Reliability?

I can personally say that I love my Hussy and she has been reliable. I just finished a 3000+ mile ride with long uphill climbs at above 9000 feet on 80-90 degree days on tight switchbacks and single tracks. The Hussy was flawless and with the FI was spot on with performance at these altitudes. Total mileage on my bike is approaching 11,000 miles and general maintenance is all I've had to do to keep it rolling.

Well, a couple other things have happened, but nothing that left me stranded. Why is my bike reliable? I bought it new and immediately installed the best fuel filter I could find. Since then, I've changed that filter yearly. I also opened up the exhaust so that the heat issues everyone complains about haven't given me any headaches, the engine can breathe. I also installed Engine Ice coolant which works much better than antifreeze or water for cooling a hot engine. That's it for special treatment that I've given my engine. BTW, my most recent oil change had almost nothing on the magnet, nothing in the screens, and when I cut open the filter and spread it out, I couldn't find a single metal speck.

What other issues have I had to deal with? One swing arm bushing went bad, it was dry and rusted, looked like it was installed without grease or had a bad seal since the other side wa perfect. I replaced a set of rear wheel bearings, and the fork seals and sliders had to be relplaced (this might be due to some extreme mud conditions I ran the bike in that packed a lot of mud up around the seals).

This bike has been absolutely awesome and I love riding it, and I love how reliable it has been. :cheers:

I have the same wonderful experience with this bike, a 390. Never let me down in the most difficult circumstances. But always used 2 extra fuel filters and I am very very carefull with where I get gas.

Here in Europe our lower octane fuels are contaminated with ethanol, which gives growth possibilities for bacteria. When your tank (or your distribution point) is contaminated and they start shitting in your fuel, you will need really big fuel filters.

When I was forced to take gas with ethanol I use additives when the bike is at rest for a longer period. :cheers:

Noppy said:

I have the same wonderful experience with this bike, a 390. Never let me down in the most difficult circumstances. But always used 2 extra fuel filters and I am very very carefull with where I get gas.

Here in Europe our lower octane fuels are contaminated with ethanol, which gives growth possibilities for bacteria. When your tank (or your distribution point) is contaminated and they start shitting in your fuel, you will need really big fuel filters.

When I was forced to take gas with ethanol I use additives when the bike is at rest for a longer period. :cheers:

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Ethanol is a huge issue here in California too. On our ride, in Idaho, we were able to get 93 octane w/o ethanol. Guess what, on that fuel our mileage went up dramatically, we had 61 MPG with the bikes on the 93 octane non-Ethanol fuel. Funny how much better the bike ran. I just can't figure how Ethanol helps the air quality when the vehicles running it are burning more fuel to cover the same distance due to the ethanol ? It makes no sense, and just costs us more money in the end.

I too have had/am getting good reliability from my 570, now at 210 hrs+. The only problem I've had is the bad fuel pump issue which was not bad fuel related. I've had a tank sock fitted virtually from new. I change the oil + filter around 15-20 hours and use a 'car' oil. Personally I don't buy into this 'special bike oil' hype and have had 0 clutch or mechanical problems. I use standard eth/glycol anti freeze/water mix with no problems although, if anything, I find the bike is over cooled here in the UK. I had a XR650R previously which ran VERY hot and was prone to overheat on slow riding. I tried Engine Ice and it did NOTHING for me so I wouldn't waste my money on it in any case. I also fitted fork socks which have done a good job so far in keeping the seals clean. The bike runs and sounds like it did at 20hrs, burns no oil so I intend to run until at least 500hrs before any strip down. JMO

I live where it gets warm and the Engine Ice is no joking matter. Water and standard antifreeze, begin to boil and that boiling happens right at the surface of the hottest part of contact. once this happens, the oxygen formed by the boiling along that surface seperates the coolant from the hot part of the cylinder wall and the coolant ceases to carry any heat away from the superheated area. Engine Ice and similar specialty coolants boil at higher temps than water of antifreeze and are, I believe, silicone based so that they resist the seperation barrier caused by boiling longer which allows the coolant to continue functioning even when the engine is overheating. I've observed personally the difference between standard coolants and Engine Ice, I run the Engine Ice in all my motorcycles. There are now some new coolants that are even better which are being used by many professional racing teams.

