but think of the power!
I’ve got a lovely 998s that Ducati Race Support and I built for the track and it’s a great bike, but last year, every trackday I did had at least one session that saw no-one going out because it had been raining. We’re not talking biblical rain here, just a damp track. Fair enough, you don’t want to drop your expensive toy because it’s damp, but you also don’t want to see your trackday fees going down the drain because of a little rain. So I had thought of getting something to use when it was maybe damp, but not chucking it down. And, TBH, over the winter, I was missing riding on the track, but since cold temperatures and big power often equal big repair bills (in my experience), I’ve been wary of riding on the track over the winter, or in ‘low traction’ conditions.
My Ducati buddies kept talking to me about another Duc that I would be happy to take around a damp track: Sean (@ DRS) kept pointing out 748s and my DD racer friends pushed me towards aircooled 600 Ducati race bikes. Fair enough, we understand Ducatis and know that they’re not as fragile as people make out, but I didn’t want a third - I mean, how many can you have before people start thinking you’re obsessed?
Rob at ProTwins rode Husabergs as trackbikes for a number of years before switching to ktms and recommended them as fun track tools that teach a lot about bike control on the limit. We’ve talked about them for a couple of years or more and I started looking at them seriously early this year. For those who don’t know them too well, they’re a supermoto with around 65bhp at the wheel, weighing less than 130kg fully fuelled. The bike I’ve bought weighs 112kg with oil and water but no fuel.
I read everything I could on the internet and looked at a number of bikes on ebay, nearly bought a couple - one a race bike, one a road bike. Dave Clarke Racing kept coming up, so I visited his site and found a few bikes there. This one, I bought:
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It’s Chris Babbetts 650 he rode over the last couple of seasons. It’s fully track prepared: strengthened frame, high comp piston, race cam, 6-pot beringer caliper, sorted suspension and a steering damper. The motor was stripped late last year and did the NORBA round at Cadwell - 4 hours?
Dave Clarke says that the 650 is a little too big for the supermoto circuits - the extra 10mm stroke makes the bike a little slower to turn in than the 550. Coming from the big Ducati, I don’t think I’ll be finding it slow at all.
Chris fitted the damper after finding that shortening the front of the bike to help turn-in made the front react badly to bumps on dirt sections - again, not something I’m likely to have too much of a problem with, unless I run out of track in a big way.
The bike makes around 96 decibels with the db killer out, so it’s quiet enough for every track I’m likely to visit.
I’ve got two sets of wheels - one for slicks and one for wets. Chris has kindly fitted a pair of scrubs to the slick wheels so I can get to know the bike without killing a new pair of Michelins.
Two issues I can see immediately:
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Husabergs dire reliability record: the early bikes (pre KTM takeover) were known to have poor reliability, relying on the cam chain to move oil around the motor. Later bikes had an oil pump fitted - blinding. Even then, holding the motor at high revs for any period (9k and above) causes the motor significant stress - run the motor at 1k less and it’s reputed to be perfectly reliable, especially the later motors that are built at the ktm factory in Austria. Chris has given me a set of sprockets to ensure that I’ve got suitable gearing for the riding I’m planning on doing.
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The kick start. WTF!!
Maintenance is pretty basic - it takes around 1.2litres of coolant and 1 of oil - semi-synth as it’s got a wet clutch. Oil every hour, or every trackday, whichever comes first and oil filters every two oil changes. Air filters are changed regularly on true supermoto tracks having dusty off-road sections, but for the tracks I’ll be on, Chris recommends checking them every meeting/trackday and replacing when they’re dirty.
My buddy Grahame is picking the bike up from Dave Clarkes place next week and it will be safely in the garage from then. Really can’t wait! Chris is compiling a ‘how to look after your moto’ guide, with a big section on starting: because there’s so little water, it’s possible to warm the head and the water before the bottom end is properly warm: blipping the throttle regularly while it’s warming up pumps a blast of cool fuel/air into the top of the motor, enhancing cooling at the top, while the bottom end warms up.
More pics:
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I’m looking at a trackday before easter and I really can’t wait!
Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
It would be a blast!
The bars are higher because of the steering damper and because Chris is a tall bloke, he likes them that way. I might have to lower them a little.I will be doing very basic maintenance - just oil and filters, sprockets and wheels. How hard can it be?? The chain is a non- o-ring type because the sealed pins rob power. If I need new chains, Motorite are just down the road and they can do general supermoto work for me. The motor has been stripped each season, and I’ll continue that. For that, Dave Clarke is the best guy. I’m lucky enough to have a buddy who runs a haulage business and is happy to put things in his trucks for me at a good rate