2010 TE250 Power Up and Protection

[Vintage Veloce]

Migrating an old post I made to another forum way back in 2011:

So here we are. My first “mod” was an hour meter. Then I put 4 hours on the engine and about 120 miles on the bike. As it had the throttle stop, I just kind of rode it, with some effort to keep the revs below 6k most of the time. It wasn’t hard as it didn’t rev very well with all the anchors on it. And it tended to stall when warm, and was also sometimes hard to start when warm. I’m one of those who doesn’t believe in babying the engine too much during break in. I know others feel a full 600 miles of slow poking is best, but I’m not going that route. So today I derestricted the bike and installed some protection on it. I thought the following pictures might help the next guy to do this, so here they are with my comments.

One comment first at the beginning. Having dine this, I’ve found the bike runs much better, even without updating the ECU with a flash. No more stalls, much easier starting and the bike runs much more smoothly. If I was going to do this again, I’d derestrict the bike right out of the box. Maybe I’d leave the throttle stop in place just to keep me in check for the first miles, but that’s it. I can’t see how pulling the other stuff could hurt the bike.

So after the initial 4 hours and 120 miles I changed the oil and filter, and cleaned the oil trap screen. And then I moved to the power up kit.

Here’s what I got in the box for the power up kit.

On the top left is a cable, that I am pretty sure is for the tailight on other models and is unused with the TE250. All wrapped up on the right is the chain. There was other stuff in the box, but it wasn't for the power up.


First thing to go was the charcoal canister. Too ugly.

And the valve on the tank vent can be a problem. It only lets air into the tank, so if your tank swells in the heat, this valve holds all that pressure in. I tossed it in the bin.

Here’s a shot of the pretty side with the charcoal canister removed.

And a pic of my vent tube routing.

Next up I pulled the throttle stop. Note that it was required to remove the cables ends from the disc. I photographed it close up first and that made it easy to count the threads on the throttle cables to put it back them exactly where they where.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Next I moved onto the exhaust. I like quieter bikes these days, and I noted Dan's efforts with a special quiet baffle he ordered. That unit is in the TE250 parts book too, so I ordered one from Halls. On the right is the spark arrestor that came on the bike. In the middle is the baffle that came in the kit, and on the left is the dB killer I got from Halls (8000H0827).

And here's a pic from above showing different openings on the ends.

I put the middle one in, that came with the kit. I want to see how it works. But I note that it doesn't have a spark arrestor screen and I'll need that eventually. Regardless, I want to try all three of these.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Then I pulled the exhaust. That took a bit of persuading. The cat is in the pipe leading to the muffler and fell right out.

Then I pulled the exhaust sensor and put in the plug.

It was handy to safety wire it to the nearby spring mount.

And then I pulled the plug connecting the cable to exhaust sensor to the harness. This is up under the tank. It is possible to lift the tank without removing the shrouds or trim panels on the tank. But it is delicate putting th tank back. You might be better off taking it all apart if this is your first time. You can see the connector here. I then put the plug in and zip tied the wiring back up.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Next was the air filter. Good to wear nitrile gloves for this one! You have to pull the battery first.

Here is the new cage mounted in the filter next to the old one. The difference is incredible.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

So here are all the parts that came off. I also pulled the pipe shields as I have replacements coming from P3.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Next up was some Cycra hand guards. I considered their center mount unit and even ordered it. But I found that it might get in the way if I lowered the bars. The husky has some nice spacers under the bar clamp that you can take out to lower the bars.... and as I might cut down the seat, I expect I might want to remove those spacers. So I got the U mounting system for Magura bars. Here is a shot of the clamps tentatively mounted. You can see they give just enough clearance (I hope!) for lowering the bar clamps later.

You have to cut out the ends of the grips. This is the throttle tube side, and I increased the side of the home in the end of the throttle tube too. I used and exacto nife on the grip and then carefully filed the throttle tube opening bigger. Be careful not to hack up the throttle tube with your exacto knife!

You want to make sure the hole is bit bigger than the inside of the handle bar, so the clamp that inserts in the bar won't catch the throttle tube. This shot shows the clearance.

And a pic of the clutch mounting and cable routing.

Guards installed!

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Next up was the new P3 pipe shields. These are nice pieces. Not perfectly beautiful like CF you might buy for a Bimota, but really solid and well constructed, IMO.
Here are the old guards and the replacements.

These are mode with a couple layers and you can see the heat reflective underside.

And the pretty top.

Mounting was no problem, just followed the included directions. For appearances, I would prefer if the pipe guard mounted a bit higher on the pipe. You can see how the top of the pipl=e is visible But maybe it's angled a bit toward the ground to protect better from rocks and whatnot.

