"holed" the piston in my 'berg...

In the attempt to see if my 400 berg really could run with an xr650r (two of them, actually), I holed the piston. The lil 400 did an awesome job on the trails this weekend outside of las vegas. Ran circles around the xr650r's. Blew them away going into the turns, through the turns, and out of the turns. But that being accomplished, curiosity got the better of me. I just HAD to see how my fe400 would perform against an xr650r on a straight, paved road. I am proud to say, it did amazingly well. Yes, the 650 did pull on me. But, it was surprisingly slow at pulling away. As a matter of fact, it was neck-and-neck until 6th gear. The lil berg had no problem matching the much larger 650 until 80 or so mph, at which point the 650 showed a slight edge. Slight, that is, until the berg gave a small puff of blueish-grey smoke. At about 90mph, in 6th gear, throttle fully pinned, still accelerating, she went lean. She died. Of course, the Honda guys had very much fun at my expense. While I was riding ***** on one of the xr's, we spotted some vultures, circling overhead. "hey dave, see those vultures? they must be circling your bike" was one of countless wise-cracks. Yes, I too found it hilarious. The person who was hosting my trip to vegas (also the aforementioned wise-guy) GRACIOUSLY lent me a Honda trail bike (an xr200), and in so doing, saved the weekend. Well, some richer-jetting, a new wiseco piston, plus little time, and the 'berg should be as good as new. I gotta tell ya though...the berg was kickin *** down the trails before she gave it up. And, when she went down, she went down fighting. Cant wait to get her back up and running. All in all, even though the berg needs to be fixed, it was a GREAT weekend.

Does wiseco offer berg pistons now?

t-jet-tim said:

Does wiseco offer berg pistons now?

Click to expand...

Yes they have for some time now

Did a similar thing to my yamaha. Stupid two piece valves.

I'm not sure if the replacement piston is Wiseco. But I remember asking Dan @ Motoxotica and he had other option for pistons. Except for the 470. My dealer told me BMG has dropped the price of some maintenance parts. he gave me the cost for a replacement piston, pin & ring kit for the 470. The price wasn't that bad some where around $200, if I remember correctly.

Had the piston delivered ups next-day-air, it was an "Athena" brand piston. Wiseco didnt make a piston for the 99 400 I was told. Bike should be up-and-running tomorrow.

t-jet-tim said:

Does wiseco offer berg pistons now?

Click to expand...

Not exactly. However, with minor modifications some Wiseco / KTM pistons are a suitable replacement.

Some companies (my own included) have had Wiseco (and others) manufacture pistons to Husaberg and / or personal specification for private label distribution.

I do believe 2004 Husaberg models are using private label Wiseco as OEM.


Best Regards,
Dale

Oh, if only it HAD been a holed piston!

Oh...if only it HAD been a holed piston......It wasnt a holed piston. The bike DIDNT lean out. If only it had! What happened to my bike sucked. One of the exhuast valves broke. The head of the titanium valve dropped into the cylinder. Tore up the cylinder head, the valve seat, and the piston. What a mess!!! The shop that is working on the bike however is totally awesome. The owner, Raymond Fisher, of Attitude Custom Cycles(formerly known as Gone Wild Cycles) of Ely, NV, explained to me what happened, and took full responsibility. He showed me that the exhuast valve had been tapping on the piston (this was a mistake made by another shop, NOT HIM!) He was the one who found the piston-to-valve clearance problem, and corrected it( ya see, I bought the bike used from his shop) He wet-checked the valves, to insure they werent bent. But what he didnt see, was a micro-fracture in the valve stem. This fracture simply grew until the valve finally broke. I will quote what he said to me as he showed me what happened..."The bike left my shop that way, so I will take care of it". What a guy! Man, he coulda *********** me till the cows came home, and I wouldnt a known it. But he didnt! He took responsibilty. Shops like this are RARE. This one is a keeper. I thought the man deserved some well earned props here on the website. I'll have my bike back together next week with new kibblewhite valves, and new valve seat, and the cylinder head repaired. Cant wait!

Shops like this are indeed rare. Im no business owner but I could only think that taking ownership of a problem like this (even if its not your fault) has to go miles in customer loyalty. Its great to hear stories like this.
Hope all runs well when you get the bike back.

Regards,
Sandskipper