TE450 Riders,

Any feedback (pros and cons) on riding a newer 2008/2009 Husqvarna TE450 on the street, say 40% of the time?

I would not be buying it as a street bike, but need to know if this bike really is just for all dirt, and not really capable or safe for mild street riding once in a while. Is there anything you just hate about your TE450 on the street? If so, what is it? Thanks in advance for your replies to help me decide on which bike to get next.

I don't have any Husky specific info, but in general, big singles don't like alot of sustained high RPM use. If your just riding it around town, short commute, ect it should be OK. Long freeway runs not so good. Most of these type bikes don't have a cush drive, so be gentile with the clutch and shifting on the pavement. I've seen KTM's with the countershaft splines stripped from hard street use.

I have an '04 TE450 and as I have been waiting for parts for my road scoot for a while I've been commuting on it. The only pain in the butt is the close ratio gearbox and low overall gearing. I've raised the gearing from 14/50 to 15/48 (I think the newer TE's are 13/47 as standard?), so if I want to use it on dirt I chuck the 14 tooth back on. Luckily all the roads round here are pretty twisty and there's not much chance of getting caught in traffic (my bike doesn't have a cooling fan).

As ToBadBrad says avoid the flat out stuff and you should be alright. If you have seriously open patterned mx tyres then they'll take a pasting on the tarmac obviously. If you plan on commuting after dark then a better headlamp may be in order (but that's the same for pretty much every enduro bike).

decooney said:

Take this for what it's worth. I HAVE NOT RESEARCHED IT SO IF I AM WRONG, PLEASE GO EASY ON ME.

I was in the same spot as you. Looking for a street legal bike, I went with the KTM 450 EXC. When I was doing research on it (because I wanted a street legal dirt bike, not an "enduro" like a DRZ) I went to a motorcycle shop (that sells KTMs and not Huskys) and they told me that the California DMV is now rejecting TE's as street legal because they do not meet the correct requirements. Now this was coming from a KTM salesman that had a used TE in the showroom.

Before you invest the money, it might be something to check out. BTW, I love my KTM, but I wouldn't recommend it for commuting. Now when you hit the dirt...it's incredible.

Thanks, perhaps I'll throw out a more specific question...


This is a lighter motorcycle, and so... how "planted" does the newer TE450 bike feel with knobbies on the street? i.e. is it super slippery like the front or rear is going to wash out from under you at a moderate pace, having to be super careful? Or, is it somewhat forgiving with the softer off road dirt front/rear suspension?

I rode a former 2000 XR400 on the road about 20 times, and not familiar with the behavior of the newer and more current TE450, newer suspension, different tire technology these days. I'm not looking to go super fast, just don't want to find out its ridiculous to try and ride this dirt bike on the road, through turns, etc.

i.e. so many other cheaper bikes to buy if I'm just going to end up with another dirt bike that can't really be ridden safely on the street - if that makes sense. Thanks.

Tough one. I have a 08 TE 450 and do little riding on pavement. I absolutely love my bike. But 40% on pavement, man I do not know if thats the right bike. Id look at the KTM EXC's for their wide ratio trans maybe(but no F.I.). I did just recently do a "dual sport" ride with lots of pavement, and after 4-500 miles on the knobbies(not just on this trip), it handled just fine cornering and all. If I had to do much more on-road on my bike, I'd gear it higher to get the R's down. But that would be unacceptable to me for the single track. If you do mostly trails(not single track) and street and geared it up a bit, I think it would be a fun "dirt bike" on the street.

It is a tough one alright and it's down to tyre choice and personal handling preferences as much as anything.

I'll stick my neck out and say that a TE is 80% (at least) dirt oriented. That's not to say that it'll kill you as soon as you hit tarmac (far from it - it's not a CR500 after all), so if you want a top quality dirt bike that you can use on the road occasionally then you put up with the quirks. However, as you want to share duties 40/60 then you either blunt the TE's off-road capabilities a little with taller gearing and prolly more D/S oriented tyres or check out some other bikes. BUT any dedicated off-roader will be something of a compromise simply because of the rubber (even if it has friendlier gear ratios).

I had a killer XR600 years ago which I rode mainly on the dirt. I hated riding it in traffic 'cos once in a while it would flame out and require a fairly involved routine to restart it. If the same happens on the TE (it almost never stalls btw) then I just press the button. Priceless.
Try and test-ride as many bikes as you can before you make up your mind.:thumbsup:

I can say from having a TE250 plated with MT21 tires as seen below...



Well, it was not terrible on the road. I had the same tires on my KTM 950 Super Enduro and it was great to 90mph (with a scotts steering stabilizer) before the tires started to feel like you were going to be in dangerous territory. As for the TE450, well I had my 07 TC450 up to 90mph on super hard packed alkalai flats (again with a stabilizer) and it was ok, doing regular speeds around town would be fine.

The problem you're going to run into is that any tire that's decent for the street comfort, gets good wear, doesn't want to wash out around corners or gravel, etc - you're going to HATE it on the dirt. And same with a tire that's good in the dirt is going to suck on the road. The MT21 is only half of each, so you end up with something that is moderately tolerable for street and sort of gets out of its own way on the dirt. Or you get two wheel sets with different tires on each and call it a day.

