2025 HUSQVARNA FE350S DUAL-SPORT VIDEO REVIEW & FULL TEST

[MotoFactory]

HERITAGE EDITION 350S DUAL SPORT FROM HUSQVARNA

 

https://youtu.be/KA8D-ffHQsw

 

Dual-sport riders have a secret society with their own passwords, special handshakes and underground networks. In some states, the society is driven so far underground that owners truly don’t know where to go, who to see and what to do to make their motorcycles work properly. The good news is that some dual-sport bikes work properly from the start. The Husqvarna FE350s is one of those. No secret handshake is needed.

The dual-sport world has a well-established hierarchy with Husqvarna at the very top.

TRICKY LANDSCAPE

To understand the FE350s you have to understand how it fits into the greater hierarchy of Husqvarna’s off-road lineup. All of Husqvarna’s full-size dirt bikes are interrelated. The FE350s first appeared in 2015, and right from the start, it was based on the FC350 motocross bike. Every time the motocross bike was revamped, a new dual-sport bike would follow. But, Husqvarna still has to play by the rules. EPA homologation requires that a motorcycle be clean and quiet, and the DOT has its own regs. The dual-sport bike has different cams, a different compression ratio and a long list of measures to reduce sound and emissions. It has a charcoal canister hidden in the frame, a reed valve in the intake boot, a restrictive muffler and very lean mapping, among other things. All of that is monitored by a ECU that will flash a check-engine light, just like your car if anything isn’t up to spec.

The last major redesign for Husky’s MX bikes happened in 2023 when the FC350 got a new top end and a new frame. Those changes were extended to the dual-sport bikes in 2024. In the motocross world, there was an immediate backlash from riders who thought the new frame was too rigid, so the 2025 models got another new frame with slightly less material around the top shock mount and the steering head. The FE350s dual-sport bike did not get that frame. The thinking was that dual-sport suspension is so much softer than motocross suspension that subtle differences in frame flex are indistinguishable.

The bike you see here is a 2025 Husky FE350s Heritage edition. It’s technically a left-over model, but in this case, that’s a very good thing. New models from the EU have import tariffs baked into the MSRP; the tax starts at 15 percent, and then there’s an additional 50 percent for some raw materials including steel. The manufacturers are eating some of the tax, but some of it is passed on to us. So, even though this bike has a somewhat dizzying MSRP of $13,049, it’s going to go up when the warehouse runs low and the 2026 versions arrive.

The FE350s has excellent offroad suspension for tight woods and hard enduro. It might be soft for high speeds and big hits.

Price is an especially big deal when it comes to dual-sport bikes, because the cash layout doesn’t stop when you get the bike home. Most come too dumbed down for serious off-road riding. Not the Husky. In stock form, it performs just well enough to satisfy about half of the riders who buy them. For the other half, there’s so much more potential just below the surface.

HOW FAST IS FAST ENOUGH?

You should already know that a stock FE350s is far milder, quieter and tamer than any of Husqvarna’s competition models. That’s fine. Even in a world where the EPA and DOT didn’t exist, you wouldn’t want the FE350s to run like a race bike. In stock form, it’s limited to around 30 horsepower. Is that enough to get the job done? Certainly. For most trail rides, the Husky’s performance doesn’t hold it back at all, and the aforementioned half of its owners will never change a thing. The real secret to its performance is that it’s a very high-quality 30 horsepower. It reaches max power at about 7000 rpm and then it just keeps going and going. The Husky carries that peak all the way to about 11,000 rpm. So, if you don’t mind screaming the motor, you can get away without shifting for miles at a stretch. And at low revs, the 350 is super clean and well behaved. There are no pops or hiccups. Husqvarna found the recipe to create ultra-lean, EPA-blessed mapping work without any of the bad characteristics that we once thought were mandatory.

As 2025 models, the FE350s Heritage units you see on the showroom now have an MSRP of $13,049 and have not been affected by the import tariff. That will change later in the year.

At the end of the day, though, there’s only so much you can do with 30 horsepower. It’s not easy to lay out over $13,000 for a modern motorcycle that makes no more power than a 200 from the ’80s. That’s why the other half of America’s FE350s owners will go looking for more. We all know a FC350 makes over 50 horsepower, so how hard is it to unlock the dual-sport version? Well, that’s where the secret handshakes come in. Federal and state lawmakers do not smile on any modifications that affect performance, so as far as they are concerned, the FE350s becomes a closed-course competition vehicle once you tamper with it. In some states (read California), aftermarket companies have been fined for nothing more than offering performance products that fit dual-sport bikes. But, the consumer path is well traveled if you choose to take it.

Currently, Husqvarna’s dual-sport and off-road bikes are equipped with Brembo brakes and hydraulics.

The knee-jerk move is to remove the reed valve from the intake and modify or replace the exhaust system. If you do that and nothing else, the best-case scenario is no improvement. The more common result is a decrease in performance, and an increase in popping, stalling and noise level. The lean mapping prevents any real gains. If you know a shop or a technician who can solve that issue by remapping the stock ECU, you’re ahead of the game. With richer fuel delivery and spark-advance changes, the motor can actually make use of other modifications. JT Jetting offers a piggyback EFI modifier that allows more fuel into the motor. GET and Vortex make whole ignition replacements.

How much can you expect? Most riders are happy to stop with a new end cap for the muffler, remapping and maybe a new intake boot that does away with the reed valve. That will dramatically wake up the 350 in the mid-range and result in about five additional horsepower without much increase in noise. If you want more than that, you can turn to cams, head work and whole exhaust systems. For us, the noise increase spoils all the fun. Also, be aware that almost any modifications result in a persistent check-engine notification. Slavens Racing, Taco Moto and a few other outfits sell dongles that will prevent that.

If you replace the exhaust system or disconnect the O2 sensor, you will be rewarded with a check-engine notification. There are aftermarket solutions.

WHAT ABOUT THE REST?

The stock tires are pretty street-oriented. They offer so little traction that the bike doesn’t even need rim locks. When you replace the tires and add rim locks, just remember to balance the wheels. Also, the floppy stock license plate bracket will eventually get sucked into the rear wheel and send itself into space. It’s fairly easy to trim it down, but you have to be somewhat clever about relocating the rear turns signals—if you want to keep them. Many riders simply remove them or replace them with more compact aftermarket units. Another common modification is to defeat the self-retracting kickstand. This requires nothing more than a shorter kickstand bolt; a sprocket bolt will work. The stock mirrors also have to go—all stuff that’s easy information once you are accepted into the dual-sport underground.

Other things don’t have to be changed at all. The suspension, for example, is excellent. Up front, the FE comes with the best fork that WP has ever offered on a production motorcycle. The Xact coil-spring fork is nothing short of brilliant. It’s soft, of course, but that’s what most riders want for trail riding, especially in the mountains out west or in the woods back east. Likewise, the rear suspension is superb for typical dualsport rides. Remember the frame change that was demanded on the motocross version? Not necessary here. Perhaps if you truly wanted to take the FE racing and stiffened up the suspension accordingly, you might be concerned with such things. But, if you were to do that, it would make more sense to go for the less expensive FX350 in the first place.

THE FINAL RESULT

If you can do it on a dirt bike, you can do it on the FE350s.

In the ultimate analysis, the FE350s is two different bikes to two different people. Some see it as a starting point on the road to a product that no manufacturer could ever offer—the street-legal race bike. Others see it as the final destination. In either case, the FE is a success. You just have to know what bikes you want before you buy it.

The post 2025 HUSQVARNA FE350S DUAL-SPORT VIDEO REVIEW & FULL TEST appeared first on Dirt Bike Magazine.

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