We catch up with Factory Husqvarna rider Rhys Budd to see what's in his 2024 Husqvarna FC250 that he's racing in the MX2 class of the ProMX.
BIKE MODEL: 2024 Husqvarna FC250
THE RIDER: Rhys Budd
HOW DO YOU LIKE TO RIDE?
Coming from Sydney, “I prefer hard-pack tracks, so I ride a bit over the front of the bike to get more traction towards the front wheel.” With Rhys’ riding style, his bike is set up for feedback through the front tire, ensuring he has feel through the corners.
HOW DO YOU SET UP YOUR BIKES?
The team has been working with Rhys to find a set-up that works for all tracks, his style is more suited to hard-pack tracks, but they’re working on sand riding and finding a happy medium that will work for the different terrains they’ll be riding throughout this season. Rhys highlights, “We’ve been working a lot on suspension. So we’ve actually gone from what our base setting was, we’ve gone a bit stiffer. Just to try and hold the front end up a little bit.” Speaking with Todd Waters about the changes they’ve made to Rhys’ bike, he comments on the importance of balance in the suspension setup, “that’s the fork and shock working together. A lot of bikes that you hop on, the forks will be too stiff for the rear shock. So the rear shock will be too soft and it’ll be dragging in the rear so you won’t be able to turn.”
“So I run I think one of the lowest bends, a pretty flat bar, and kind of rolled back a little bit, so a more central position. And then I run my levers fairly flat, that’s what I’ve always found comfiest, and then I try and move them in on the bar just a little bit to help get the elbows up.”
THE MECHANIC: Jayden Coker
WHAT MODS OR ADJUSTMENTS DID YOU MAKE?
A focus for the team has been getting Rhys comfy on the bike, Jayden says “Rhys is pretty good, we’ve just been doing the little things like bar setup, whatever gets him comfy. He’s worked a lot on his suspension setup and fine-tuning the engine. We’ve got a good group of people with us, everyone sort of works together and we’re just doing the fine-tuning of things.”
HOW HARD IS THE RIDER ON PARTS ETC?
Rhys has only been with the team for a few months now, but so far “he’s pretty good, he wears through stickers but that’s pretty common. He brings his practice bike in and he’s washed it which makes my life easier. Rhys isn’t overly hard on any part in particular.”
ANYTHING ELSE WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BIKE FROM A TECH PERSPECTIVE.
“We do a lot of little things, like wrapping of hoses. We’ve had a year with the bikes so we’ve found where spots of wiring might rub or hoses where things get caught. A lot of finicky little things like that, stuff that a lot of people wouldn’t do, running wiring a bit differently to hopefully not have any mechanical issues.”
“As you’ve seen the bikes are shiny, we’ve spent a lot of hours on a polishing wheel.”
ENGINE DEVELOPMENT: Jed Parsons
WHAT STYLE OF BIKE DOES RHYS LIKE?
The Raceline Husqvarna Team has brought Jed Parsons on board for the 2024 race season to assist with engine development. Jed comments on the performance side of Rhys’ bike setup, “Rhys likes a lot of bottom-end power and a lot of torque right off the throttle, so we’re trying to get that as much as we can. We didn’t have to go that far as to what we need his race bike to be. We started off with a really good base, which made it super easy.”
FIVE THINGS WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT RHYS’S BIKE
- The standard piston and clutch are used in Rhys’ bikes. By modifying these components they’re able to get an engine that is competitive at a national level
- This year the team is running HGS pipes
- Vortex ignition
- EZE triple clamps
- WP steering dampener – with a different riding style than his teammates Rhys runs a different setting on his steering damper for a much softer front end.
