Have the 22’ 150xcw for about 6 months now and had pretty solid luck and no major complaints. Ready to get the suspension all honed in for my weight, terrain and liking. Riding all tight, Rocky, slow single track.
Nice review !! I had a 150 Xcw tpi and loved it. Eventually I began to get frustrated with the shifting in faster terrain. As you mentioned, very notchy and I would quite often miss downshifts in the faster stuff, leaving me with way to tall of gear and no power to pull out of it !! Im now on a 300xcw and the notchy shifting is still there, just more power to pull out of bad shifts. I do miss that electric feel right off idle of the 150 though. No better bike for crawling speeds !!
Thanks for the feedback! I was probably spoiled by my GasGas (pre KTM, the bike that's not Rieju). That bike shifted like butter, as does my KTM 350 actually. That said, I've always run Motorex CrossPower in those bikes. This bike I've been running Top Speed. So I might try CrossPower 4T or Motul like another commenter suggested.
Great vid. I have the same bike and am experiencing a few aspects differently. Mostly the power delivery, mine feels very much like a two stroke where it has a hit in the mid range. I installed the map switch just to make sure that little connector had good contact, and the the different maps feel defined to me. I also did the idle screw mod to make sure the air mix was appropriate. I think i have more tuning to do with that maybe, it's kinda burbly before it reaches that hit. I may also have a bad CCPS, I get a lot of spooge from the exhaust as well. May need to fuss with the power valve also. Planning on doing TSP high comp head stuff just because I love everything else about the bike so much, most of all the weight. I just want to have that ability to pop the front wheel up a little easier without worrying about looping it. Previously owned an fx350, exc450 and a Honda250f, all of which were very easy to loft the front wheel over a downed tree. It looks like you can just work the clutch with a little throttle and lean back to get that wheel up without drama from the motor. You skills are probably better than mine and you have about 20lbs on me but i need a lot of revs to get there.
Wheel popping is almost more about weight transfer/suspension rebound, than power. Rich Larsen (@IRCTireUSAMoto on here) has some really good drills for this, but really good practice is to learn how to be able to pop the front wheel off the ground with the engine off. Usually it's just learning to move far enough back and forth and getting the timing right. Once you have that motion down, it takes almost no engine power to get the wheel in the air. This is all from a stand still, it's a bit different while moving, I usually just bounce down on the pegs and give it a bit of go on the rebound, making sure my weight is centered or a bit back on the bike. I do agree with you that this bike has a hit, which I wish was a bit smoother. But it's all relative, and overall TPI bikes are much smoother/more linear than most carb bikes I've ridden, especially small bores. A friend of mine has a 2017 TE150 (pre-TPI) and that bike is much more two-strokey, almost feels like a 125. I am curious about the TSP head and reflash as well, might give it a go if I keep this bike for another year. For the burbly/spooge issue - a couple suggestions. Do you ride a lot at lower revs? Do you have a spark arrestor? I find that the screen type I have on mine gets clogged up and the bike starts spooging more and running less crisp, I typically have to take the screen out and burn the carbon off of it every 20 hours or so. The other thing is the plug, mine was getting all burbly around 60-70ish hours, and fouled a blug shortly after. I replaced the plug and it was super crisp again. No issues with CCPS sensors personally, but I do carry a spare in the truck since it's a known problem.
@@DmitriyAdv Yeah I definitely could use a little more skills practice to get the wheel pop dialed in. For the burble and spooge stuff, the bike has done it since new. I do ride low revs quite a bit because i play around in the backyard with my son on his 50 a lot. But when i get out to open stuff i make sure to wind it up in 2nd and 3rd to clear it out. Generally, from watching your videos I would say that we are using the same rev range. I only recently put a spark arrestor on the silencer and the bike now only has 11ish hours so it's hard to believe it could be the plug, but maybe. I've heard the tpi bikes are kinda like dogs where they all have their own personality so i guess mine is just a little more fussy.
@@DmitriyAdv i have an update on the wheel pop difficulty if anyone else is experiencing it. Granted, skills account for a lot but I knew the issue wasn't just my ability only because I had no issue on a honda 250f which makes similar power but is much heavier. I had to put about an hour into tuning and testing in the yard, first getting the air screw and idle screw working together well, then adjusting the power valve, then going back and slightly tweaking the air screw. The magic number was 1/3 turn on the power valve counterclockwise. I also adjusted my shock and fork to the comfort setting just to help with getting that weight on the back wheel. Worked like a charm.
It's a big selling point for Husqvarnas in general. I'm relatively tall and have fairly good balance, but even I think many bikes have gotten too tall. From my experience most normal people fall over way more often from not being able to dab than run out of ground clearance. or suspension travel.
