How are Husky 510 sm?

[catch2otwo]

how are these things? maintenance heavy? reliable? the usual questions...

[eboos]

Ask Rambunctous. He had one.

[bostongixxer]

buy my Aprilia SXV 550. Listed under FS thread. Better bike.

[seth399]

I almost bought a 510 or 450 last spring and really would love one for the street (or the ape). They seem to do ok on the street but would require more regular maint. than say a drz or something. Would probably be looking at changing the oil alot anyway as its pretty much a race motor like if I rode my crf450 on the street.

[snowborder]

I had one... see my signature below.... I think that says it all.

Company went Bankrupt.... BMW bought them.... replaced most of their dealers. Most don't have parts on hand. Most have to order parts and sometimes 3 to 6 months out.

They are easy to work on for oil changes... valve height. But even stating that are maint heavy for changing oil and checking valve clearance every 10 hours or 1000 miles or so..

It is a race bike with lights. But you can do better with the SXV above but be careful even there, and make sure there is a dealer near you. I'd buy the SXV if there was dealer within an hour of me....

[lrrs313]

how are these things? maintenance heavy? reliable? the usual questions...

They will very reliably blow up. Ask Rambunctious, tl25rs, etc. And when they do blow up, good luck getting parts.

[snowborder]

I haven't met any person on any forum with more than 6K miles on any machine from Husq without a major rebuild or blow up.

[Pestilence]

I got my 07' w/180 Loudon race miles on her.
The 07 motors are rock solid.

Taken her to The Gap twice, 1200+ miles each trip and use for almost daily commute 50 miles round trip. Flog the snot outa her all the time and generally abuse her when given the chance. I've got about 4.5k miles on the bike (odo computer got water logged on trip home from buying her, took 8 months to warranty replace) with well over 100 hrs of use and runs as strong as the day I got her.

I change the oil (1.75 Qt's of Rotella T) every 5-10 hrs of use, (10 minutes) the filters and oil every 3rd change (20 minutes) and check the valves every few months (20 Minutes). I've only had to sand a shim down .001 to keep in tolerance.

As for repairs, the only thing i've had to do was change the cluth line as the slave banjo developed a leak and the brake lever after a crash.

She's been crashed 6 times, 3 on the track, once on the street and twice in the woods. Each time just picked up, cleaned the dirt off and kept riding.

All in all it's been an awesome bike mostly due to taking care of her. Yes the maintenance is high but takes minutes. It's a trade I'm very willing to make for the fun factor she gives me. I love to hit the twisties and with the great sumo suspension the bumby back roads are actually fun vs beating the shit outa ya on a sportbike.

The biggest downside to me is the seat sucks, get a pair of cycling shorts with the padded crotch/ass to help or buy the aftermarket softee. The fuel range is only 95 miles or so with average 47 miles to the gallon and the worst, if I need a major engine part, I'm SOL for upwards of 8-12 months due to the BMW takover and part distribution problems.

Hope that helps, Any questions?

[ahtune69]

I have a 07 sm510 and it's a blast to ride on the street/track. No major problems with the bike except the seat sucks, sent it to renazco and they reshaped it and it feels 100 times better. I change the oil every 10hrs and filter every other. As for valve adjustment I've checked them 3 times and shimmed it once. So far I gone 1500mi without any issues stated from others. Fun bike to flog around fo sho.

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (Instinct: Mozilla/4.1 (U; BREW 3.1.5; en-US; Teleca/Q05A/INT))

Ive only blown up one.....
ive only ridden one though. got about...what...5 laps joel?

[catch2otwo]

thanks for the replies. Im not worried about changing the oil or checking valves, just didnt know if there was other stuff that it needed. Sounds about right for a race tard. Bostongixx id love to buy your ape, it would look nice next to my tuono, but im actually doing a trade, bike for a truck. Should be fun to terrorize downtown san fran with it.

Was this bmw takeover recent? There are two well respected husky dealers here minutes from my apt which is why i entertained this idea in the first place.

[snowborder]

The issue is getting parts mostly.....
my old bike has been out of commission since July 7th waiting on 1st, 2nd and 6th gears.
I have since sold it to a dude in PA who is waiting patiently...

[catch2otwo]

The issue is getting parts mostly.....
my old bike has been out of commission since July 7th waiting on 1st, 2nd and 6th gears.
I have since sold it to a dude in PA who is waiting patiently...

Did you figure out what failed?

