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XR650R for travel ? XR650R for travel ?
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  #1  
Old 15 Nov 2007
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XR tires
This seems good I will try them next time I change my tires ( should be within a month)
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  #2  
Old 27 Nov 2007
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its easy to wreck a rear in 2500 miles, but throttle restraint should yield 5000 miles on pretty much any tyre. I just got 11,000 miles plus on an Avon Gripster with 2mm left when I junked it to fly home. on that trip, I didn't get to do much off road, but I had hot tar to contend with.

IRC make fantastic OEM tyres for Honda - see if you can find some off people buying XR650Ls. alternatively, King tyres are relatively widely available in Africa and I got great life from their 130 section. I fitted the biggest thing I could find in Mozambique ... 100 section on XR650L and was super-impressed by grip and wear. big tyres are over-rated except in soft sand
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Old 27 Nov 2007
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Xr
Thabks Rich,
As you know its sometime a bit difficult to ride smoth with an XR650R, did you ever consider using a single seat on yours, the OEM is a butt killer for me and after 100 miles I am in serious pain. On my KLR or BMW 500 + a day is OK, I was maybe thinking corbin or even try to built one single seat for it??

Thanks for any comments
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  #4  
Old 28 Nov 2007
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I left the seat as is and put up with the pain! I prefer to ride standing at 90-100kmh - I needed good pegs and high, wide bars to get a comfortable stance. Martin and I also tried sitting side-saddle or with our feet over the bars when we had long straight roads with no police.
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  #5  
Old 29 Nov 2007
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Oils not well!
Never mind tyres, mine seems to be devouring oil at an alarming rate!

I recently bought a brand new XR650R and have racked up just over 4000 miles over the past six weeks in the western USA - a good mix of dirt and back roads, some proper trails/desert and a fair bit of regular highway too...

I fitted TKC 80's initally (thinking they would last well in such conditions), and got around 3200 miles before the rear was worn flat in the centre, and the front had started to get that alternating high/low knobble thing going on. I've now swapped them both for Pirelli MT21's which hopefully will last a little longer - I got over 4000 miles on those fitted to my XR400 that I have back in the UK.

I understand that it is quite common for the 650R to use oil at prolonged highway speeds, but I am more concerned at the 25% loss of compression it is now suffering... luckily they come with a 6 month warrenty in the US, so it is currently back in the dealer getting sorted (at last)...

JennyMo xxx
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Old 29 Nov 2007
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I'd be interested to hear what they say about the oil burn ... I've had two and I've ridden on long trips with two others. both of mine (but neither of the others) intermittently swigged oil. normally it was about 250ml in 1000km, but once (80kmh) one of them necked 400ml in 500km. as far as I'm aware, I didn't lose compression or power ... it just meant adding oil from time to time.
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Old 29 Nov 2007
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I rate the TKC80 from continental for durability- I got 10,000 miles out of my rear (80% on road, but 90% of the roads were bad) and even more off the front. This was on a heavily laden 750 V-twin. Never even had a puncture...
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  #8  
Old 30 Nov 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RichLees View Post
I'd be interested to hear what they say about the oil burn ...
Well, the diagnosis is as follows - turns out I have a leaky exhaust valve which is the cause of the majority of the compression loss, although they are going to change the rings too as I'm sure the crank case shouldn't be pressurising as much as it is (even though they 'wet' tested the compression and it didn't seem to pass any oil?), certainly the oil coming out each change is as black and as thin as you like...

Good job the bike came with a 6 month warranty - but admittedly, it is a very rare problem.

They did say that oil consumption is a known trait of that engine at highway speeds, so like you say, I guess you just need to keep an eye on it and top up every so often...

So, fingers crossed I'll be back on (and off) the road in a couple of days...

JennyMo xxx
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  #9  
Old 11 Dec 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HendiKaf View Post
This seems good I will try them next time I change my tires ( should be within a month)
I really rate the rear Dunlop D908RR for travelling and dual sport type use, but hate the front, it makes the bike weave badly at any speed above 70 mph, and feels nervous at lower speeds as well.

I much prefer the Pirelli MT21 on the front for all road road and off road use.

The Dunlop D908RR seems to last longer than the MT21 on the rear, and its no problem mixed with the MT21 on the front.

Four of us used varying combinations of tyres on XR650R's for a mixture of terrain, roads, rocks and sand in Morocco and D908RR rear/MT21 front seemed the best combination.


SEATS.

We also used either standard seats with gel pad/re upholstered seat by a local guy, and American Renazco seats on 2 of the bikes. The Renazco seat was by far the most expensive option, but seemed to be by far the best for comfort as well judging from comments from the group, but of course this is subjective.
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