Goodbye XJ, hello X.................

[Shaft]

So, I've been thinkng about doing some light offroading for a while, then a mate tells me he's fed up with his sports bike and is trading in for a traily and the whole idea starts to crystalise.

I asked for some advice on here and the general concensus was, go for something small and light, probably an XR400; trouble is, I also want to commute on it and I found modern stuff tends to have seats like sitting on the edge of a plank, so I realised I needed something older and fatter, to go with my older and fatter arse.

I was also a little concerned about bikes with only a kickstart, as every advert seemed to say 'starts really easily.....................when you've got the knack' and I didn't want to find out I've forgotten what the knack is, when I'm hot, sweaty and up to my armpits in mud.

After a fleeting thought about ex Army MT350s, a DR350S became first choice and I found a really nice one in North Wales, but then this came up and I decided it was entirely appropriate for my requirements, the ideal machine for someone who hasn't been off road for more than 30 years..................

https://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4052/xl600rm.jpg

Now is probably a good time to admit that I've never owned a big single and all my previous off road experience has been on a lightweight 2 smoke, so the learning curve is looking like the North face of the Eiger!

I haven't had a chance to get a really good look at it, but it's got a new MOT and it runs and stops and everything, so I'm hoping this isn't a proper project.

Oh, while I'm here, big up to Craig and the team at Total Triumph in Taunton; top bunch, really helpful and I would highly recommend them.

Anyway, I'm gonna wind down after my 350 mile collection trip and dream of engines that fire at every lamp post.......

Thud, thud, thud
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Howling Terror]

The XL Rocks!

[edit] 500cc

Weighs like a big Rock!.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[Shaft]

Actually, slightly bigger rocks, it's a 600.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[ChrisJ]

Looks in quite good nick for an old timer, what did you give for her?
____________________
C90 for commuting and Divvy 900

[Shaft]

It is pretty straight and it's just had a top end rebuild, plus a few other bits; at first look, it could handle some tidying, but it's all cosmetic.

I ended up giving £1200 for it, which seemed fair to me.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[G]

I paid £600 for each of my DR600s, but they were generally tattier than yours. Similar bikes and mind make a nice enough trail bike.

Ironically, it's probably not far off the modern 250 trail bikes in weight.

[Shaft]

The problem I was having was finding the right compromise.

As a road bike, it might have to carry a passenger and it will be my daily commuter, so it had to be comfortable and have enough grunt, plus I'm not a little guy, so physical size comes into the equation; I've ridden big lumps for so long now, any style of bike under 600cc feels like a toy to me, which can be fun, but I think the feeling would soon pass.

As a trail bike, weight is an issue, but I don't think I could live without an electric foot and, because I like old stuff, that severely limits the choice.

As for the price, well that's a bit meh.

Buying old bikes is always a bit of a lottery, but having met them, I reckon the guys that did the engine rebuild made a good job of it, if they didn't, then I haven't lost that much and I'm in the trade, so it won't cost me a fortune to have it done again.

As the old saying goes, never gamble more than you can afford to lose and I'm in the fortunate position that I can afford what I paid (although I'm rather hoping I've made the right choice, I don't like pissing money away!).
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[G]

Didn't know they were electric start!

Took me 15 minutes to start my first DR the first day I tried to use it to get to work (would have taken about that to walk to work too!)

[Shaft]

I'm not quite up to speed with the various specs yet, but apparently this is early for an electric start model, however, it's an older import (I suspect from Italy) so the rest of Europe may have got a starter motor before us.

It's a got a kicker as a back up though, so I guess I'll be working out the knack in due course.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[P.]

[stevo as b4]

Nice bike there Shaft!
Nice bit of build quality on XL/XR's of that era too! I think you have definately got the nice easy comfy winter commuter side of things well covered, and also you have over 40bhp, plenty of torque and 105mph to play with on the road on a good day with everything tucked in lol!

A few simple mods would make it better suited to the rough stuff, but as your XL looks nice and original, id be seriously considering taking off the nice OEM lights, indicators and clean original plastics, and putting on some cheap generic dirtbike gear for the off road stuff, but that's only because i like my minty clean 80's trail bikes.

I know the 600 is a fair bit heavier than the XL250R, but at the beggining of the year i went to a local trial, and in the B class, where most clubmen were riding fairly new Beta's, Scorpa's and Gas Gas TXT's, a bit of an expert guy was riding the XL250R mentioned above with all the road gear fitted, mirrors, indicators etc etc. He had trials tyres on it, and was pretty much cleaning every section and making it look easy on a bike that really shouldn't have been there!

[Shaft]

Bloody hell, I won't be doing 100mph on those tyres, the thing will be weaving about all over the road!

You've got a good point about the plastics, but the pictures do flatter them a bit, so I might see about sourcing another set to keep for best, unless that's impossible, in which case I will put on some generic stuff.

