Bought my dual sport today, 2007 Honda XR650L. It's really more of a big dirt bike with lights than a long distance adventure bike, but I figured I have enough street bikes already.
First impressions...It's REALLY TALL! Seat height is 37", I'm 6'2" with a 36" inseam and it's a stretch to flat foot it for me. I've had to relearn my dirt bike riding technique, one foot down and one on the peg.
It runs strong, good pull as long as you keep the revs in the powerband. Slight popping and backfire on deceleration, stock muffer doesn't sound bad. Gearbox shifts with solid mechanical feel, brakes grab well. It's relatively lightweight and tossable, 346 lbs wet. Handles great and suspension is impressive, soaks up our bad city streets like nothing. Very basic bike, but built with typical Honda precision.
It rides comfortably, seat is firm but fits me well, obviously you sit way up high but all the controls are well placed and feel intuitive. Like I said I don't think I'll be riding to Central America on it, but that's my shortcoming, not the bike's as it would be more than capable.
Drove up to northern Indiana near Ft. Wayne to pick it up, got out Gin's GS as soon as we made it home and took off for on our first urban adventure ride together. Found an service road that runs down along the White River near downtown, part gravel, part dirt tracks. Had to ride down a steep embankment to get to it, was fun riding down by the river with joggers and bicyclists looking at us from up above on the river path. Bikes both did great, we got to experience some gravel, dirt and grass, all a few miles from home in the middle of the city. Figured the worst that could happen is that we'd be told to leave or get a ticket, rode for a couple of miles until the trail ended and no one paid us any attention though.
We're hauling them out to Iowa in a couple of weeks for a long weekend, will be great fun to ride around the country roads where I learned to ride as a kid. Some great dirt roads in our part of Iowa, and we have mowed paths connecting several farms so you can ride for miles off road. Looking forward to it!
Here's a few pics of Big Red and his stablemate...
Welcome my brother, you'll soon learn you can't go far on the stock tank and the DeathWing tires are much better on asphalt than dirt but other than that Honda did a pretty good job designing these things.
Lots of good info here: ThumperTalk
Congratulations on the new family member.
That bike does well with a pipe and tweaking the carb.
Hate to say it about any one but if you total that thing I'll take the motor always wanted to plant one in my trx450r great amounts of torque can be had out of that motor. things are bullet proof to boot.
Welcome to the DS world. It will soon become the bike of choice. It's just too easy to throw a leg over at a moments notice for short rides that aren't planned.
__________________ It's better to have loved and lost than live with the psycho for life!
Way cool bikes......you'll learn to love it and it won't take long to figure out what she can and cant do.
She might surprise you.....!
Here's mine.....she's all modded up from the inside to the out and she's got alotta woods miles on her but it's safe to say that she is my "go-to" bike in the Spring and Fall....or sometimes in the Winter too!
Mines a 97 and is the same basic bikeas your '07. If it ain't broke.........don't fix it!
I'm already thinking this is my city bike, so lightweight and easy to maneuver compared to my much heavier streetbikes. Also with the condition of our streets this machine is better suited to bashing around town, it easily soaks up the potholes and rough pavement and asks for more.
Stayed up way too late reading XR forums and checking out mods and accessories. A header, exhaust and carb jets would seem to be in my near future, it also needs a rear tire at 2400 miles but I'll probably replace both. I'm considering a lowering link just to make it a bit more user friendly around town and also more easily rideable by my older, shorter brothers on the farms in Iowa.
The best thing about this bike? It makes me feel like a kid!
they are great bikes, though i am thinking more on the lines of a 450x maybe even a 250x would be more than enough for dirt rds and woods riding in my area
i am thinking more on the lines of a 450x maybe even a 250x would be more than enough for dirt rds and woods riding in my area
Dont do it....Maintaining one of those engines is going to take the fun out of it.
sbeau, Your decell back firing is probably loose header bolts. My XR600 in street trim did it to me. You will definatly have to open up the wallet for an oversized fuel tank, you will be lucky to get 70-80 miles out of that stock tank. I've got an IMS 4. something gallon on mine. It turns it into the "Exxon Valdez" but its worth the extra weight. A carb swap is in order or at the very least,order up a new choke plate. You dont want the stock piece of .... going through the engine not if,but when it decides to disinigrate. I put a Mikuni 41 on mine a long time ago and never looked back. The XR is a great bike but not a mile eater, I foresee a R12GS in your near future......
