Is it possible to change the clutch in my '90 XT600E without draining the oil, as in a wet sump bike i.e. lean it over on it's side.
What type replacement clutch is recommended?
Are DID rims(17" and 21") standard on this model XT?

The DID rims are standard. Yours will either have corroded to nothing or will still be like new. I investigated this issue with several London wheel-builders (notably Hagon) and they said the consistency of DID products around this time was terrible. They were developing the alloy they would use or something, which means that some products (the good ones) will last forever and some are like putty in a few winters.

Can't be as much help of the clutch, but I have been told you can lie the bike down to do it. You lose a bit of oil but you should top it up afterwards. And while you're doing the plates you may as well check / replace the springs and file down the basket so that the notches are removed. A dealer would charge around 60-70GBP for this, inc. labour and parts. I decided that, unless it was an emergency I will pay someone else!

Lots of people use the EBC pads with no problem. They do a "normal" and a heavy duty Kevlar (although I believe heavier springs are recommended for the latter). Touratech do extremely fancy ceramic clutch kits for BMWs, so if you fancy something that will last *forever* you could give a UK distributor (Bracken Motorcycles?) a call, but be prepared for an expensive shock!

My opinion

Hi,

You can lean over the bike to change the clutch plates. to avoid oil loss you must put it almost completely on its side. Take out the battery first, it doensnt like being on its side ;-)
You will have to put a new gasket on too.

Peter

Lewis,
you mentioned having spoken to a couple of wheelbuilders.
I have a couple of broken spokes on my front wheel, can you recommend any of them to do the work?

Geoff

Yup. Hagon are (apparently) very good, especially if you're going to supply the hub and rim. They will even use H-D spokes and not charge you any extra labour (although the spokes themselves are a bit dearer). I was going to get them to build the back wheel up for me with 4mm spokes and an original rim.

DO NOT DISMANTLE THE WHEEL before going to them - you bill will be bigger because they will have to calculate the dish, instead of just measuring. And Bandit Bikes told me they could rebuild a wheel cheaper than Hagon every day of the week, although I dunno about theit track record.

Most enduro places will be able to recomend either a company or an individual capable of rebuildng wheels...

HTH mate.