xt600 or similar?

[Stowelly]

after commuting on sports bikes for the last 5 years, srad / 98 r1. but recently been riding the missus dt 125 and found that being 6"6 im missing out on a lot of comfort / ride height so im considering something like an xt. does anyone have any opinion of these?

basically I want an upright commuter, but still needs to be fun, not really looking to go for a bandit just yet!!

cheers

[Itchy]

It's an indestructible tractor THE preferred RTW / Dakar bike of yore. It is VERY basic, quite vibey above 50mph. Decent MPG due to twin carb, somewhat lumpy. Hammers oil, small stock fuel tank.

Very easily stolen, due to lowish weight, no wind protection for motorway... appalling for 50mph+ wind and vibes. With hand guards hands tend to stay dry.

No under seat storage. Lift the seat and you can see the wheel. Fuel is easily stolen. Stock exhausts (just the end can) rot like crazy.

Can be taken apart and fixed in a day and can run on awful fuel. Gear box needs stomping. Candles are better than the lights on these things.

Can create huge clouds of steam if you ride through a puddle due to air cooled engine.

Weak stock rear spring. I overloaded the bike with me + luggage. I came back and put a harder spring on it. It's not going to take pillions without a different spring.

Can be slidey with knobblies. Mine seemed stoppy happy.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[c-m]

The BMW F650 Dakar, the G650 xChallenge, and xCountry are superiour to the XT600.

They're better built, better on fuel, better for water crossing (the airbox is higher), and less vibey.

They are however more expensive, and the Dakar and GS models are heavy at 196kg fully fuelled, compared to 160kg or less for the others.

[doggone]

How far each way? In trailie style, could do worse than something like CRF250L, I love mine on road - it's a slow hooligan bike
70mph is wringing it but 60 is fine. Seems very cheap to run compared to bigger bikes.

[P.addy]

[Stowelly]

Thanks Itchy, thats a very comprehensive review of it. the getting stolen bits arent generally an issue with the places i park, so wouldnt see that as much of a concern


Ill have a look at those bmw's however im willing to bet they are out of my price range, basically will have whatever i can get for a 98 r1, so guessing around 2000

[Pigeon]

2006-2007 DRZ400-SM seem to be about 2k

Don't know if it would be suitable. Fella at work commutes 20 miles on his each day.

[Stowelly]

I like the look of those 400's, i do worry that it may be hellish on the motorway though, even for a short while...... saying that though I rode my nsr 125 the length of the a23 at least 3 times a week without too much stress, hmm

[G]

XT600 makes similar power to the DRZ400E - a bit more than the S and SM.

I would go for a supermoto if you don't plan to go off road.

G650 is the pick of the BMWs to my mind.

I'd say a NSR125 should do better on motorways than tall big singles (owned a few NSRs and quite a few dirt big singles).

Presuming you're not bothered by having low weight, but want a similar position, I'd be considering a TDM900. More flexible engine and so on.

[Dibble]

I've despatched a XT550,DR600 and a XL600 and whilst they were good in very heavy traffic I moved to twins.
The rev range is small too high and the vibes get you too low and they become snatchy.

the seats are one buttock at a time.

[Stowelly]

yeh forgot about the tdm, had an 850 for a few months and did my mod1 on it, quite a nice ride (if not a pain in the arse to work on).

starting to get fatigue from looking at bikes..... maybe i could just put some risers on the r1 and raise it up a bit.......

[Stowelly]

[G]

[Itchy]

[Dibble]

If you’ve looked at the SV650 and SV1000 the obvious ones to look at would be the V-stroms but give us an idea of your budget- new KTM SuperDuke at £14k or Knackered KLE500 at £500.......

[G]

[c-m]

[Dibble]

[Itchy]

X-challenge is good, but if it breaks it is hard to fix.

XT is adequate and can be easily fixed if needs be.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Mario_Kempes]

I've got one (xt600e) as my commuter hack. Toured Mallorca on it in the summer and it didn't miss a beat. Stacked it and was easy to hammer out the pegs and stuff. Plastics were broken off long ago.

Mine's from 98 but looks pretty rough. I leave it anywhere without thinking twice about it.

I had an issue with the regulator rectifier but got a new one for 30€ and that was that. Been fine ever since.

The bars are just over the wing mirrors of normal cars but many newer cars are all massive and are more like vans meaning that the bars and wing mirrors are at the same height.

My commute is about 12 miles, mixed between urban and motorway. It sits at 70-75 no bother. I feel the vibes more when I'm wearing proper boots. Don't feel it so bad when I'm wearing trainers or whatever.

I live in Spain so the lack of weather protection is not usually an issue but it was thundering down today and it was brutal.

I like it. Will keep it until it dies on me. Wouldn't want it for my only bike though.

[Atomic Punk]

A MZ Baghira is a better alternative than the XT same engine but better brakes etc

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/bikereviews/searchresults/Bike-Reviews/MZ/MZ-Baghira-2001--current/
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I may have lost my way but I'm way ahead of schedule.

[Nexus Icon]

[G]

[Atomic Punk]

Got rid of the frame work around the head lamp on mine and got a slip on exhaust, that saved a chunk of weight.


Nice one on BikeTrader

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201409277758501/sort/recpriceascdefault/model/baghira/make/mz/usedbikes/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/ub24nb?logcode=p
____________________
I may have lost my way but I'm way ahead of schedule.

[G]

For the same money you could get a G650X, which gets you more power and less weight I believe.