As for commuting it will not be fun. The oil maintenance is like a race bike, I don't know about other people but I religiously change my oil every 4-6 engine hours. Then again I'm wringing it's neck off road most of the time. The seat is not comfortable, be prepared to wear padded shorts or have rattled off your own set of balls by the end of a solid hour of sitting on a thumper like this.

The TE610 is more likely what you want. It's more of a 60/40 bike like you are describing vs the TE250/450/510 bikes that are at most 40/60 road/dirt or 20/80 depending on tires.

I have an 06 TE 510, so basically the same bike. I added dual rim locks to prevent out of balance bounce & regeared from factory 13\50 to 15\48. Also running a Terraflex rear knobby.
I'm doing what they say shouldn't be done. 95% of my riding is commuting back & forth to work (almost no dirt due 2 injury, long story). The bike does just fine, only issues I had originally were marginal headlight & riding into high winds at highway speeds was a pain, ohhh & the seat, but you just stick with it & become a hardass :lol:

Two wheel sets seems kind of fun. Throw the 60/40 tires on for a few commutes and true dual-sport rides. Change to real dirt tires when you go on a real dirt ride. I'm looking at that solution myself as there are several places I can go that take a 30 mile asphalt journey to some pretty easy dirt roads.

You can buy a decent, used commuter bike for about the same price as a new set of wheels with tires, brake rotors and sprocket though. Or get a sidecar to carry your spare wheels and tools so you can change wheels when you get to the dirt - one from a Ural with a machine gun mount would be cool. Or rig up one of those one-wheel Goldwing trailers and disconnect it when you get to the trailhead...

Tim510 said:

I'm starting to think this is the solution OR, like you said, get a second (cheap) street bike to put around. I do like the idea of having a true dirt bike with dirt suspension and if needed get a set of motard wheels in reverse of trying to make a motard a full on dirt bike.
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All of these replies have helped think various options through. Thanks everyone. A GREAT site for sure.

If I was going to do 2 wheel sets, I'd have one with non-dot, open knobbies and one as supermoto.

I commute on my 410, but the commute is only ~5miles at 30-55mph.

I commute regularly on an 07 TE510. Have 19,000 km on it, probably about 60% street. I don't do anything crazy on it, just appreciate the fact it takes $13 to fill the 3.9 gal tank as opposed to $80 for the Jeep Cherokee. I have 2 wheel sets, one for off-road and one for street. Street wheelset has a 46 t sprocket,and off-road the 50. I also change the front sprocket between a 13 and 15.

I think you would be fine, with some things to keep in mind:

1. close ratio gearbox means you might want to gear up. I can cruise at 100 kph with the street setup without wringing it out.

2. dirt tires on the street are not particularly dangerous (just ride conservative) BUT you will wear your precious knobs out fast and need to change them more often than you would like.

3. headlight is nasty

4. if you are counting on your bike to get you to work, but went out and thrashed it off-road over the weekend, you have a good chance of having broken bits that mean you can't use the bike on Monday. something to keep in mind.

The 450 was not designed for high % tarmac use. The 510 with its slightly longer stroke may be a shade better. I would urge you to consider a TE 610 or if you are also really into off raod as well a WR 450 F or EXC 450 would be a better proposition.
It would be good if Hushy widened ther 5th. and 6th. gearing to give greater usage flex.

Gear ratios will be the plauge, the gearing you will want off road will suck on the road. BTW I work on KTM's ride Husky and I rate Husky as just a little better in build quality, KTM is good quality but they have cramed too many new engines into production not sorted out so your more apt to have "issues" with KTM. For the use you are talking about if your stuck on a 450 I would go KTM, the 450EXC has a very wide set of gears. If your open to a bigger bike the TE 610 is superb at the road and pretty good in the woods.
Other issues, the tires your buddies will have when you go off road would be junk in abt 30 miles of pavment, the ones that will last on pavment will work off road in the dry but you will not be on the same pace as a equal talent buddy with real dirt tires.

I'm saving up for a second wheel-set. Solutions seems to be:
Set 1 - full dirt orientation (got that covered) and gears for single track
Set 2 - dual-sport - 50/50 DOT tires that do OK on dirt roads and gears for road (same gears also work nice for high-speed desert).
Set 3 - road tires already sitting underneath my 96 BMW R1100RT. Did you know you can get one of these for under $3,000? And the wheels and tires come with it!!
Set 4 - Ducati Hypermotard (more saving to do...)
Set 5 - You get the idea

I have an 07 TE450.........it's an awesome dirtbike with a plate. I think all the pro's and con's have been covered.

Everytime I want to do a trip that includes pavement, I get on my DR650! (Which is a great do-all bike...just not one thing superb).

ncdr22 said:

My friend will be happy with your comment and it reconfirms a few recent decisions. I test rode all the bikes, including the TE450. Great bike. However, as it turns out, we both bought new bikes, I ended up with a DRZ400S and he got the DR650. For hard core dirt, we'll just buy some full on used dirt bikes with no lights, and they are cheap. Problem solved. Thanks.

There you go......

I ride that DR hard off road. From highway to single track. Admittedly, she tips the scales a little over what I would like.

Enjoy the DRZ ..........I hear only good things!!