Reliability and Husaberg

Like most things in life, you only hear about when people have problems, not when they don't.
If you want an unbiased answer.....you came to the wrong place

Captain-Kyr said:

can you tell me your opinion please?

Click to expand...

Fantastic bikes. They are not going to be as maintenance free as your XR or 660, or as easy to find parts and service. But then the Berg will excel in every other aspect.

Like many things in life there is a bitter/sweet combination.

This may be contentious, but in my experience at least, these bikes can suffer with reliability issues. I've had the bike in garages with valve spring breaks & blown engines for a significant amount of time during my ownership tenure.

The important aspect to be aware of if considering purchasing is the degree of maintenance, care & attention required.

Forget Japanese bikes that you simply fill up with petrol & go, these bikes need regular care & attention to keep them in good order.

On the flip side though, the performance is unreal & will tear up comparable Jap bikes, & the FS650 can wipe the floor with sports bikes in the more twisty roads.

So I'd liken it to having a really gorgeous & sexy, yet slightly insecure, demanding, & jewellery loving wife....

As Crispin said, they are a beautiful machine and my 650 has brought me much joy..................also a mixed emotional rollercoaster following valve spring breakage and cam chain snappage............... :cuss: :angry:

However, the good times have out weighed the bad and wether you buy a well looked after bike or not you can bet that you will come up against some problem or other in the future............

Rest assured though that there is more experience here than you will ever need and there are mods and parts that will make the big 650 more reliable than when it left the factory.........................

Happy hunting for your machine and consider buying one blown up even for less and then you will know the engine yourself!!!

I've seen failures with many different brands of bikes, with lack of maintanance being a contributing factor.
That being said, my 2005 FE650 now has 150hrs and about 4100 miles on it.
At 117hrs, 3rd gear went. I replaced the camchain at the same time of repair. It had 4 clicks left.
Besides the tranny all seems well and i've had no other problems.
I change the oil every 5 hrs, air filter every ride.
I'm very happy with this bike and as far as motor or electrical there have been no problems.
I haven't heard of too many transmission problems, but at one time I was riding it more on the street
and it being an FE model it doesn't have the cush drive hub as the SM has.
The FE is designed for the dirt and i'm more than happy to keep it mostly there now.
So I believe that with the Husaberg you should treat it as the high performance light weight race bike that
it is. It hasn't been overdesigned as some other lower maintanance 300+ lb bikes.
If you don't believe in changing the oil frequently this probably isn't the bike for you.
One other important thing I believe is to check the valves periodically. They are simple to check and
adjust. I open up the rocker covers every 20 hrs regardless of how the bikes running to check
them and adjust if necessary. That way I know they are always where I want them. 1/6 out.

paul

The 570 was my first non-Japanese bike in almost 30 years and of riding. Anyone making a similar step will probably recoil in horror (as I did!) at the sight of the maintenance schedule for these bikes but I got past that after reading and hearing riding reviews and YES, they are great bikes to ride. They are also relatively easy to work on. Reliability hasn't been 100% though. Changed the OE camchain tensioner for an after market item at 40 hrs or so which didn't bother me unduly but my confidence in the bike took another huge dent recently with the replacement of the fuel pump. Managed to get a warranty replacement, thanks mainly to my dealer taking the issue onboard and registering a claim direct with Husa/KTM in Austria, otherwise it would probably have been one of the non-OE pump fixes talked about on this forum. Not a good record for a bike with just over 70hrs. I'm just hoping that the pump problem was due to a bad batch of pumps and will not return 60hrs hence 'cos the rest of the bike seems pretty well put together. The important thing to remember though, as has been pointed out above, is that they are competition machines and not road biased trail bikes no matter what use you intend to put them to..

Think there are just EFI Fuel Pump issues, Fuel Filter issues, and the odd chaffed wire near the Rear Shock. Maybe exhaust heat wrap (I haven't had to do that one).

All are fixable. I have never had any of those issues by the way.
Main issues I have had are broken stand foot and Thermo Switch. It has never left me stranded, touch wood :?

At least if you go with a Husaberg you have this great site that seems to unearth every issue Husaberg ever had. You even see issues about owning a Husaberg dealership on here. It is all here and more.
This site even has some interesting characters for a laugh.

Look, I am a one eyed Husaberg fan of average riding skill, so my opinion doesn't count. But I'll give it to you anyway. They are just fantastic to ride, the power is so smooth, the EFI faultless, brakes amazing, and they just look the best looking bikes in the showroom. Even the blue anodised wheels are sensational looking.
You will be smiling evertime you ride it.
They are not that hard to work on either. Just take your time and invest in a 1/4 inch socket set and a few Torque Wrenches.

I would not swap my FE570 for any other bike available. I would like a ride on a Maico 7hungie 2stroke if I ever got the chance :lol:

here is the deal on the fs/fe fuel pumps, the circular screen fits very loosely and will let trash into the pump! remove the pump then remove the filter, wrap the pump inlet about 6 times with teflon tape, cut the tape hanging over the end and then install the screen it will be a nice tight fit. then buy a can am v twin 800 cc quad efi metal inline fuel filter and plumb it in just up stream of the injector and your pump problems are over...rm