Questions and Review on 06' 610 SM

[Mark Lelchook]

I just picked up a Husky 610 SM a few days ago. I rode it yesterday and liked it quite a bit. I have a 02 KTM duke with aftermarket exhaust, race tires, thats really well sorted out for canyon riding, the Husky was bought to replace it. First impression about the Husky is that it feels light while sitting on it, and it turns in really easy, its very flickable, especially from one side to the other, the center of gravity feels really low. I was amazed as the suspention is just the way it came, no knobs turned yet. The six speed Tranny was a treat compared to the Dukes 5 speed, and the brakes are amazing. My duke has good brakes as well as it has a nice wave Rotor on front, but still the Huskys are even better. The big dissapointment is the power, it has none. Mind you i didnt get on the throttle to hard as its new, but you can tell, its just not there. But the good point is is that I could hear the exhaust was plugged up, I could hear a slight wisle at certain RPMs, and could feel it was restricted way to much. By the way, This is what I do for a living is race headers, mainly for drag race cars, but as ive been doing it for a while, it was easy to figure out the problem. Anyways, I took the muffler off yesterday, and its way plugged up, I was amazed, it looks to me by the area of the cat in it, and the other openings, it would be lucky to be able to make 40 - 45 HP. So I took on the huge project of taking out the insides of the muffler, which was a huge project that I wasnt planing on. I ended up having to cut the aluminum shell on the bottom just to get the core out. In the end, I basicly made a race muffler with a 2 1/4" core and stainless steel packing. It is basicly the same inside as any straight thru race muffler, but with the stock outer shell. I saw nothing with the factory header that was worth worrying about at this time. The muffler was its plug. So after getting it back together, its loud, as loud as my duke with the dual Aracmopobic mufflers. But Oh well, its a single, and i couldnt ride it the way it was, it had no grunt. So ill go for a ride today and give results.

So as of now, my report is that its a great bike, I liked everything except the power, and the kickstand drives my crazy since it always goes up, ive never had to deal with anything like that before, ill get used to it . I also have to keep an eye on if its lean or not. The idle came up about 500 RPM just by modifying the pipe, so ive got to be careful. Plus I dont trust the stock tires as im so used to riding on Race tires, as I am laying the Duke over pretty damn far. Ill keep anyone thats interested about my opinion on the 610 SM posted.

Mark

[Mark Lelchook]

Oh, My question is does anyone know of any good places to get parts, high performance or otherwise, for my new 610 SM . This is my first Husqvarna. Thanks

[rgmax]

My 610Sm is due to arrive friday and the first thing i'm changing is the exhaust. There are two options currently, both from Leo Vinci. A full system about $900 or a slip-on which is about $350.

I'm going with the slip-on, which is what Paul ( GP Motorcycles, San Diego ) recommended and had installed on a customer bike. His opinion was the header seems to be a good design. An addtional modification he made was an ignition box off another Husky model to clear up a slight miss at 4500 RPM. His recomendation to me was to try the slip-on and go from there.

I know of no other bolt-on performance parts for this motor. Anyone?......

More information can be found at:

http://www.sitogroup.com/servlet/page?_pageid=138&_dad=sitop30&_schema=SITOP30

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums//showthread.php?t=9436

http://www.supermotojunkie.com/showthread.php?t=8014

http://www.supermotojunkie.com/showthread.php?t=5957

[Mark Lelchook]

Well, I rode the bike after the exhaust mod, huge huge differance. Now I wonder what they were thinking with the cat in there. It appears to be lean a low throttle with no load, but fine everywhere else, ill have to get it on the Dyno. But as you said, there is a slight miss at 4500 with the stock ignition, which is what im seeing and hearing. So now it runs awsome, like it should. The kickstand drives me crazy though, it actually tries to move forward off the stand, ill have to work on that. Ill give more feedback later. Thanks for the post on sites and parts.

Thanks

Mark

[Mark Lelchook]

Well, another review, I took it for a ride today, it was running great, handling well, then on the way home the gauge panel freaked out, lights on and off, it went crazy. I got it home, and now its dead. Must have a short in the guage panel, so I took it to the dealer for warrany repair. Oh Well !!!

[rgmax]

By 'dead' I guess you mean no lights/no start? If thats the case check the main fuse. This has happened to others, one guy found a shorted wire in his tail light assembly caused by a sharp edge.

If its just the instrument cluster try holding down the reset button.