Husqvarna Wr250
HUSQVARNA WR250
CYCLE WORLD TEST
A QUICK-TEMPERED CANNON
Husqvarna has built a loyal dealer network and a following of repeat buyers. Husky buyers and dealers are usually experienced off-road enthusiasts who rely on Huskys looking and acting the same, year after year. Changes usually occur slowly and carefully.
But, as detailed elsewhere in this issue, Huskys have undergone major changes for 1984. More to the point, this test of the WR250, an old name tacked to a bike with lots of new parts and new looks.
The new parts have changed the way the Husky looks, and more important, changed the way it works; slow steering, straight-line stability and mild, predictable engine performance doesn’t describe the ’84 WR250. Quick steering, fast handling and an explosive engine, does. Expert riders will probably like the new-found quickness. Novices may find the bike better than they are.
But first, the changes.
Most visible is the plastic gas tank, a first for Husqvarna. It mounts low on the frame, so much of the fuel’s weight is below the frame’s backbone. It’s curved at the rear so the rider can shift weight to the front wheel when needed. The tank’s filler is large and a plastic cap keeps premix from drooling. The petcock is new, (the metal petcock it replaces has been in use since 1966) and it’s also plastic. It has an on and off position, no reserve.
Bike and plastic are white with yellow and blue decals. We like the way it looks. Most of the decals are surface mounted where they can get worn off, except for the neat Husky H, which is recessed.
New plastic side number plates and headlight/number plates also add to the new look, thanks to their squarish number panels. The right side number plate is designed to blend into the low belly of the tank but ours didn’t fit well; the front was too long and lapped over the side of the tank rather than butting up to it. Even properly aligned, the side plates widen the bike by a couple of inches. We finally removed them.
Husqvarna has built a reputation on straight-line handling. Long-time Husky riders didn’t even notice the extra effort required to turn past Huskys. Riders who were used to riding bikes with steeper rakes did. For ’84 Husqvarna has steepened the rake on all of its models to 28.5°, with 5.2 inches of trail. Past models had 30.5° rake and 6 inches of trail. WRs still have oval-tube chrome-moly swing arms an inch shorter than motocross models. The frame is different in its mid-section; the double backbone tubes don’t come together over the carb anymore. Instead they stay separated, then smaller tubes triangulate the frame’s midsection. A single, large diameter front downtube splits into two smaller tubes as it goes under the engine and additional tubes help protect the engine’s magnesium cases.
Husky introduced a new primary-kick engine two years ago and the ’84 WR250 is an updated version of that design. It has a wide-ratio six-speed transmission, large wet clutch, SEM ignition with a 140 watt generator, new kick start lever, eight-petal fiber reed induction, compact cases and folding tip shift lever. The '84 also has a new cylinder. The porting is more radical than before and is actually desinged to give performance somewhere between the old WR’s cylinder and the XC off-road racer. The cooling fins are thick and stuffed with rubber hose to deaden fin rattle. The head is a radial design.
The exhaust system is basically the same; the pipe winds over the top of the engine, starting on the right side, ending on the left. The pipe's rear cone has an additional cover clamped over it with fiberglass packed between. It further reduces noise. Husky’s familar silencer/spark arrester is still used and it’s still a problem. We've had a lot of trouble with these clogging and requiring modification. The fine screen that normally plugs with goo fell apart before it could clog. We replaced the unit with an Answer Products aluminum silencer and add-on spark arrester. End of problem. The stock Husky spark arrester is a poor design that has been used for too long.
Suspension is via Husqvarna forks and dual shocks. The forks have 40mm stanchions, 10.6 inches of travel and shorter magnesium sliders. Anyone who has rammed a rock or tree root with the fork slider knows why they have been shortened. Two oil seals are used per leg and they didn’t leak. But the use of two seals adds friction and makes the fork action less sensitive to small objects. We removed them and installed one Japanese seal per leg (40mm seals from a Kawasaki street bike fit perfectly.) Doublebolt triple clamps secure the stanchions. The top clamp has rubber mounted handlebar pedestals to reduce engine vibration, and each pedestal has Husky’s famous four-bolt clamp.
Husqvarna is the last major company to use a dual shock rear suspension. And it’s one of the best rear suspension systems around. In fact it works as well, or better, than some single shock designs. Husqvarna calls the dual shock system Immediate Track Control (ITC). The shocks are radically angled and have internal bottoming controlled much like front forks: a tapered piston fits into a seat and hydraulically slows compression speed. Our WR250 came with Betor shocks. Husky was ready to use the Betors on all of the WRs but the Betor factory went on strike and couldn't deliver enough units in time for the full production run. So the first 15 percent or so will have Betors, the remainder will come with Ohlins. If you buy an early WR that has Betors, Husky will replace them with Ohlins for about $50. We like the Betors.
Wheels are aluminum with raised centers which make tire changing easier. The hubs are conical with large spokes that make sharp bends as they leave the hub flange. Front and rear hubs have the same size 6.3 inch brake drums. For '84 the drum material is cast iron, which is more porous than the steel previously used. The change improves braking when wet. The front brake is a doubleleading shoe, the rear a single-leading shoe. Tires are Trelleborg. The 52 tooth rear sprocket is aluminum, the 1 3 tooth countershaft sprocket is steel. A poorquality 520 Japanese chain without Orings is stock. The chain guide is the same Husky has been using for years; it’s a pair of steel straps with rubber rollers. It’s too far in front of the rear sprocket but it does have a nice feature: It gives when slammed against a tree root or rock. Additionally, the chain tensioner that’s been standard on Husky’s XC and CR models is now standard on the WR.