@@DmitriyAdv yea ive fallen off both my bikes more while going slow or not moving at all from not being able to fully touch the ground than actually moving faster. especially happens when Im going down a sketchy hill and trying to use my feet for support till I run out of ground.
Hey I have a question for ya! I have a Kayo KT250 which generates 38 hp and weights around 108 kilograms (235 lbs) dry weight. I've been using this bike for almost 25 hours now, and I'm happy but the only problem is it's to heavy for me. And I want to buy this bike but only reason I want to buy this bike is it's lightweight but I'm also very concerned about it's power (If I'm not mistaken it generates about 30 hp) so my question is: Do you think its a good choice for me, since I tried a ktm 250cc 2 stroke i found it very powerful? Will it be enough for me since my current dirt bike is more powerful than Husky 150cc , do you think it will be enough for me? I am 175 cm tall (5"9') and 70 kg (155 lb). Thank you.
I think if you found the KTM 250 2 stroke to have too much power the 150 will be just right for you. The only disadvantage it has is when it comes to "tractoring" through really gnarly/steep terrain at very low RPMs.
You don’t need to remove the oil tank, it’s at the bottom of it, where the hose going to the pump connects. You do need to remove the fuel tank, swing the subframe back and disconnect the intake boot to get enough space. It’s pretty easy to do and I think the procedure is even in the owners manual. Thanks for watching!
Hey ! Nice video, re spark plug - got mine fouled in the very first operating hour :) I was running on low RPMs though and it's cold out there (-10 celsius). How is your gas mileage ? I almost ran out of fuel on my last trip. Not sure if that's a break-in period thing, or maybe I was revving it too high, but it feels like it consumed twice as much as my 300 (don't have any measurements, just a gut feeling on this one).
The gas mileage seems to really depend on how aggressively I’m riding the thing. Had some close calls myself! I can get up to 60 miles or so out of a tank if I’m cruising and staying off the pipe, or 35 if I’m really hammering it.
I think it depends on what kind of riding you're doing, how big you area, and your budget. My go-tos for a first dirtbike would be either a 250 4-stroke or a 150/200 two stroke. So yep, this wouldn't be a bad choice.
Dmitriy, thanks for your TE-150 reviews. I’m looking at getting a new 2024, and I’m coming from owning all 4 strokes. How difficult and expensive is periodic maintenance on this 150? Thanks
Two strokes are much cheaper and easier than four strokes. I don’t know if it’s any different on the 2024, but my 2022 TE150 and my current 2023 EC300 are much less maintenance intensive than my KTM 350.
@@DmitriyAdv Thanks. So, here are the first two scheduled bigger maintenance items in the manual. Can you give me a ballpark estimate very roughly how long it took you for these and roughly the cost? Just a wag or a range. If not that’s ok. Thanks, Jonathan Every 45 hours. Perform minor engine service. (Change the piston. Check the cylinder head. Change the O-rings of the manifold and the cylinder head. Check the cylinder and Z dimen-sion. Check the exhaust control for function and smooth operation. Check and clean the crank chamber pressure sensor hose and clean.) Every 90 hours. Perform major engine service including removing and installing the engine. (Change the connecting rod, conrod bearing, and crank pin. Check the transmission and the shift mechanism. Change all the engine bearings, the radial shaft seal rings and the seals..
@@jonathantrexel4299 assuming you're not racing at a high level - most people (myself included) go 100-150 hours on a two stroke piston and 300+ hours on a crank. For what it's worth 4 strokes have similar intervals and changing a 4 stroke piston is significantly more complicated. A two stroke piston change takes a couple hours, most of which is cleaning, and is probably $150ish in parts. Depends on mechanical experience and which parts are used, of course.
@@jonathantrexel4299 yep, for trail riding most people don't worry about doing a piston until 100-120 hours or more. When you do it you can check the crank for play. I do race, at mid pack B pace, and that's what I do. My pistons don't show much wear. Other than that - gear oil every 30 hours or so, and it's recommended to clean the oil pump screen every 50 hours, though I've personally never seen any dirt in any of mine. The other maintenance is like any other dirtbike - air filters and chain adjustments as needed and I typically service the forks around 50-70 hours and the shock every 100 hours. Inspect and grease bearings and once a season...etc. Like I was saying earlier, I find the maintenance much easier than on my KTM 350. I love the 350, but the more frequent and complex oil changes, valve checks, and general 4 stroke complexity is annoying.
😂 I wish I was that short! Would make buying gear so much easier, could get all the small/short sizes on closeout. Would also allow me to tell everyone who complains about bikes being tall to “deal with it” with impunity 😜