As to oil, well, I use exactly what the factory reccomends. My KTM 525 has over 35,000 miles on it using nothing but synthetic Motorex, and it has never been apart. it burns zero oil, is still on the original clutch, and has lost no noticeable power, I'll stick with synthetic Motorex as reccomended.

I fitted Rock Sox too, and I don't think I'm going to reccomend them. I like the concept, but in serious off road environments and with heavy use, they fall apart quickly. So far in less than 4000 miles, I've had one of the velcro tabs come unstitched and the other velcro tab is worh half way through from the fork guard. I might buy another pair, but I'll do a little modifying and add some extra stitches before I put them on the forks.

brian011952 said:

As to oil, well, I use exactly what the factory reccomends. My KTM 525 has over 35,000 miles on it using nothing but synthetic Motorex, and it has never been apart. it burns zero oil, is still on the original clutch, and has lost no noticeable power, I'll stick with synthetic Motorex as reccomended.

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wow. i assume those are mostly adventure riding miles? and taking it fairly easy on the bike? very impressive miles without rebuild. it seems the 70 degree bergs are capable of similar, examples in this thread:

http://husaberg.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16401

hoosie5seventy said:

brian011952 said:

As to oil, well, I use exactly what the factory reccomends. My KTM 525 has over 35,000 miles on it using nothing but synthetic Motorex, and it has never been apart. it burns zero oil, is still on the original clutch, and has lost no noticeable power, I'll stick with synthetic Motorex as reccomended.

Click to expand...

wow. i assume those are mostly adventure riding miles? and taking it fairly easy on the bike? very impressive miles without rebuild. it seems the 70 degree bergs are capable of similar, examples in this thread:

http://husaberg.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16401

Click to expand...

I cannot count the times that KTM has been at 90+ across the desert. Being easy on a bike engine is never something I've been good at. I have pictures and supporting testimony as to the KTM's life. Believe me, it has been anything but charmed and easy. I have raced it, I have ridden adventure style with it, I used it for daily transportation, and I've had to stay ahead of a teenage son who would just love to be in front. The long and the short of it is, I've had less problems from the KTM than I had from my Honda XR650 in 20,000 miles. The Honda went through a exhaust valve seat, two exhaust valves and two clutches. The KTM, and now it seems the Hussy are dang good machines, well built, and will handle whatever you throw at them. The one thing I do and which I'm extremely anal about is maintenance. Oils get changed, and the bike is inspected often. Anything out of order is fixed immediately.

The 70 degree is impressive. I was distracted after draining it from oil and I forgot to re-fill it.............
I guess I was lucky I use 10-60W and it was a cold day as I had a 2-3 h enduro drive with an empty engine... Not a single problem during the drive or any clues after I filled it up and quickly changed the oil. No traces of metal nor any signs of wear or performance loss. Luck and good engineering. Phew.

jon andersson said:

The 70 degree is impressive. I was distracted after draining it from oil and I forgot to re-fill it.............
I guess I was lucky I use 10-60W and it was a cold day as I had a 2-3 h enduro drive with an empty engine... Not a single problem during the drive or any clues after I filled it up and quickly changed the oil. No traces of metal nor any signs of wear or performance loss. Luck and good engineering. Phew.

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I can't even imagine how that worked like that. Phew is right and WOW!

Wow, this IS a horror story!

Should you have owned a Husqvarna, it would have been dead already :bounce3:

I was just about to fill it up with oil when my friend distracted me as he needed a hand on his bike. After that I just put everything together and went to bed. The day after we went out for a drive. I thought it sounded differently but it was a chilly day so I thought it was the colder air that did it. I also use a mechanical cam-chain tensioner so it didnt rattle as it would have with the OEM version that works with oil-pressure.

After the drive I went home, cleaned the bike and the NEXT morning I woke up with a jolt realizing I had driven it empty!!!

But no signs of wear or problems. I wouldn't dare do it again, can't be that lucky twice.

there must have just been enough oil in the bottom to keep going. a friend's kato suddenly started using oil, changed the oil and only got 300ml out. apparently you need very little in there to keep things lubricated, although i figure the oil must get a lot hotter when there's so little of it?

good news in your case. :cheers: