Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127860
whole ha nd to pull in the lever a nymore. Husaberg also designed new side number plates that are now interchangeable for all of the bikes, and the color of the fron t fork guards has bee n cha nged from yellow to blue. Bold new graphics round ou t the changes to the '98 Husabe rgs. With colors st ill based o n th e Swedish flag , the graphics a re now mad e o f a new mat erial with a new ad hesive, a nd are slo tted to allow the gas fumes to escape from the fuel tanks, w hich pre ve nts the stickers fro m bu bbling. The FE400 tha t I took to Baja holds 2.25 gallons of gas in the stock tan k and that just won 't cut it down there, where gils stops are few and far between. No one really makes an oversized aftermarket fuel tan k for Hu sabergs, so I called up Eric's Motorcycles in Pasadena, Californ ia , a nd begged him for one of his 'auxiliary fuel tanks that brings the fuel capacity up to nea rly th ree gallons. The alum inu m tank is san o, ho ld s about two-thirds of a gallon of gas very low on the bike, and is fair ly easy to install. The tank mounts where th e battery b o x would go on an electric-start 'Berg, and with th is setu p, the bike s ho u ld go approximately 110 miles before requiring a fres h gu lp of low-octan e Pemex g as. A nd y es, the b ik e ra n fi n e o n Perne x, althou gh it would pin g slightly under ex treme load s at lower rp m where you shouldn't be on a 'Berg an yway. Acerbis Rall y hand guards with spoilers we re the fina l add itions to make the bike as Baja-proo f as I coul d get it in the few days leading up to the ride. I could've chosen a n elec tric-start mod el for this rid e, but I we nt wi th the manu al, lef t-si de kick vers ion. I didn 't want the extra weig ht associated wi th a star ter mo tor and battery on the 400 bu t, most impo rtan tly, I needed the space for extra gas. Luckily, the bike starts very easily with a moderate stab at the lever and uses an automatic compression release to facilitate th is. I found what w orks be s t is to kick the lever th rou gh the stroke un til you find the spot with the most resis tance, re rum the lever to the top, and then give it a go. This simple technique usu all y d id the trick on the first try, warm or cold . You'd just better have a coordina ted left leg. Out on the trail, the 'Berg is a blast to rid e - as lon g as you are riding it hard and aggressively . The botto m-end power is almost nonexistent compared to the rus h of power you get when you clamp the throttle back and enter the middle to upper revs. The bike absoluteIy screams up top and produces about the same amount of peak power as does an XR600 with an afterma rket pipe. But down low, it' s nothing like an XR400 or 600 that will chug along at any pace. Since the bik e ha s a so mewhat narrow powerband, it must be shifted oft en to make full use of the power d elivered. Basically, if you d on't ride th e ' Be rg ha rd, it will bore you; and conversely, if you ride the 400 hard and fast, you will have the time of you r life . In Mexico, on the long days, this tired me out a little quic ker than the other guys, but it was kind of fun "mctocrossing" through Baja all the time, even though my com padres were always whining about my excessive du st . I'v e said thi s before about Husabergs and I'll say it aga in: N o o the r bike sounds o r feels like a ' Berg does when you're hard on the gas and ripping along. 'Nuff said. A sma ll oil /wa ter leak did d evelo p o n the left side of the ne w mo to r between the cylinder and the head , but it d id not pr esen t a problem asid e from getting the bik e a little dirtier. The wide-ratio, six-speed gearbox on the 400 did a fine job in Mexico, allowing me to pick my way throug h the tight trail s and run up to nearly 90 m p h on the faster roads without a need for d ifferent gearing (stoc k is 13/ 48). Typical of Europea n transm issions, neutral is ex tre me ly ha rd to find on Husabergs un less yo u are roll ing, and if the bik e has stopped mo vin g, you ' re better off find ing neutral from a bo ve (p ressi ng down). Full-power s hifts got better as th e tra nny broke in, but occasiona lly missed shifts do still happen, pe rha ps a problem related to an extre mely short shift lever (about three inches long) . The suspension com po nen ts on the en d uro m od el FE p erformed well in Baja, offering a su p p le rid e over th e many small road irregularities such as washboa rd sections and rocks - jus t like enduro sus