Derestricted and guards installed!

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Continued on my protection project. I bought a flasher and LED turn signals from siccassracing.com. Helpful guys there. The KTM flasher plugs right in and sicass put bullet connectors on the turn signals for me. The bullets were a bit small so I crimped the female ends on the bike a bit and no problem, they fit fine.
I bought the smallest flexible stalk turn signals, My goal is to put them in protected locations and have flexible stalks so there is a chance they bend instead of breaking off. Here is the blinkers I picked:
http://sicassracing.com/store/turn_signals/led/amber_lens_led

The flasher plugged right in and I drilled a mounting hole in the existing flasher metal tab.

I spent alot of time figuring where to put the blinkers. The front went in the stock locations and seem pretty fell protected by the forks and tank shrouds.

In the rear I threw out the existing mounting bracket and license plate holder. I fabricated a plate backing from an old number plate and mounted that behind the tail light. And I mounted the turn signals to the sides of the taillighgt housing. This is a pretty protected location and with the flexible stalks hopefully they will be OK in my many crashes.

Rear quarter view.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

After this I put the Husqvarna lower seat on the bike, and then removed the spacers from under the handlebar. The lower seat is good... its not miles lower but it is significant. I was thinking about cutting it down a bit further, but I do want some real cushioning left. So I think I'll try it like this first.
Then I mounted my Garmin eTrex GPS. The garmin handlebar mount didn't fit the fat bar, so I used a half round file to make it a bit bigger and it clamped on.
Next up is some small mirrors. And my power commander V and Autotune are on order from semcodesigns.com. And I want some better tires and I'll do the smaller sprocket then...

 

[Vintage Veloce]

The mirror project is on hold while I wait for some parts. But today I put the big sprocket on. Wow it is a lot larger! So much for highway travel.
And then the fun part, I put in the PCV and Autotune! What a mess of cables.

And some more...

I also zip tied the battery down, as was suggested. But I couldn't see how it would move with the seat in place.
Tomorrow I'm off to the desert and we will see how it all works. I'm particularly curious about the autotune! Seemed OK on my ride around the neighborhood, and its finding massive corrections (more than 20% too rich in some spots!). More reporting after the desert trip!

 

[Vintage Veloce]

So last week I went to the desert to test my new bike! And... well, it was a bust, but not the bike. My buddy and I were on the second ride of the day when he became an astronaut at high speed over some whoops and broke his collarbone badly when he landed. (Video here) After making sure he was stable I got the rangers and we hauled him out. It took a couple days to get him through the hospital and then back home (400 mi away).
But on the husky side I had just enough time on the bike to shake it down and to have a list of things to adjust.
I did crash a bunch... here's some evidence:

Interestingly and happily, my tiny turn signals that I had carefully mounted completely avoided damage on these multiple fall overs. So those were a complete success. See early in this thread if you want to see those blinkers.

On the unfortunate side, the crash that rashed the hand shield above bent the top bar clamp and the washers that hold the rubber mounting bushings!

I was really surprised this stuff bent before the handle bars. A bit of surfing this forum showed me this does happen and that the culprit is the rubber bushings. They allow the bars to twist and warp the top clamp. So I ordered a new top clamp from Motoxotica and some cool solid aluminum bar mount bushings from BRP.
The replacement bar clamp is not quite as nice a piece as the original... rounded edges, not nicely anodized and more of the flashing showing on the mold seams. But otherwise fine. And most impressive that Motoxotica had it in stock, allow with new washers for the bushings. New clamp on the bottom:

Here is a pic of the cool billet bushings next to the old rubber ones.

Sadly, you can barely see the bushings when they are installed:

Note the bar spacers have been removed.
I also found I was struggling with my 28” inseam and the height of the TE250. There was one place in particular where I fell on a hillclimb and getting back down was a real issue. You see, even with just the tip of my left toe on the ground my right foot can’t reach the right footpeg, let alone the brake lever on the other side of the bike. (You guys who cut and lower so both feet can reach the ground crack me up... I can only dream of that.) On the level I just gas it while hanging off and then pull myself up. But on a sandy downhill holding the front brake and not having my weight immediately on the pegs was an issue. So it was time to cut the seat. Actually, I knew I was going to do this, but ran out of time before the desert trip. Nicely, the TE250 has spacers under the bars, so when you remove that your seat to bar relationship is still good after cutting the seat. Also, with short legs the seat to pegs relationship is fine too. I already had the lowered seat from Husqvarna, but frankly it was only about a cm lower, not the 3.5 they claimed. I cut about 1 to 1.5 cm more off the seat Luckily, I’ve done this before so it wasn’t too scary. I marked a center line down the middle of the seat (front to back). And the I measured off the sides of that line and made lots of marks to aid my cutting. Its important to make lots of marks, farther down the seat than you might need as sanding and cutting will obviously obliterate the top marks. I started with a big bread knife!

