Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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on course . On the rocky hillclimbs, the TE t rack ed st raig ht a nd dished out en o ugh bo tt o m end to ke ep you torquing o n yo ur wa y, but t here w ere times w he n the quicker- revving motor was a bit of a nuisan ce because onc e t hat rear w hee l starts to lose t raction and spin, or bounce , off t he grou nd, the r pm q uickly shoot off into t he st ratosphere. So it helps to choose yo ur line ca re fully in t he slick st uff. No such pro blems with the T E450 and 5 10, ho weve r. T hese th ings w ill motor up anyt hing, as t hey bo t h de live r go bs of torque and lots of pure top-en d horsepower. When yo u o pe n up the t hro ttle on these bikes , yo u bette r mean it, more so on t he 510 t han t he 45 0 . Th e 510 borde rs o n too mu ch muscle , whi le t he 450 seems to find th at happ y med ium bet ween controllability and bru te power, making it surprisingly agile in the tight stuff. The 510 , on t he oth er hand , is happ ier turn ing up soil on t he more w ide-o pe n st uff. We ma naged to find o urselves in so me e xtremely tight and slow-going terrain and, like we said, found t he 450 to be remarkably nimb le and co nt rollab le for a big thumper (just like we did in '04). We did, however, get the 450 to be lch st eam fro m t he co olant ove rflow bo tt le in o ne unusually t ight area wh ile trying to look good for t he camera. Yes, photo shoots can be brutal o n cooling systems , and also on clutches . But the Hus ky 's hydraulically o perated clutc hes o n all of th e bikes held up well to the abuse . So did th e electric starters . We came to appreciate the Huskys' strong brake s, not to me ntio n the re latively heavy eng ine braking, on t he long and ro cky do wn hills, tho ugh the 250's front brake fe lt a little to uchy at times, w hich was a litt le unnerving w hen the gro und wa s slick. Co mfort is no longer an issue wit h the Hus kys: th ey certainly don' t fee l muc h different t han t he Japanes e bike s anymore, and th e co nt rol s are light and easy to use. Th e sea ts, how e ve r, are a ta d o n the soft side , but we'd ra t her have it t hat way than the ot he r way aro und . We also liked th e neutral bend of th e aluminum handleb ars. Durabil itywise , all of t he TEs he ld up we ll to a long day of some se rio us punishing, tho ugh we did no tice t hat a few of t he bikes had bro ke n wi res that con nect to t he electronic odo mete r, and we saw one radiato r shro ud cracked afte r it had apparently caught a large branch. (Co me to t hink of it, the shrouds do st ick out kind of far.) While we liked all three o f the TEs , t he 250 was o ur choice for on e last ride at the en d of t he day, t he plush suspensio n and user-friendly mot or was just too much to resist after a n all-day workout chasing th e Smiths over t he ro cks. But t he 450 isn't bad to be "st uck w ith" e ithe r, since it too is rat her plush, relatively forgiving and has t hat power to get /TE!§lflfo}/ You wont horsepower? Then you' ll love the TES1O. It's got more than enough to go around. TES I O/TCS I 0 MSRP N/A Engine Single cylinder, four-stroke Valves Titanium (4) Displacement 501.0lec Bore x Stroke 97 x 67.8mm Transmission Six-speed Starting Electric and kick starte r/electric Cooling Ignition Carburetor Front brake Rear Brake Liquid Digital .4 1mm Keihin FCR .Disc 260mm Floating (solid TE) disc 220mm/240mm SUSPENSION Front ....Marzocchi inverted te lescopic hydraulic adjustable fork (45mm) Rear ....SA CHSprogressive Soft Damp w/hydraulic adjustable single shock TIRES Front ......90/90-21 in. Michelin Endur Cam p Ill/Pirelli MT32 Rear 140/80-18 110/90-19 in. Michelin Enduro Ca mp II I1Pirelii MT32 Claimed Dry Weight.. ..239.7/235.0 Ibs. Wheelbase 57.48 in. Ground Clearance 13.38 in. Seat Height.. 37.28 in. Fuel Tank Cap acity 2.4 gal. Even in the tight woods, the TESlOis fun to ride, but it still live s for the open stuff. www.cycienEWs.com CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 3, 2004 21