Yep FE650's are the go....
The following is available at
http://www.husaberg.com.au/news.php?newsid=49
Kienhuis and FE650e 3rd in class at Australian Safari
Brandon Kienhuis has just taken out 3rd position in his class and 8th outright in the Australian Safari. The Safari, covering a massive 5,500km over 9 days, started on the 24th of August in Kunnunurra and finished in Perth on 1st September.
Kienhuis backed by Valley Force Husaberg completed the journey on a brand new stock FE650. "Apart from the map reader and some additional fuel tanks the bike was straight off the shelf. We didn’t even have time to run the bike in as we only picked it up a week prior to the race" Keinhuis explained. Brandon started the race in 60th position and worked his way through the field over the first couple of days getting as high as 20th.
"I had a small issue on the third day where I misread the map. It cost me around 15 minutes and pushed me back a few positions. That’s what this race is about reading the map and being consistent"
Brandon fought back and worked his way in to a podium finish in his class and top ten outright. His training over the past 12 months has included Condobolin and the Hattah desert race where he took out his class win in the over 500cc.
Brandon will continue to train and with growing support from Valley Force is looking forward to competing in the 2008 Finke Desert Race. "I am keen to get on the new 2008 model and start training for the Finke. Its going to be a tough race but these bikes a proven and it will all come down to my fitness and me being able to get the bike across the line"
ozrider said:
The following is available at
http://www.husaberg.com.au/news.php?newsid=49
Kienhuis and FE650e 3rd in class at Australian Safari
Brandon Kienhuis has just taken out 3rd position in his class and 8th outright in the Australian Safari. The Safari, covering a massive 5,500km over 9 days, started on the 24th of August in Kunnunurra and finished in Perth on 1st September.
Kienhuis backed by Valley Force Husaberg completed the journey on a brand new stock FE650. "Apart from the map reader and some additional fuel tanks the bike was straight off the shelf. We didn’t even have time to run the bike in as we only picked it up a week prior to the race" Keinhuis explained. Brandon started the race in 60th position and worked his way through the field over the first couple of days getting as high as 20th.
"I had a small issue on the third day where I misread the map. It cost me around 15 minutes and pushed me back a few positions. That’s what this race is about reading the map and being consistent"
Brandon fought back and worked his way in to a podium finish in his class and top ten outright. His training over the past 12 months has included Condobolin and the Hattah desert race where he took out his class win in the over 500cc.
Brandon will continue to train and with growing support from Valley Force is looking forward to competing in the 2008 Finke Desert Race. "I am keen to get on the new 2008 model and start training for the Finke. Its going to be a tough race but these bikes a proven and it will all come down to my fitness and me being able to get the bike across the line"
RE: Yep FE650
Well, I never raced the Dakar Rallye myself, I only know people who did, including a black chick who rode a KTM 660 (she's a former track and field athlete, converted to enduro racing, she's about a B+ rider) and she's suffered from reliability issues which always prevented her from finishing it.
We've all heard of 650s which ended up seizing from staying too long wide open.
Well, I never raced the Dakar Rallye myself, I only know people who did, including a black chick who rode a KTM 660 (she's a former track and field athlete, converted to enduro racing, she's about a B+ rider) and she's suffered from reliability issues which always prevented her from finishing it.
We've all heard of 650s which ended up seizing from staying too long wide open.
Joined Jun 2005
449 Posts | 1+
Kings Farth
There will be spare parts available provided you pay a lot of money to KTM to be in on it and provided you are riding a KTM, they will be awfully expensive but they will be available. That is worth a lot in the middle of literally nowhere. Starting in the Dakar means you have already paid a LOT of money. You do not need the best bike, you need the one that will get you there. How many KTMs vs Husabergs with quitting riders will be there? Cannibalizing a KTM would be possible because there is a lot of them but there will be NO Husaberg parts available out there, exept for those parts that they share with KTM.
I'd love to see a Husaberg finish but it is simply more likely that you will finish on a KTM.
The race is one mother. Finish this adventure once and you are a hero for life.
I'd love to see a Husaberg finish but it is simply more likely that you will finish on a KTM.
The race is one mother. Finish this adventure once and you are a hero for life.
