XT500 revivalist?
 

Hello all,

It been a while...

I got back from my second trans Africa by XT600 a few months ago and now the bug is biting again so hard that new plans must be put into motion. As much as i love my Tenere I cannot forget my trusty old steed, the XT500 that Ive had for so many years and so my next trip (Cape Town to North pole or CT up West down East coast Africa.. not decided yet) is officially in the pipeline again.

I would love to hear from any "old timers" out there who have done long hard trips on their 500's. How was it, what went wrong,what went well, what did you modify, what tank did you take etc. The more info the better.

Any reply much appreciated! Thanks,

Jim

Go for it Jim...it'd be nice if you had a website to record your trip.

For me the XT500 was the first adventure bike(I recognise that in reality any bike can be an adventure bike), and IMHO there's one big advantage to owning a classic such as this - they're already out of date, so you're not trying to keep up with technology. That said there's still loads of aftermarket bits on sale to improve your XT.

I've never owned an XT500 but the ones for sale nowadays seem overpriced. Back when XT500s were new it was always my dream to cross Africa on one, after seeing them in reports on the first Paris-Dakar rallies. But I was always too poor/inexperienced to attmept it. Maybe I'll buy one and attempt to realise the dream one day...