I
think I want to buy one - see below for my workings - but most of the
forums I find are either quite dated or just people talking about how
much they like them.
Is there anything in particular to look out for on them? I know the
fuelling’s a bit bad at low throttle openings, but can be sorted with
some intake modification (and/or just lived with). I’m also interested
in getting hard luggage on it as narrowly as possible (I’ve already got
MM panniers on the tiger) and getting the downpipe out from under the
engine.
I know Metal Mule used to do a high-level header, 2-into-1 can and pannier rack as a kit, but this was years
ago and expensive; am I realistically going to get similar nowadays? Is
there a ‘fix’ for that really fragile looking water pipe on the right
of the engine?
Is the X (the supermoto) markedly different aside from wheel and brake rotor sizes?
As to why an XT: I’ve a WR450 that’s awful on the road but great once
trailered to a trail and a Tiger that’s great on the road and
reasonably good on the trail, but I hate picking it up (also, the WR’s head’s been off for ~18months). I want a
less-exciting WR that can ride to the trails. I also want fuel
injection because I’m not about to learn how to fettle a carb, so that
rules out all the “good old” DS bikes (640, 604, 644 etc.) and I can’t
justify the cost of a 690/701. The Z seems to be bigger and heavier than
the R to no great benefit to me, since I don’t really want a bigger
tank or all the plastic, but I do want the single-piece seat. I have
ridden one and was reasonably happy with it.
I road across Zaire on an XT500 in the 80s and owned an XT in the early 90s, probably a XT600E. Great all rounder but under powered and quite dated now. And don’t use SM wheels off road
the drz400e is great for the trails (more grunt, robust ,… tbh never had any issues with the carb) …but 5 gears means it isnt an A road muncher for sure …but then any bike you have with nobblies on … the faster you go on tarmac the shorter their lifespan so tyres (and budget) are more of a limiting factor
On the topic of middle-weight dual-purpose bikes, last week I asked Kawasaki UK if it was possible to get a KLR650 in the UK via one of their dealers. Or if that wasn’t possible then if I imported one, was there any EU Type Approval in place to make it easy for me to register? (I could import from the US easily enough).
Their reply was that they didn’t sell this bike in the EU at all and never had, so it didn’t have EU Type Approval. They didn’t know if it could be registered in the UK with (or even without) modification.
I badly want a WR450, XL650, DR650 or KLR650 but the ‘mainstream’ manufacturers don’t sell them in the EU. Seems the US, Australia etc are where they see the dual-sport market as being. I did hear of a guy who imported a handful of new DRZ400SM’s a while ago, and had not trouble getting them through an SVA test and then registering them for the road. Importing is very easy for me through work… can probably get it free or at minimal cost as a favour, but as most of these bikes are of an older carb-fed design, I’m unsure about even the new ones meeting EU emissions regs. Perhaps importing new from California is a solution, but I’m not sure whether (as some of these bikes have been around for years) they will even have the charcoal canister for emissions.
A simple middle-weight dual-purpose would be my ideal do-it-all bike.
But to your question, jerky throttle at low revs can be partially cured by the intake mods, but a PC will sort them fully. Cush-drives can go baggy quite quickly, but replacement is easy enough and there was a guy selling tougher ones on the XT forum… in the car world it would be like replacing worn bushes with poly-bushes. Rust on the frame & engine finish if not cared for.
I had a CRF250M up until a couple of years ago but although fun, it could never do the business on the fast dual-carriageway part of my commute. I’m giving the forthcoming CRF450 serious thought, but a 650 would have me straight down the dealers to sign. Whatever, it’s got to be a mainstream Jap manufacturer for me.
Yeah, the T7 and KTM’s 700 ADV for maybe-next-year both look appealing but maybe a bit big and they’ll probably be much more adv-style road bikes than the stuff of old that they’re aping.
Rumour has it that CCM are doing a 650 version of the GP450 based on SWM’s 650 single but that’s a bit too shonky-and-english for my tastes, and as you say everything else is not EU-compatible because the other markets are so big and still want the carbs.
But, yeah, ta for the tips! I’ve been pondering one long enough that I think I just need to get one to either put the idea to bed or find out that it is what I want.
Seriously though, the only ‘bad’ feedback I’ve heard about the XT660 is that they’re ‘uninspiring’ and I think that comes from comparing them as a supermoto against the 690 / 701, where they lose because they won’t loft the front off power in the first 3 gears
Do it and if it’s shit give it to Joel for a laugh
Yeah, I've been mulling getting an XT660X and converting it to R spec, which should just be a case of fitting some proper-sized wheels and a new brake, but apparently the forks are sufficiently different to make that problematic.