The Dakar is all about finishing. A privateer does not have any benefit from a 650. Better is a 450 or a 550. It is common knowledge that a privateer does rarely exceed 120 km/hr in the dakar. If it were only to keep the engine alive and don't fall on there faces. Don't forget that the guys who do " 160+" are profesionals with unlimitted budgets who can change there engines allmost every night. Yes, night! Amatures are the last to get away from the startgrid and are the ones that arrive in the middle of the night. Riding a relatively small bike (even an XR400) gives you the best chance to finish. Doing 160 in the dakar is a sure way not to finish! About the reliability: Lets say you are doing 140. This will require say 45 hp. So the 650 may feel less stressed, but the engine is putting out the same hp so it has the same load (read mechanical stress) as a smaller bike doing the same speed? The reliability should come from your driving syle. I know people who have managed to finish the Dakar on WR's with only one single engine. Fretigne was changing his WR engine every other day! So bringing a Husaberg to the finish in Dakar has nothing to do with engine size but all about driving with common sence and by sticking carefully to the strategy of keeping up the pace but not taking any risks and prevent to stress the engine. It is also known that home built bikes tend to break in the dakar. The Yamaha is now considered as a reliable bike amongst privateers because it has evolved. This is also the reason why privateers choose very often KTM bikes. Rob van Pelt whom i mentioned before finished Dakar three times on a KTM660. The fourth time he did it on a Husaberg but he dropped out because of the break of the waterpumphousing. This was due to not sufficient engine protection which is an example of how dakar bikes evolve. By improving little things. Finally Rob made it to dakar again on a Honda 450. It is said that the Honda engines are more resistant to high speed than the Yamaha's. I personally like Husa's very much but would't take the risk with it in the dakar. Don't forget that only competing in the dakar will cost at least 40.000 euro's! So blowing your money after day two because of a minor breakdown is a sure way to start hating your Husaberg! Ride your Husaberg anywhere and have fun, but take a Honda, KTM or a Yam to the desert.
oh well like I said there are a lot of negative pessimistic people on this site...............
If you look at any Rallye entry list then look at the mechanical DNF's it is littered with WR's, CRF-X's, EXC's etc and LC4 based machines including 660's & 690's.
The FE NOW is no worse than any of those........still people will believe what they want.
I know what works for me and thats what I'll be using in the Safari in '08 and in all likelihood in '09 as well.
Have fun being miserable guys :wall:
If you look at any Rallye entry list then look at the mechanical DNF's it is littered with WR's, CRF-X's, EXC's etc and LC4 based machines including 660's & 690's.
The FE NOW is no worse than any of those........still people will believe what they want.
I know what works for me and thats what I'll be using in the Safari in '08 and in all likelihood in '09 as well.
Have fun being miserable guys :wall:
Joined Nov 2001
17K Posts | 774+
Ely, England
gazza
to me you make my point. you should be saying: strewth! it's that rough even the following bikes all DNF'd: "WR's, CRF-X's, EXC's etc and LC4 based machines including 660's & 690's".
reality check time!
however, i'll have everything crossed just for you!
regards
Taffy
to me you make my point. you should be saying: strewth! it's that rough even the following bikes all DNF'd: "WR's, CRF-X's, EXC's etc and LC4 based machines including 660's & 690's".
reality check time!
however, i'll have everything crossed just for you!
regards
Taffy
Taffy said:
Dr_C said:
Thats the whole point, we already have !!
2007 Australian Safari 5,500km long Rallye........
2 FE 650 2007 models started.......
2 finished, one a top ten placing, both bikes privateers, no extra support except what we took oursleves......as Ozrider said 100% finish rate !!
Also Vbenedict did 4 days of the Los Pampas Rallye this year on his FE550 until he had a crash and hurt himself...........but he also had no mechanical issues after about 2,500km of rallye racing
and yet another one..........go and see www.moto-fink.de two 550 Bergs finished the El Chott Rallye in Tunisia 1st outright and 5th in 2006
Then there is Björn Jansson who has also done several rallye's over a 4 year period www.ghostrider.biz with surprise surprise NO engine failures (he swears by Motul 300v double ester oil (which is why I also use it))
And Bjorn Nygren who has also done several rallyes on FE 650s from 2004 - 2006 like Rallye Orpi Maroc in 2005 www.bjornnygren.se/gpage.html
anyhow thats enough :wall: :wall: :wall: for today............my head hurts
Please go for it, as I said I'd be pleased to see a Husaberg in the Dakar Rallye, I have not seen one EVER, and I guess you'd get a lot of thumbs ups from the connoisseurs.
Joined Dec 2005
1K Posts | 0+
australia
you see husaberg is a small company , so you are not going to see the big teams using them or the big names riding them .
as i and others have said and firmly believe , a correctly set up husaberg ... that is , a berg with it's weaknesses covered or known problem areas sorted .. is a winner . it's what the bike was made for [ the 650 ] to cover large distances in a short period .
i believe the problems appear when they are owned by joe public or jon punchclock and they just ride them and expect them to last .
in other words .. thrash them , spray all and sundry with rocks and stones and then rebuild them and go and do the same again
and the crowd goes ... amen
as i and others have said and firmly believe , a correctly set up husaberg ... that is , a berg with it's weaknesses covered or known problem areas sorted .. is a winner . it's what the bike was made for [ the 650 ] to cover large distances in a short period .
i believe the problems appear when they are owned by joe public or jon punchclock and they just ride them and expect them to last .
in other words .. thrash them , spray all and sundry with rocks and stones and then rebuild them and go and do the same again
and the crowd goes ... amen
I hear you guys but if you search the forums properly that will tell you all.
