A lot has happened in the life of our TE630 since we introduced the bike to our long-term fleet more than a year ago; unfortunately, racking up miles isn’t one of them.
Dual-purpose motorcycles tend to take a lot longer to accumulate miles than their street brethren. The reason? We like riding them in the dirt a lot more than on the pavement, making that odometer spin a lot slower than those on most streetbikes.
A couple of issues with the TE630 (no fault of its own) kept it parked while we waited for parts to arrive and then waited for them to be installed. Letting the Husky run free without a proper enduro skidplate was stupid and also proof that we sometimes don’t learn from our own mistakes. After replacing the rock-damaged magneto cover and gasket ($87) for the second time, we had George Erl’s Uptight Husqvarna (www.uptitehusky.com) in Santa Ana, California, add its full-coverage aluminum skidplate ($195), which we hope will remedy our foolishness, or at least protect the bike from it.
While the bike was in Erl’s shop, he did a full service including changing the oil, adjusting the valves and torquing the counterbalancer to specification ($385).
We installed Leo Vince’s beautiful X3 exhaust system ($1169), featuring titanium headers, mid-pipe and carbon-fiber capped silencer (stock has twin cans) primarily for the significant 10 pound weight savings and hopefully a bit more grunt. Although pricey, fit and finish are exceptional and installation a breeze. Two spark arrestors (one of which reduces sound to 101 dB) are included. Other items that we added early in our test included Zip-Ty Racing’s (www.ziptyracing.com) aluminum footpeg extenders ($86), which bolt onto the stock pegs and create a much larger platform; Zip-Ty also bolted on a set of Acerbis Rally II handguards ($90).
After wearing out the stock Metzeler MCE Karoo tires, we spooned on a pair of DOT-approved Michelin Desert TT rally tires ($238), which should provide better off-road grip but still be able to withstand many miles of asphalt riding.
With our TE630 back in our possession and in tip-top shape, we plan to pile on the miles in the coming months.
SPECIFICATIONS |
|
|---|---|
| Total miles: | 1399 |
| Next service: | 4100 |
| Maintenance costs (including tires): | $623 |
| Repair costs: | $174 |
| Average fuel mileage: | 46 mpg |
| Price as tested (2010): | $8999 |