p ension should. The bike also had a good resistance to bottoming when G-outs appeared on a trail, a nd the bike tracked fine in the rou gh. Baja champ Tim Morton, who is 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds, felt the suspension ~orlled well for him and had no co m p la in ts wha tsoever other than the jacked-up rea r end , which was set up for my 6foot-I , 19S-poundframe. I would have preferred stiffer springs, since [ know that the s p ri ng ra tes were p ro bably d eveloped for a lighter rider like Morton , but, overall, the suspension worked fine. Sandy w hoo p sectio ns, fast G-outs and ha rd landings wo u ld botto m th e suspension in a heartbe at with me on board, but the motorcycle usually kept tracking straight and true, thus not prese nti ng a rea l problem. It ju st would have been nice to have stiffer springs to match my weight. The Brembo brakes performed well, but they were both a bit tou chy for me. It felt like they were either on o r off, offering very little in the way of feel or se nse of mo dulation in between these two drastic poiots. The 400 ' Berg is a neu tral handler: It doesn' t do anything great nor docs it do a ny thing evil - w hich, in Mexico, is a goo d com promise. The bi ke tu rns we ll through flat or ru tted corners; it tracks fine; and straight-line stability wa s first rate. Only an occasional spasm of minor headshake could be felt. However, sliding the bike through slick, sm ooth turns took some getting used to because of the sna ppy power deli very, but it was still a blast to fishtail out of swee pe rs with the gas on . As far as ergonomics are concerned , the seat is quite low in the center and eleva tes itself ra ther steeply toward the rear. I di d not care for tha t too much, but I quickiy adapted. The sitting-tostand ing transition requires a litt le too much wo rk for a tall rider. You can also blame some of this cra mped feeling on the dip in the seat (a nd [ don't mean me). A nd, speaking of the seat, the padding is also very hard - too hard for three days in the saddle in Baja. The b ik e is very sli m a nd easy to move around on, and if you rotate the handlebars forwa rd a little, you' ll lose some of the cra mped feelin g I expe rie nced w h ile s tandi ng. The p egs a re almost wide enough, but the ad de d-on sections to the pegs look like a n afterthought. The fit and finish on Husabergs are ge tting better by the year. Th e new, san o wiring harness and switches are mu ch cleaner-looking, and the new Domino clutch lever makes the bike ea sie r to ride, since it's easier to use. The chain gu ide looks like it' s off a 78 Husky, though, and rattles like one, too. Husaberg supposedly used a different roller material to quiet down the gu ide, but it still makes too much racket - eno ugh to mak e you sto p and search for the noise when the days become long . The aluminum handlebars are a nice and welcomed tou ch, but the ' Berg still u ses a ho dgepodge of nu ts and bo lts tha t make it harder to work o n and therefore even mo re difficult to pa ck a light too l pack for the trail. Overall, the 1998 Husaberg FE400 performed admirably throughout its three da ys and 500 miles in Baja California and did so without missing a single beat, proving so me o f m y dou bters wrong. As a race bik e - ridden lik e a race bike, and wrenched on like a race bike - the 'Be rg is ha rd to bea t. It's a giant-killing screamer that craves to be pounded into oncoming obstacles. Rid den any other wa y, though, the suspension still feels good - but the motor will bore you . Would I take a Hu saberg to Baja again? You be t . Sure, I compla ined about some things, but the bike made the entire SOO-mile route and I had a great tim e o n some thing different. It' s just too bad that being d ifferent will cost you a big chunk of change. ". 1998 Husaberg FE400 Specifications U st Price D isplacement En g ine type . $7848 400cc Liquid-cooled. single-eylinder tour -stroke Bore Jl stroke 92 x 60 .2mm Compression ratio 11.6:1 Carburetion 38mm DeIl'Orto I g nitio n Bectrcnic Transmission speeds 6 Starting system Kick Fuel capacity 2.25 gal. Wheelbase . : 58.7 in. Seat height 37.4 in. Front tire 90/90ยท21 Michilin M S 11 Rear tire 130/80-18 Michilin MS11 White Power F ront suspen sion Ext eme conventional forks r wi th 11.6 inchesof wheel travel . Rea r suspension Whlte Power - Bleed Adjust- shock with 12.8 inches of wheel travel. Front brake .Dis c Rear brake Drsc Claimed dry weight 239Ibs. r-, 0\ 0\ ...... 00 ..... QJ .D .B u o 33