I am not miserable but i certainly am not going to tell someone that the Berg 650 will be fine.
From my experience it should be fine for at least 5000kms anything after that is a bonus.
I have friends that have raced Berg 650s on race plans and they know the deal.
I say for the average rider that usually rides about 1500kms a year would get a reasonable run out of a berg. So if they do better than me and say get 6000kms then they should get 4 years out of the bike.
I mean i dont change the oil or the oil filter who does that
Do these bikes even have an airfilter cause i cant see an airfilter box so i have never changed it either.
Is that something i should be doing?
ahh thats where i went wrong.....
when has Berg fixed thier weaknesses so far all they have done is create a new motor and leave the rest of us with an old engine that still has Main Bearing Problems, Counter Balancer bearing problems, Oil weep holes issues. All of which should have been fixed well and truley 4 years down the track since 2004.
I am not miserable but i certainly am not going to tell someone that the Berg 650 will be fine.
From my experience it should be fine for at least 5000kms anything after that is a bonus.
I have friends that have raced Berg 650s on race plans and they know the deal.
I say for the average rider that usually rides about 1500kms a year would get a reasonable run out of a berg. So if they do better than me and say get 6000kms then they should get 4 years out of the bike.
I mean i dont change the oil or the oil filter who does that
Do these bikes even have an airfilter cause i cant see an airfilter box so i have never changed it either.
Is that something i should be doing?
ahh thats where i went wrong.....
when has Berg fixed thier weaknesses so far all they have done is create a new motor and leave the rest of us with an old engine that still has Main Bearing Problems, Counter Balancer bearing problems, Oil weep holes issues. All of which should have been fixed well and truley 4 years down the track since 2004.
Joined Oct 2003
955 Posts | 1K+
Sweden
When I realize that Husaberg has turned into an off the shelf, bullet-proof, 8 out of 10 Dakar-finishes-bike. I´ll quit with Husabergs. Why? Because for me, the attraction is tough love. Bikes for the masses are not interesting me.
We have been discussing to try a 6-hour endurance roadrace here in Sweden with a stock motor, but have not dared yet. My motors have very high tuning level and if they last a whole race weekend (2-3 hours) I´m happy.
I´m truly happy and impressed by all achieved rallye results, and I wish you all good luck with future adventures.
We have been discussing to try a 6-hour endurance roadrace here in Sweden with a stock motor, but have not dared yet. My motors have very high tuning level and if they last a whole race weekend (2-3 hours) I´m happy.
I´m truly happy and impressed by all achieved rallye results, and I wish you all good luck with future adventures.
Joined Dec 2005
1K Posts | 0+
australia
i fully understand DR C ... the husaberg is perfect for you . you have a strong mechanical aptitude and have access to resources . i look at your rockers [ the ones that mr lefrog sir is unworthy to acquire ] and marvel .
this motorcycle is for enthusiasts who love to maintain , repair , race , rebuild . who desire the up most in performance .
some people have purchased this motor cycle with expectations of '' turn key '' durability .and this is not the case .
thank you
this motorcycle is for enthusiasts who love to maintain , repair , race , rebuild . who desire the up most in performance .
some people have purchased this motor cycle with expectations of '' turn key '' durability .and this is not the case .
thank you
Gazza said:
You are absolutely right Gazza, any bike can and will break. The thing is that the Dakar is not any rally! Way more than 50% drops out. If you have any problems with your Husaberg, there will be nobody to help you out with parts or advise. Even the El Chott is nothing like the Dakar. Better even, a typical Dakar LC4 is not suitable for this rally at all! A light and powerfull bike is what you need there. A couple of friends of mine brought there 660 RR's and LC4 adventures and they regretted it. Also don't forget that you may not finish but be able to fix your bike and start again the next day! In the Dakar you can't. For many people the dakar is a dream and they bring all sorts of exotic machines there every year. Even Harley's! Most of them don't make it on the really long stages, especially it there are dunes. If you are seriously about getting at the finish, don't throw away your money and do it on something that has been proven reliable and is fixable during the rally. The most important reason why people don't finish are the marathon stages in the middle of the rally. Sometimes over 800 km a day and no serviceteams in between allowed! You and your bike are sure to meet the " man with the hammer" at these stages.
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