But actually, I found the best tool is a Sureform flat file. If I were going to do it again, I would only use the file. You can see the back of the seat is smoother where I cleaned it up with the Sureform. The front was too thin already to smooth it any more than this. But these small marks mostly disappear under the seat cover,

I put a layer of plastic wrap on top of the cut area of the seat in case the cover isn’t perfectly water proof. Here it is on the bike, not bad!

Pic of the excellent Sureform flat file:

In the desert for my first rides I has made the preload really, really low to lower the seat height. This was a bad idea as the ride was horrible over the bumps.
I have also ordered a 1” lowering Kouba link and will report back on that after its installed and I reset the sag properly.

Oh, and I decided to add a BRP chain guide. I was nervous the stock one might bend and leave me stranded in the desert: And I couldn't resist ordering it when I bought the bar spacers.

Another thing I needed was low profile mirrors. I actually tried to buy some dualstar mirrors but couldn’t reach them. But quickly realized I could build my own from a bicycle mirror, a corner brace, a bolt and a hoseclamp:

I used some heat shrink to tidy it up.

Here they are on the bike:

These work surprisingly well if you don't mind looking under your arms and you aren't too wide!

And a closeup of the mirror:

Finally I also found the Power Commander and Autotune was making some major jetting adjustments. Some of the cells were close to -40! My dealer has proven useless, and I was very curious so I bought the iBeat stuff from Semco Designs (Scott is an excellent guy!). Here is what I found today:

So that explains why it is so rich on the smaller throttle openings!

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Well this is the last bit on the prepping of my TE250. I just put a Kouba link on. As I said earlier, I have a 28" inseam and would like to be able to get one toe on the ground and be able to reach the peg on the other side. (Two toes on the ground is only a dream ;-))
I bought a Kouba HL8-1. If you order one of these from someone besides Kouba, make sure they read the part number off the link itself. Kouba uses the same packaging for several links and you need to link at the link itself. The HL8-1 is supposed to drop the rear about an inch. My measurement once it was on the bike came to about 2 cm. Thats fine with me at is well matches what I can lower the front. The front forks slide up a bit, but not a whole inch.
Here are some shots of the original and the new link.

The link went on fine.

Here are two tips:
- Do NOT over tighten the grease fitting. It's very easy to strip. (Don't ask me how I know this ;-). The original grease fitting threads do not extend all the way to the "nut" part of the fitting and thus the fitting might not bottom the nut part against the body of the link. Do not tighten the fitting too far.

- I found one of the the rubber bearing seals popped out when I filled the link with grease from the gun. This was without the nuts on the mounting bolts. I ended up pulling the link back off and popping the seal back in. You might fill the link with grease before mounting it, and then checking the rubber seals.

This is a shot of the rear mounting bearing with the original grease. Looks like Husqvarna greased these fine at the factory. Obviously I cleaned the sand up before reassembly!

Here's the link installed:

This shot shows the clearance to the swingarm, fully extended. Its pretty close. Kouba says the other link that lowers the bike more might hit the swingarm, and I believe it.

I also took all the preload out, had my wife sit on the bike and really bounced the rear end. The shock bumper does hit before the tire hits the fender. I couldn't bottom the bike hard, but it looks like the fender is probably clear That's good. Some link installs the tire will hit the fender and that could cause the rear wheel to lock, a bad thing.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Dec 2011, had the bike lowered:
Previously I had cut my seat, put a Kouba link on the reat and slid the forks up in the tubes. But I haven't been satisfied with that. I have a 28" inseam and as a dirt novice just wanted to be able to touch the ground on one side and a footpeg on the other!
I called all the local shops and ending up picking Nick at Provalve in Costa Mesa, California. I wanted to go somewhere that would take the whole bike so I we could really talk about the end results I wanted and so I could see the completed project. Nick was really helpful and spent lots of time with me discussing the project, even though this is obviously a small deal for a novice rider. We removed the Kouba link and moved the forks back up to the stock position. Nick shortened both ends and revalved everything.
So far I'm really happy with the result, but the real test will be in the riding. I can now put my left foot on the ground and reach the footpeg with my right foot. (Touching both feet to the ground is still only a dream. ;-)
Here's a pic of the end result:

 

[Vintage Veloce]

With my small feet I've found my TE250 shift pedal to be too long:

So I bought a Driven pedal, and found it is the same length, but the splines on the mounting cause it to be higher than the stock pedal.