Speaking of which, had to go into work and unload it from the van today, so I couldn't resist having a tart.

Bought some universal hand guard/bark buster things which weren't (universal that is, they are definitely hand guards) and fitted a wardrobe, which looked humungous when I was holding it, but strangely in proportion when fitted......

Off

https://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3796/p1120835h.jpg

https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3223/p1120836.JPG

On

https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/836/p1120837.jpg

https://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2900/p1120838.jpg


So now it's a shopping trolley.

Had a quick brap round the car park and it's mega; surprisingly light throttle, which is instant, as is the torque (so it's a world away from the revvy XJ) and I was pleased to discover my old slow speed balancing skills are still there, if a little rusty.

I think I'm going to like it
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[G]

Had 108mph on the GPS with pillion and panniers on those tyres and they're fine.

If you've got rimlocks, you may want to consider lots of balancing weights for fast road stuff.

If you've not got them, get some for off-road.

Or better, get a spare set of wheels to swap over - those tyres are fine in dry stuff, but clog instantly in British winter mud.

With a dirt front tyre you can at least point which way you want to go, with the rear going where it wants. With both of those, it's mostly a case of letting the bike go where it wants to and hoping there's no trees in the way!

[f1fan111]

very nice bike there first rode an XL500R when i passed my test was great bike.

[Shaft]

Well, it's all taxed and insured now, so I took it home for the first time and it's definitely different!

I can see now why these big adventure bikes are so popular and, even after that short run, I could see myself seriously considering a lumpy BM or Triumph in the future.

The only thing that's going to take some getting used to is the gearing, which is taller than I was expecting; at traffic speeds I found myself needing to be a gear lower than I normally would be, so I might look into doing something about that.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[G]

You may then find a problem off-roading, as the nasty slippy stuff you often want it very slow.

I did get sprockets for my KTM to up it to a theoretical top speed of around 125 or something from 107 stock (it pulled 108 with a pillion and panniers with one of the sprockets on).
However, with the standard fuel map it's a bit gutless low down even with stock gearing. Once you get the akrapovic map (which I presume bypasses emissions stuff), it's better. However, I'd still like a lower first gear and a higher top for the best of both worlds.

[Shaft]

Yeah, it doesn't feel right for offroad really, but it doesn't feel as though they've got it right for the road either, although I haven't had the chance to stretch it's legs yet and I don't want to push too much, it's still running in.

I'll have to try and find out if it's on standard gearing, but it wasn't liking pulling from low speed in third (not as well as the XJ) so it could've been altered, or maybe the carbs aren't set up right.

My problem is, I've no knowledge to compare it to, so I might let someone more experienced with this type of bike have a go and see what they think.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[G]

I'd suggest the issue is that it's a "big single" .

Before selling my zx6r I got it spruced up a bit and rode it to work to make sure everything was ok.

Halfway there it started to splutter and die and I actually pulled over thinking something was wrong.

It turns out that in fifth (maybe 145mph gearing?) it didn't actually pull very well from 15mph or something. While the tuned zx9 I had been riding normally at least matched most cars that were in gear trying for all they might!

While people always go on about big singles having loads of 'grunt', my experience is that it isn't the case. They have low gearing and their style invites you to use lower gears on the low geared bike.

Riding the KTM back to back with a GSXR1000 - sure the KTM feels pretty punchy, but the GSXR is just as nippy at any point in first gear. And first gear stops with only 4mph less on the clocks than top gear of the single!

[Shaft]

It could well be my expectation that's at fault, that's why I really need a second opinion.

Comparing the two, there's a particular corner on my route home that I would expect the XJ to pull cleanly out of in third, at maybe 10-15 mph; the XL really struggled, not quite in danger of stalling, but pretty chuggy and not a very mechanically sympathetic way to treat it.

The XJ has got another 30 bhp, but it's (relatively) highly strung and doesn't hit max torque until the XL's redline, plus it weighs 100 lbs more, so I was expecting the XL to be a bit more comfortable with low down lugging.

Edit: that's interesting, according to motocyclespecs, the two bikes have almost identical torque outputs, with peaks only 500 rpm apart.

That probably explains a lot.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[G]

Does sound like just the way they are! Having 4 smaller cylinders firing rather than one big one certainly helps too.

Most singles I'd expect to be in second maybe at 10-15mph and third starting to push it a bit.

Five speed too, I see google says - so you're a fair bit up the useful speed range.

This post is quite interesting on gear ratios.
Not the last post on the first page mentions that the XR600r has about the same ratios as the XR650R, which means it's got an even closer gearbox than my KTM!
Presumably as with the 650R, it was made for desert racing where you've got options of fast, really fast and silly-fast.

[Shaft]

I wouldn't mind a go on an XR400, just to see how they compare, but I think some slightly smaller sprockets could be on the cards, as I don't mind sacrificing some top end.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035