[snowborder]

gears made out of die cast seems to be a more common problem then people seem to post about. Once I started posting, it seems 5 or 6 other have had the same exact issues.
Unfortunately it means a complete engine rebuild

[Pestilence]

gears made out of die cast

Everything is cast including valves on production bikes.

[Paul_E_D]

KTM 690SMC FTW! streetbike maint. streetbike reliability, true motard performance + highway ability.

[Pestilence]

KTM 690SMC FTW!

Well YEAH.. it's a 690

The Husky 610 is a very worthy street machine if you want true reliability but who wants that.. half the excitement of riding an exotic 'race bike with lights' is the fact that it could blow up at any minute

[Paul_E_D]

ya got me there!

[scottieducati]

If you want a Husky, buy an SM610, '07 or later. I picked mine up for $4200 and am *extremely* happy with it. It's a KILLER bike and they, unlike the SMR's, were designed to be a street bike and are reportedly vastly more reliable. So far so good with mine, just fixing a buncha stupid shit the P.O. did to it.

[typeone]

Company went Bankrupt.... BMW bought them.... replaced most of their dealers.

there was no bankruptcy, the moto division was sold off to Cagiva/MV Agusta around '87, then a few years ago BMW became interested and purchased the moto division from MV. i saw that as a good move, BMW has been doing some interesting work in the off-road space. i bought my TC right when the BMW rumors were flying, never saw a change in either dealer i work with.

the point about race (510) vs. commute (610) is a good one. while having a 'race bike with lights' on the street is insane fun, if you think you will tire of maintenance eventually, just go with something like the 610 or 690 and call it a day. for instance, my Ape needs oil after every ride (can't go further than 150mi without it), wants fuel every ~50mi, needs FRESH oil/filter every 500mi then start to layer on the bigger maintenance items at short intervals and you have a real needy (and expensive) machine.

[snellen]

I had a KTM Duke, nice, but you can't compare with the thrill on my new 510.. Super easy to do maintenance on ( a lot more the the KTM with the stupid oil in frame!!) Only ride it 1 hour or so at the time. Coming out of turn and wheelying as you snick third...oh yeah. Of course I have a Speed triple for more mundane travel (it will also lift in third, just going a lot faster....) For an only bike I am not sure...for a second or third no doubt!!

[seth399]

the point about race (510) vs. commute (610) is a good one. while having a 'race bike with lights' on the street is insane fun, if you think you will tire of maintenance eventually, just go with something like the 610 or 690 and call it a day. for instance, my Ape needs oil after every ride (can't go further than 150mi without it), wants fuel every ~50mi, needs FRESH oil/filter every 500mi then start to layer on the bigger maintenance items at short intervals and you have a real needy (and expensive) machine.

what do you mean there, you need to add oil every 150miles or it will be low?

[catch2otwo]

I have a tuono for my everyday ride, the 510 would just be for weekends and trackdays. we'll see when I go see it today. anything to look out for? questions to ask? obviously the usual bike questions, but anything the huskys needed that should have been done?

[snowborder]

Yes, you are correct. In NH the closest dealer to me is in Royalton, VT. All the others were closed.

Either way... it is hard to get parts for, hard to find someone to work on them (unless you have a lot of time and space) and need almost constant attention. Truthfully if a motard is your thing, I'd go DRZ or build a Yamaha 450 up.

As fun as the bike was, I am looking elsewhere now. I want something will that last longer than 6k miles. I did see on Supermotojunkie that someone did have 22k on a 610.... only after having a timing chain blowup at 14k.

You have to be careful on almost every bolt for torque as they are known for breaking / stripping. Some even strip trying to loosen them from the factory torque, truthfully, not the funnest bike I have worked on.

there was no bankruptcy, the moto division was sold off to Cagiva/MV Agusta around '87, then a few years ago BMW became interested and purchased the moto division from MV. i saw that as a good move, BMW has been doing some interesting work in the off-road space. i bought my TC right when the BMW rumors were flying, never saw a change in either dealer i work with.

the point about race (510) vs. commute (610) is a good one. while having a 'race bike with lights' on the street is insane fun, if you think you will tire of maintenance eventually, just go with something like the 610 or 690 and call it a day. for instance, my Ape needs oil after every ride (can't go further than 150mi without it), wants fuel every ~50mi, needs FRESH oil/filter every 500mi then start to layer on the bigger maintenance items at short intervals and you have a real needy (and expensive) machine.

[R7]

what do you mean there, you need to add oil every 150miles or it will be low?

Yup, you have to add oil every 100-150 miles. It's normal from what i've read, I beleive the motor only has 1 ring per piston and that's the reason?