Touring europe on an xr400 mad? First adventure...

[element]

This is gonna be long post. Im at a point in life where I think this might be the chance to actually do this so bear with me

Ive wanted to do europe for a long time but as usual women always have a habit of stopping these things from happening. well the woman wants out (she never liked bikes anyway but we have a long history 12 years!!) so now im gonna do it.

I dont have a job yet but I'll be able to earn £1600 at least over christmas. I would go now but I dont have a full licence although I have nearly enough in lose change, gold and silver to get my cbt theory and test. Once Ive done my licence (3rd attempt now.. been riding about 5 years on 125's so I should pass this time!) I will sell my dt125re for about £1000 and then I can buy a bigger bike.. My mate has offered to lend me £1000 also when he gets the money from selling his part of his house as he is going to france for the snowboarding season... Money is sorted so there is nothing stopping me now other than my licence!

My intial plans are to ride from plymouth to london, then from there over to france, go down to southern france onto monoco, then slovenia, croatia, slovakia, austria, czech republic, germany then for a well earned stopped in amsterdam before getting the ferry back home.

appox 3500 miles prob more.. 65mpg? (Ive no idea on the fuel consumption of an xr400) means I can do about 15miles a litre or 150miles on a 10L tank. ~£350 for approx 230 litres (thats xassuming fuel is like £1.50L tops though) I would like to get a bigger tank like a 20L and then id be able to do 300 miles at a time.

I would like to do some offroading but I would be alone unless I buddied up with someone along the way. would that be too risky? Ive offroaded before and loved it but ive also had a far share of whacks.. i.e head over bars!

as for getting my head down I was thinking on camping sites occasionally and mainly wild camping. Ive done alot of camping/survival when I was at cadets so I know I can look after myself..

is there anything I should be aware of? especially eastern europe as I have no idea what to expect..

cheers.
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04' DT125RE (run-a-bout) // 89' DT125R (rebuilt + supermoto conversion)
SPARES FOR SALE. 2RK TZR // 82 DR125 // DT125R/E .... PM ME...

[mad4it028]

be boring as hell on an xr400 i have an xr600 and i would find that to slow for the trip cruising speed on my xr600 is only 70mph and thats with road gearing
if i were you ide look for a africa twin or somthing like that or if you dont mind giving the offroading a miss a bandit/fazer 600
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[element]

I thought about the bandit and the sv650. Im not interested in caining miles and id be happy cruising at B roads 50-60mph. I would gear the xr for more topend though just so I could cruise at a lower rpm. Ive ridden a gs500 before but I didnt really like it. Ive done probably 40,000 miles on an enduro style bikes, on an average of about 40-50mph so im used to it and it suits me perfect. I have thought about klr 650's, africa twin, dominators etc and I would use one for a proper long trip but this trip ive always wanted to do on an offroader. I originally wanted to do europe on my dt since the unbelieveable amount of miles ive done on it with no breakdowns, original piston ad rings aswell! but I realise 3000+ miles is gonna be way boring on a 125 so I decided doing it on 400 would be better.. I guess you could say people have done it on smaller bikes, even 50cc's but I suppose it depends on what your used to.

Is their any benefit in the 600 over the 400 xr? would mpg be better? Is it much heavier? what about getting parts? like is it easier to get hold of 400 parts on ebay than it is on 600 parts?

I started thinking about going on a supermoto at one point ccm r30? fmx650 and a few others but I thought it might be a bike risky riding a bike like that. at least a dirty xr just looks like a another piece of junk.. also with the xr I though maintaining and repairs would be a doddle. they are pretty bomb proof anyhow.
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04' DT125RE (run-a-bout) // 89' DT125R (rebuilt + supermoto conversion)
SPARES FOR SALE. 2RK TZR // 82 DR125 // DT125R/E .... PM ME...

[G]

the DR650 R30 and FMX are hardly power houses them selves.
If you're happy cruising slowly, then you should be fine.

As far as off-roading goes, getting some decent time on the mud under your belt should show give you a reasonable chance of crash-free riding. Also, a better feel for keeping slides under control and knowing where the limits are likely to be.

DR600 is worth considering (and probably KLR600) - it hasn't gained the weight of the later electric start model. Not a massive amount of power; similar to the DRZ400 (as with weight), but more midrange.

[kingsknight]

the XR400 has a tank range of about 100miles, would be useless to do that kind of trip. i did 2000ish miles in a month on my XR125! the XR400 does not have much more top end then the 125 version lol has a lot more pulling power though!
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TS50 (sold) NS125F (sold) NSR125R-K (write off after 2 crashes) CG125 (nicked) XR125L-3 (Sold )-: ) DR125SM '11 (sold yay) XL125V '12 (In love with this bike) XT600E '04 (fun on the dirt)

[multijoy]

[element]

[mad4it028]

wanna buy an xr600r? need alittle work for mot a good service n your away
____________________
always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[G]

https://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n195/oziexplorer/2WD/XR400_SupertankerTank_2.jpg

22l tank for an XR400.

[Tonka]

I did a predominantly offroad trip of about 2100 miles in June from Spain along the Pyrennees and back through France. The other guys were using DRZ400 I was on my XT250 Serow. We were all fully laden with camping gear, spare parts for the bikes, food etc - the DRZ all had long range tanks and I carried a 5 litre marine tank of extra fuel, as there is no long range tank for my bike.

Observations: road miles are tough - we did a couple of road days and they were seriously unpleasant. My bike is comfie sat down but even so it was not something I could do every day and apparently the DRZ is not a comfortable bike (makes your bits go numb )! Make sure whatever you get is seriously comfortable on your backside, your back and wrists!!

Offroading alone: Personally I wouldn't even contemplate it. Our most experienced rider (seriously good competitive enduro rider) made a rookie mistake and broke his collar bone. He would have been ok if on his own, as he could have walked the 5 miles down to the small country road and certainly wouldn't have died, but it could have been worse and quite a bit of the time we were much, much further from anywhere civilised.

Maintenance: Get something reliable, well serviced, carry spares and make sure you know where to go in the event of a problem before you leave. We had lists of Dealers etc and a phrase book and it did us ok.

My advice for what it's worth, is decide what you want to concentrate on and get something suitable for that. The odd gravel track on most road bikes won't be a show stopper and will still allow you to get off the beaten track for wild camping and exploring. A bike designed to be used predominantly offroad is unlikely to be very fast or comfortable on the tarmac!

This was loaded to leave - you can just see the light grey marine 5litre fuel tank tucked in on LH side:

https://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr344/Tonkatoo_2008/Ex%20Euro%20Trail/IMGP0274.jpg

I reckon I'd take pretty much the same stuff regardless of the length of trip as most was just basic stuff - 4x15 litre pannier bags (one empty for food/water) and the 2x20 litre Ortlieb sacks had camping kit (basher, bivvi, tarp) and sleeping/clothes and spare pair of shoes.

https://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr344/Tonkatoo_2008/Ex%20Euro%20Trail/IMGP0276.jpg
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[G]

I think part of that though is riding appropriate to the conditions.
I was certainly riding the winding mountain-side paths in Spain quite cautiously.
In an enduro, I'll go for it a lot; green laning with others less so, solo trail riding in a country where I can't speak the language, even less so.

[Tonka]