Husky WR

[cvl05]

I've recently started the process of research for a new ride, i'm moving my 05 DE250 to my son Tyler. He's out growing the current 200xcw he is riding and is now ready for a full size bike. I must admit i've been looking at alt to GG, I have been mostly interested in the new WR300 Husky and pos 300XCW KTM. My reason is no GG dealers within 600 miles of my home. Gofasters is great but i live in Idaho for the last 3 years and have to do all my shopping online.

Yesterday we went riding and i had a chance to ride a 09 WR, also 08 KTM 250xcwf. Let me start with the motor, the Wr300 is freakin fast!!!!! This puppy has great lugging torque down low, mid power seemed a little flat but holly s**t hold on for the topend rush, NICE!!! I do believe this is the fastest 300 i've riddien, IMO. Much harder pull than a 300 KTM. I have not ridden much on GG 300's, but i do think the Husky has a leg up for open riding. I would need to increase the mid power for my riding style, mostly tight tech single track.

Suspension was Zoke Shiver forks, they felt real good as one would expect, rear shock is Sachs dual compression unit, nice as well. Interesting note is the Wr125 comes with Zoke dual chamber fork with adjustable preload on the top of fork, 250/300 does not.

Steering and chassis. This bike feels very tall, i'm 6'2 and it's a long reach to the ground. I don't like this as i'm always in some wierd off camber rut on the side of a hill and i like to be able to get my foot down. It does have nicely positioned grab hadles on both side for when you do need to bulldog it around. Also i felt the bike did not turn into corners well, this may be setup but i think it's a chassis thing.
It is however very stable in a straight line through woops. Would do well in the SW desert.

Brakes are Brembo with wave rotor front and solid mud rotor rear. Very strong, good feed back. Clutch is cable and a little stiff to me.
Rock hard seat, the norm for Euro bikes. The spark plug is wide open and easy to get to, mostly due the the frme design and the smallish fuel tank, 2.4 gallons.

The main perk is out the door at $5900.00. That's for an 09.

With all that being said, i'm looking for another GG. The Husky would make a great dersert bike but it just does not feel anywhere near as nimble as the GG. I love the way the GG responds to minimal inputs to the bars and pegs, you can just rail through the woods, almost as nimble as the 200 KTM of my kid.
Nice try Husky, $2k is a lot of cash these days but GG still stands tall as the best bike for tight single track IMO.