Husqvarna TE 610

Get onto some fast flowing smooth fire trails and the TE-E feels most at home. Especially with a set of hard terrain knobbies, this is where the Husky will leave most other adventure bikes in its wake. The power is smooth, the suspension is soft and supple and the brakes are great. Lofting the front wheel over small obstacles is as easy as leaning back and giving it a squirt, although you might want to use the clutch or downshift if it looks serious.

It is definitely worth taking note that with a full tank of juice the bike will handle like a truck in technical terrain, there is just too much weight (fuel) over the front wheel to get through any bumpy terrain at any kind of a pace, especially with the ultra soft stock suspension. For what the TE610E is designed for, its handling is impressive in rougher terrain. I got to put the bike through its paces in some big sand dunes, and with less air in the knobbies, the results were again surprisingly good. The motor puts out great power at the back wheel, the handling was respectable, and two wheel drifting over the harder packed sand felt very controlled even with both feet on the pegs. With all that weight over the front, you could disconnect the front brake; engine braking with a little rear brake gave the most controlled results.

Even playing a bit of silly buggers gave decent results:

second, third and sometimes fourth gear wheelies were happening from time to time, (as you do). In Husky's traditional yellow white and blue the TE-E looks sharp, and the twin alloy silencers look ominous from behind.

The Last Word

I can't imagine taking a Honda Dominator or the BMW F 650 through the same terrain as I took the Husky. It is a matter of what you are looking for in a machine, and what the machine is designed to do. For mainly on-road use there are better options but for a fabulous off-road bike that can do more, the Husqvarna TE610E delivers the goods. It fits in the lower middle of the range in terms of price, as adventure style bikes start at around $8500 and go up to around $15,000. Or more, like the Cagiva Gran Canyon at $17,500. The TE-E is $10450 + ORC, making it a lot of bike for the buck.

The Ride

The joys of electric start! On a machine like this there will be times when you don't have the full heavy duty boots on and can't it hurt to kick over a big bike with  soft-soled shoes?

The bike came supplied with a set of Trelleborg off-road tyres so the on-road test was limited to getting to the dirt. With the standard Metzler interrmediate Karuh tyres the TE-E would have been a much nicer proposition to wander down the south coast somewhere. Hans mentioned that most adventure bikes come standard with rubber rated at somewhere around 70 percent road and 30 percent dirt where the Metzelers are more of a true 50/50 tyre capable of riding more than a basic gravel road. On the road with knobbies the 610 felt quite comfortable at a casual pace.  The size and mass of the bike (140kg dry) give a solid feel to the road but not something you would want to ride in the wet or over longer distances.

The motor feels quite smooth and balanced for a big single. There is not an over abundance of power as this bike complies fully with ADR specs and felt a bit restricted. There are ways to extract more power, talk to your Husky dealer. The power is smooth and steady and makes the TE-E a real pleasure to cruise around on without feeling like it will get away from you, if you need to get around slower traffic you will have to use all the revs to build speed quickly.

Practical rear footpegs and helmet holder are nice touches

The gears shift positively although the action is not featherlight, the wide ratio gearing allows for healthy highway speeds: cruising at 130km/h the motor isn't even revving. Riding with a pillion is fine for shorter distances but not very practical for longer trips if the pillion is not a jockey; the seat's too small. The rack fitted on the rear guard behind the seat makes for a great grab bar for the pillion but can dig into their back side if they slide back over bumps or under acceleration.

With between five to 10 Litres
of fuel in the tank the TE610E resembles a true off road machine. However, your riding style needs to adjust slightly to compensate for the 140-150kg weight (with fuel/oil etc); for an enduro bike the TE-E is on the heavy side, but for an adventure bike it's lightweight.