A good plastic airbox contains a largef foam filter and the bike is delivered with a plastic top for the box in case the owner uses the bike in extremely wet conditions. With the top installed, incoming air enters high up under the tank.
Controls are standard Husqvarna. The hand levers are Magura; a full size clutch, two-finger brake. The throttle is a Gunner Gasser, the best. The shift, lever is steel and has a folding tip, the rear brake pedal doesn’t but it’s placed above the footpeg where it’s less apt to get damaged. The handlebars are shaped nicely but they are a little wide. Woods riders will want to cut an inch off each side. The grips have a nice waffle-grid pattern but they are extremely hard and hurt the rider’s hands.
Instrumentation is a VDO speedometer with a small, hard-to-read odometer. Unless you are blessed with perfect eyesight, it’s necessary to glue a magnifying lens over the odometer in order to read it while bouncing along an enduro trail.
The new, straight kick start pedal is long and offers good leverage when starting the WR, but it’s way up there and requires standing on something or lean-^ ing the bike to reach it. Each kick spins the engine several times. It’s so easy to' operate, one tends to think the engine has no compression. A lever 3 or 4 inches shorter would be easier to reach. Several kicks are normally required to start the engine when cold, one when warm. The engine quickly warms to operating temperature. The dog-leg clutch lever is a long reach and unless you have extralarge hands it’s a bother to use. The clutch releases when the lever is almost all the way out and there is no grab or roughness.
Only an aggressive rider will like the WR as it comes from the crate.
The revised porting has concentrated the power in the middle of the range, so there’s no power when the throttle is cracked, then it hits with a rush.
For reasons not even the U.S. reps can explain, the WR comes with tall final gearing, so tall that the bike won’t quite pull redline in 6th.
The combination doesn’t work. WR means Wide Ratio, even though there are six speeds. The tall gearing makes the ratios even wider. And the power delivery is a steep curve; down, then up, then down again. If you could chart the power delivery in first, second, third, etc., it would look like a series of waves, with troughs in between each crest, that is, you rev into the power in 3rd, shift and you’re under the power in 4th. Keeping in the curve is work, more so in mud or sand, tight turns, up hills and so forth. Fanning the clutch, as in 125 motocross, won’t work because the clutch action is slow and the lever travels a long way.
After 350 taxing miles, we were ready to make some changes.
We changed the front sprocket to a 12 tooth and the rear to a 56 tooth. Stock is 13/52. While you’re changing the gearing, might as well throw the stock chain in the trash can. It’ll be worn out in a hundred miles anyway.
The gearing change made a major improvement. With the ratios closed up, the power peaks overlap. Because the engine is spinning faster in any gear at any speed, the on-off delivery is easier to control; a slap at the clutch lever and bang, up comes the front wheel. Top speed with the 12/56 gearing is 70, more than enough for the woods.
Once geared right, the Husky can be enjoyed. The new steering head angle and reduced trail, combined with the low gas tank, make the WR turn precisely and cat-quick. The tank shape makes it possible to get farther forward than needed sometimes. It’s great riding a Husky that doesn’t require muscle to turn. It steers easily and goes exactly where pointed. The bike is a little busier in sand than past models but it’s still one of the more stable bikes made. Picking the front wheel up to clear logs and rocks is easy with the lower gearing.
The suspension is what we’ve come to expect from Husqvarna, excellent. The Betor shocks and ITC rear system are compliant to the smallest bump and the rider doesn’t get bounced around. The back wheel stays on the ground when accelerating or braking. The forks are a little stiff when new and the double oil seals don’t let them react as easily as they could, but removing one set of the seals cures that. Both ends absorb landings from big jumps smoothly.
The Husky’s brakes are okay for normal woods use. The rear works well on fast roads as well. The double-leading shoe front brake isn’t as strong as most, in fact, the front doesn’t have the stopping power of past single-leading shoe front brakes from Yamaha and Suzuki. The feel is mushy and a lot of lever force is required to stop quickly. The two-finger lever doesn’t help much either. The Husky front brake has to be considered just fair when evaluated aginst other recent off-road bikes.
Our test bike was shod with Trelleborg tires. We didn’t like them. WRs used to come with Barum tires, which worked better than the Trelleborgs. Neither brand can be considered great. The Trelleborgs were used on dry, wet and inbetween ground conditions. They skate and slide and generally work poorly every place. We installed Metzelers. The difference in the bike’s handling through the twisty stuff was amazing. Steering precision improved to a hair-splitting degree. The large spokes loosened slightly the first hundred miles but after seating gave no problem. We crossed several streams during different test sessions and found the brakes to be the most waterproof of any Husky ever tested. They still fade from moisture but return quickly.
The last 250WR we tested was a gas hog. We had trouble getting more than 50 miles per tank of gas. The ’84 will go 80 to 85 miles, no problem. The larger gas tank and new cylinder are responsible.
We liked the 250WR, and we liked it better after we changed the gearing and the tires. The tires probably were economic or political; why the gearing, with guys like Dick Burleson to advise the factory, we can’t imagine. The better handling, precise steering and up-to-par brakes are good changes.
We need to make clear, though, that the 250WR is a new and different Husqvarna. It’s a better bike for better riders, but for the not-so-good, the new bike will take lots of getting used to. ES
HUSQVARNA WR250
$2745
