in the gears and kept the bike in this mid range power zone on some long sweeping trails I really got the 450 going like a thunderbolt the whole way. So with touch and feel and experience the Fe450e can be a fun in the open..............but I miss my Te-510 and I know that 550e is one whale of a big dog bike too

yet I know from my experience with my 510 in the woods, though real nice and from riding a 550e, that I am glad I got the 450. it is a dart in the woods. love it there.

I guess what your getting at with the leaner jetting is the bike's true power sweet spot expands wider within each gear? It just seemed yesterday in the wide open trails that each gear was long but the sweet spot lenght within each gear was only 40% of the gear.

now that was in the first two hours, later that day I was shifting and using the throttle more centered around that sweet spot so the bike was charging continuosly.

My Te510 on the other hand seems to have an endless supply of pull no matter where I am in rpms in any gear. The Fe550 e I rode had that deep reserrve of power too. I won't be playing with the fe450e jetting, the bike is running sweet, no bogs, no coughs and no sputters at 3000- 6000 ft and in the temps range of 40-70F. That for me is where I ride and when it runs sweet I'm happy, I don't mess with things in the carburetor beyond that. I have to run in and out the fuel screw a 1/2 turn for lower elevations or warmer temps colder temps, etc .

Maybe this summer I'll have to drop a clip, we'll see as it is now the bike runs sweet as I like it. the new Michelin S-12s work nice on the bike front and rear. I still like the Pirelli Scorpion front better, but the store I buy from only had S-12s this last tire change.

Happy easter all! H-berg :holy:

my opinions are that of a newbie. I've only been riding 3 years, but I ride every weekend non stop year round, and I have test rode many many bikes. Still just because my words appear here and hang in the air in print doesn't mean my words are worth much. I made this post because I haven't had a chance to ride the berg in a while and wanted to post something of interest as I have been quiet of late here in UHE. My reason for this post mainly was that perhaps my point of view as it lives in the archives will help tip a future buyer to go with the 550 or 650 if indeed they ride mostly open stuff and the 450e if they like the woods and tight trails - nothing earth shattering in those statements.

Any future reader should also take note that I have said in each post about, I love my Fe450e in the woods. It's the woods bike for me. I just don't find it to be a great cross over bike, where as the 550e is a can do all bike as is my Te510.......apples to apples? I find the other 450s - 450x and wrf450 and the KTM 450 and definitely the TE-450 with its class beating 49 hp (per a recent mag article), short stroke motor and six speed close ratio tranny better in the open desert trails then my berg. I wouldn't own those other 450s though. I would own the TE-450 and I do happily own the Fe450e, that's me.

yeah 6'5" and 255 out of the shower. I do need the ponies, I will allwasy have a 500+ CC bike in my garage because of my size. but as I mature as a rider and learn the delicasy of hill climbing technique I find the 450e or any 450 gets me up any hill the 510 does...the Fe450e screams up big oatmeal hills at clear creek and I never find the tranny too gapy at Clear creek, but clear creek is not the wide open desert terrain..one big hill climb then back to the tight stuff does not make a desert day.

I had Dale's kit in the bike - ( it was COLd and the kit has not seen a lot of 450 experience, I am not ready to play with it) yes and trouble getting my bike to run well in varying conditions, the one day I had it running good the bike was "brighter" and another rider who rode it with and without Dales kit - he commented the same, "brighter" BUT guys I'm trying to be polite here...it's not the jetting, suprizingly it's the wide ratio tranny....the bike is gapy as hell out there in the desert.............and it's power reserve is not strong enough to over come the gaps. I know because the Fe550e is a wide tranny too but it has power and displacement to spare and arm pull suck you right thru the gaps.

In the woods or any single track the wider gaps are still there but not so determinant because you are shifting and braking and darting though the woods and the Bike'e LIGHTWEIght is like a nimble ghost in the woods , it really likes the single track..........yes the Single track we had up in the hills of Nevada when the trail is narrow curvy and changing and rocky then sandy then bermy wow the berg 450 just rails it, but get some open stuff that goes on for ever and it's a lightweight in the power delivery and the tranny is gapy- bike gets kinda winded and needing a special touch to make it go with the others. you have to keep it in it''s sweet spot out in the open, while the Fe550 is sweet all day long in the big open terrain

EDIT: I know I could have edited above, but I just walked the dog and had some new thoughts. This dialog helps me think.

1.) apples to apples: This post thread title I chose suggests an apples to oranges thread which was my intent, 500+ CC bikes are better in the desert, Duh, but what I really was feeling yet not said is of all the 450s I have rode the Fe450e as I have currently have the bike set up and at my limited experience was the least favorable of the 450s I have rode in the desert as such I find my bike (as it currently is set up) not a strong cross over bike, meaning it does not do many terrains well, but does single track great , while other 450s do a better job of handling both single track and desert well IMO

2.) jetting and gearing - these may actually be linked. If you take what I said about the 450 not having the spare power to pull though the gaps, then yes better jetting may affect this providing more power thru the top end of each gear thereby widening the gear sweet spot and helping me to loose that gapy winded feeling in the wide open terrain.

I hope that explains my Fe450e observations yesterday. Thanks for commenting