This year (2008) Johan van der Laan will enter the Paris – Dakar rally on a Husqvarna TE 450 - 2006 model. This machine has been completely prepared by Ben van Erp (one of the sponsors). To give you an idea of what it takes to prepare a motorcycle for the Dakar rally… So far over 100 man-hours have been put in to building it.
The standard technical specs for the Husqvarna TE 450 you can find here.
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Bellow you will find an overview of the adaptations which have been made or added to different parts of the husqvarna TE 450. No changes have been made to the engine itself.
# The exhaust system has been completely remodeled. The exhaust now goes almost underneath the engine to create space for two extra fuel tanks. The exhaust is provided with a short but thick damper for more power in lower gears.
# Two extra fuel tanks have been added, each carrying 6,5 liters of fuel. With the adaptation of the main fuel tank (15 liters) Johan now has 28 liters of fuel on board on which he can bridge a distance of over 250 kilometers trough the desert sand.
# The rear wheel sprocket is placed in rubber in the rear wheel. This is to spare the clutch on the long connection routes.
# The rear tire is fitted with a BIB – Mouse (sort of solid tube) with this fitted, chance of a flat tire is reduced to about 0%.
# The front tire is fitted with Tyre - Balls (kind of like tennis balls with air in them). 31 of these balls fit in a front tire which, before placing, can be adjusted to the right kind of pressure. A number of them can be punctured but you can then still drive as normal. The Main advantage that Tyre Balls has over BIB – Mouse is that they are lighter, which means less resistance and therefore they last longer.
# Front and rear suspension are more heavily built then default on a Husqvarna TE 450.
# The handlebar is raised and fitted with a steering damper.
# Buddy seat is higher and wider.
# The standard foot rests are widened.
# Two extra water tanks are fitted, each containing 1,5 liters of water. This is a demand for entering the competition of the Paris – Dakar rally.
# And finally, but one of the most important, the navigation tower. This is fitted in front of the handle bar and contains; Roadbook, GPS, Sentinel, ICO- meters, antennas, emergency beacon, Xenon light and IRI – track. Without all of this is it hardly possible to finish this extreme rally.