I've been looking at exhaust for mine since day one , but out here in the Socialist Republic of Kawlyfornia they've made the noise emission standard so tight that I actually think the stock exhaust with the air box baffle removed is too loud for the standards. As for tires I highly recomend the Dunlop 606's, they're a little "jiggly" on the street but they hook up beautifully in the dirt.
Check out Baja Designs for a smog pump block off plate kit, it'll do wonders for the popping on decel
Jetting does make a huge diffierence.
[QUOTE=97af;337742]Dont do it....Maintaining one of those engines is going to take the fun out of it.QUOTE]
what are you talking about it is winter for 6 months and then rains for 4.5 months then to muddy to move for 1 month up here, i got plenty of time to maintain one
Congrats on continuing to enjoy the fruits of your labors. It's cute how you got red so you and your wife can match.
__________________
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. -Frank Sinatra
congrats Scott. It's amazing how much fun you can have on these dual sports even though they don't have a hundred HP.
__________________
I Don't try to explain to people why I ride a motorcycle
"For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who don't understand, no explanation is possible."
Just doing my part to stimulate the economy! Bought this one from a young guy who's headed off to college shortly and decided he needed money more than a motorcycle, so I contributed to higher education as well.
Didn't get a chance to ride yesterday, going canoeing first today and then riding this afternoon. We'll have to head out of town a different direction, the Brickyard 400 is going on and traffic will be gridlocked later this afternoon after the race.
great choice! mine was an 02. I sold it to a college kid who used it to commute. A little heavy for the narrower trails but awesome on dirt roads n stuff and better on the paved roads than my ktm. Those things are bulletproof.
I put a White Bros lowering link in mine. Not crazy about lowering links but I had to because I'm short & it was still too tall for trail work for me (& heavy). But a gravel road/street pounder it was. I had UNI filter, no lid, FMF Megamax (for a XR600), & a baja designs jet kit. I also recommend the IMS tank & the SRC fork brace.
Bashed around the city and nearby country roads this afternoon, then came home and rode two up on the FJR to dinner. Wow, what a difference in bikes! Both have two wheels, that's about the only thing they have in common.
That bike is clean..........................toooo clean.
Dan
I live in the city dammit! Tried to find some mud today, but everything that looked promising would have meant trespassing on private property and hate to do that.
Sitting up late reading about headers, exhausts and jetting.
Ok, credit card is smokin'.....FMF PowerBomb Stainless Steel Header, FMF Q4 Stainless Slip On, Dynojet Stage 1 jet kit and Uni multi stage foam air filter are on the way.
If the Dynojet kit comes with the "stepped" needle do yourself a favor and leave it in the box, I couldn't get mine to run right with it, kept the stock needle and just shimmed it, ran much smoother.
Also, be very very careful when removing the enrichening valve (choke) from the carb it's realy easy to strip the threads off of it.
If you haven't seen it already, do a search for "dave's mods" on the Thumpertalk forum, excellent step by step instructions.
Dan
If the Dynojet kit comes with the "stepped" needle do yourself a favor and leave it in the box, I couldn't get mine to run right with it, kept the stock needle and just shimmed it, ran much smoother.
Also, be very very careful when removing the enrichening valve (choke) from the carb it's realy easy to strip the threads off of it.
If you haven't seen it already, do a search for "dave's mods" on the Thumpertalk forum, excellent step by step instructions.
Dan
Thanks for the advice! I have read all about "Dave's Mods" and will work those in when I do the rejetting. Hesitant to drill out the slide holes though.
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