The different angle of the driven pedal is actually handy for me, as when I shortened it an inch, it ended up being back at the proper height (note the pencil marks from the original lever position):

A welded pedal like this will be weaker, but I'm hoping it holds up. It certainly fits me better this way!

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Lowered my TE250 and wanted a shorted stand so I got the one from the SMR. Here are a couple quick shots in case anyone else was interested.
On the left is the stock H0233 and on the right is the SMR stand, the H0234.
For my lowering and taste, the SMR stand is a bit short I may weld or epoxy a pad on the bottom.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

And the beginning of the end, originally posted elsewhere Dec 6 2012:

From my 2010 TE250 with about 25 hours. I had some trouble getting the mesh oil screen out of the bike... found it was hung up on some metal particles. Used a magnet to pull them out, so they are magnetic.

Man, I hope this isn't a significant problem. But these are more than a shaving. Almost look like parts from a tiny ring or washer...

but then after a bit more mileage:
Sadly, I found some more its in the oil, and the new bits were clearly from a bearing cage. A check has revealed the bearings have failed on the top timing chain gear. I seem to have caught it before any major trouble. You guys who suggested checking this were right.

I have 615 miles on the bike, a 2010 TE250. I had noticed a couple magnetic metal bits on the outside of my mesh oil screen. Actually, I had trouble removing the screen and when I got it out I put a magnet in the drain hole and found some more bits. I changed the oil again after another 100 miles and found nothing but then after yet another 100 miles I found some bits that were clearly from a bearing cage. I just brought the bike to the dealer and they found that one of the top timing gear bearings had failed. It looks like we caught it in time, before any other major problems.
I searched the forum and found at least 4 other incidents of this happening.
I'm actually pretty upset. Obviously the bike is out of warranty (I've owned it almost 2 years), but this clearly is a manufacturing defect. I'm a novice who is not stressing the engine at all and I've changed the oil 5 times already with Castrol full synthetic 10W-50. My maintenance has been meticulous. My dealer has agreed to call Husqvarna... I'm hoping they step up to pay for the repair.

My advice to anyone with a 2010 250 is to check the oil screen carefully every oil change, and to put a stick magnet into the drain hole with the screen out to search for any problems. Also visually check the bearings on the gear whenever you check the valves. I wasn't really aware what to look for earlier. See the picture below. At the bottom center you can see a portion of the bearing in question. The rounded bumps are the bearing cage that holds the individual bearings. Make sure that cage is intact. There is another bearing on the other side of this gear, I'm not sure you can see it but try and inspect it if you can.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Jan 2013:
My dealer just told me the parts are back ordered and it could be weeks to get a part. I take this as another possible sign that this failure has been happening regularly... enough that the parts are back ordered.
Its prime riding season here in San Diego. I'm unhappy.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

In 2010, the timing gear and it's two bearings are listed as one assembly: 8000A7319
In 2011 and 2012 the gear is shown as 8000A6625 and the bearings come individually as 8A0077320.
All three years, 2010, 2011 and 2012 use the same part number for the mounting shaft. But there is no way to tell if the gear or bearings changed from 2010 to 2011. But given the change from an assembly to separate part numbers there might have been a change.

At any rate, I was able to find the 8A0077320 bearings at Hall's. I'll have to examine the old gear and see if these bearings will fit in it.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Well, the dealer just called. Even though I'm out of the warranty period I had hoped BMW/Husky would help out with this.... but.... i got nothing. At least the parts are in and we can do the work next week. I'm still rather unhappy.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Feb 2013:
Ok, so here is my wrap-up. 5 weeks and $1100 later and my bike is back and ready for action. We found all the bearings and some of the cage bits under the right hand side cover. The rest of the bits were under the left cover stuck to the magnetic parts there. And there were a few bits crushed and wedged up against the crank bearing.
Here a pic of my collection:

Here are my tips for the next person with this problem:
- Count your bearings. If you can find them all and most of the cage bits without splitting the cases... well some people might consider that good enough. If all you do is ride in the back yard on your farm, I might not split the cases. But we did find some bits in there. And its hard to flush them out. I ride in the desert and on trips far from home and a failure out in the field would really spoil a vacation (at the least). So I split the cases and looked.
- The replacement bearings from Husky look identical to the original. They are marked: "NSK 6901 INDONESIA". You might do some research to see if you can get something that is *known* to be better. I'm hoping my originals just were from a bad batch.
- There is a chance that this gear and bearing could be replaced fairly easily during a valve adjustment. I might consider upgrading/replacing the bearings at that time.
- The bearings were $15 and the gear was $22. The parts are cheap.
- Don't ignore and metal pieces in your oil! If you find anything check that top timing gear's bearings. Maybe you can catch it before it falls apart.
(for reference, this was the engine number: A3AA02083)