Yamaha xt 350
 

I have a yamaha xt 350. not sure of the year, its been in storage now for a few years since it was last going. What are the thoughts on completely rebuilding this bike and using this as an "around africa bike".

Mine personally?
 

Firstly.....:welcome: To the fountain of Knowledge of all things RTW! the HUBB.

My thoughts personally....... what is the general condition? Does it have any significant nasty bits?
Do you mean will it make it?...well, Lois Pryce went all over the place ( South America, across the USA etc) on a XT225 and others have done RTW on Much smaller machines.
It all depends on what YOU are comfortable with. How much prep YOU want to put into it, and how dedicated YOU are......... after all..its YOUR journey!

Have fun!

Martyn:mchappy:

The bike is easy to handle. I would imagine the large 1200 bmw's would be huge in sandy conditions and so on. A bike completely rebuilt, are these known for higher mileages before any type of failures? I am not a fast driver...it would only concern me if I was in places in Europe where you need highway speeds. I would imagine 50mph would be enough in most of Africa at top speeds, I wouldnt carry a lot of weight, a few spare parts ie, Tires, chains, cables and odds and ends, tent, sleeping bag, clothes, boots. I dont know if I will be even going just yet. it wouldnt be for another year or so if I did. But I hear of slower driving and so on, why would you need such a large bike unless your carrying huge loads. What about the air/oil cooling. would this bike run too hot?

My other thoughts of course was to buy a brand new '08 KLR 650. I hear they work really well, simplier then the BMW's, cheaper.

If you are a good mechanic and you like that bike , I would say ,yes it would be a good idea to rebuild the bike and use it for an Africa trip .350 should be plenty big enough .
But if you have to ask ,then I would assume that you don't have a good mechanical knowledge .So my advice would be to buy a new or nearly new bike such as the KLR that you mentioned and take that instead .
Good luck either way .

xt 350 the way to go...
 

....awesome bikes...we rode two used 350's for 44,000 kms. from Canada to Chile with only one major problem that was pretty easliy fixed. mind you, SA is not Africa but i've also ridden xlr250s thru southern africa with no probs. lighter the better, you can't imagine how many times we had to lift them onto boats, up stairs, into hotels, etc.
plus, you drop it, you CAN pick it up.

good luck...go XT!

that IS a good point Todd n Christina......
 

After watching those two "Celebrities" poncing about Africa on fully loaded Beemer 1200's and needing a team of THREE to pick a bike up, I would say you have the most valid argument ever for a light bike.

:thumbup1:

Bike
 

Yeah, I have a bit of mechanical knowledge. Rebuilding the bike would make me even more familar. I didnt talk to a yamaha dealer to see what it would cost to get it rebuilt... I would probably nearly have a knew bike once I finished. I do like the KLR, as I hear they work well. Air cooling and highway speeds are my only thought. I rode around on that xt so much around here, short distances...but as hard as any pictures I have seen on these travelogues so far, except for really deep water. and I never had much trouble with it at all. If I baby the bike all the way along, day in day out, the only thing I think would bother it would be the heat. Im sure I put enough miles on it here to go around the african continent with little to no maintenance. And yes, people swear by those beemers....but my god....massively huge! and what I have seen them consider as offroad I thought was "on road" lol.

i met someone that used a xt350 as a daily-driver en drove more than 100.000 Km with cruising speeds of 120 km/h. the 350 is like all xt's tuned to last and not to race...

my 2 cent

rebuilding bikes
 

The problem with rebuilding bikes is that sometimes, costwise ,it's not worth it .
[You don't say where you are from but in N America bikes are very cheap .]
Another factor is knowing what parts to replace and what to leave alone .
I'm sure that there will be an XT350 internet group somewhere that will give you all the advice you need .
I've rebuilt a few old bikes in my time and I've been guilty many times of looking at a part and saying to myself " mmmn that doesn't look too bad .think I'll bung it back in ".
Always err on the side of caution and don't skimp .
Make sure your engine is perfect , renew all bearings in the frame ,suspension and steering ,new shocks ,new wiring ,new charging system ., new ignition system .You are going to need all of this for a long ride many miles from home on an obsolete bike .
Find out what parts can be cross referenced from other vehicles and bikes .
You'll learn a lot and have a heck of a lot of fun .

i will second that
 

Your not kidding Dodger!

I ended up spending near 2500 euros (yes Two and a Half GRAND) on a 1989 XT600 2KF...... the price included Buying it, (900) Transfer fees ( 140 euros ) then Tyres, ULTRASEAL the New Heavy Duty Innertubes, tubes, all bearings, I mean EVERY bearing that isnt in the engine, chain, sprocket kit, rectifier, wiring, shocks, calipers, brakes, levers, handgrips, throttle cable, clutch cable, speedo cable, tacho cable, chain riveter tool, oils, filters, air filters, decompressor cable kit, new rear shock, new fork springs,secondhand LHS switchgear, rear brake master cylinder, Carburettors rebuilt with new Diaphragms, needle valves, new fuel tap on tank,every bush and bearing in the suspension linkages and new swingarm bearings too, the list went on and on......

I still have stuff to do........ re-spoke front wheel......

The point is.......... I could have bought a 2002 bike on ebay for the same money.

But I have learned shedloads and had fun doing it. I also know that if it falls apart the chances are I can put it together again, because I know how, I also know the bike inside out now though..... and have loads of confidence in her.

Martyn

Wow, you really did replace just about everything. I have not looked at the condition of the bike, but we had it for years, rode on it..and didnt really do any maintenance on it other then change the oil. My brother bought it actually, but he died, and the bike has been parked and I was off working elsewhere. I was thinking for a long journey such as the ones mentioned in this site, that i would get everything new and replaced to ensure little mechanical failure while on the road. I often thought about replacing the motor even, but I see your point about buying new may be cheaper. But it sounds like now you know your bike in and out. I do remember noticing iron filings in the oil when i changed it...so I was thinking that something was failing at that time..however the bike just kept working like a clock until the season was over and I moved away.

could be a gear........
 

the XT600 is prone to 1st and 5th Failing!

Metal filings in the oil filter and a worn gearbox output shaft were the reasons I got rid of my XT350.If it had been a nicer example I would probably have kept it.

what the eye dont see........
 

well, if you didnt change the oil you wouldnt see the filings! so the answer is dont ever change the oil, what you cant see the mind wont worry about!:rofl:

only joking...... why not just rebuild? it wouldnt cost THAT much....snigger......

I highly recommend the XT350 for crossing Africa. It's an extremely durable and reliable bike, and very easy to handle in difficult (dirt road) conditions. My wife has ridden more than 85,000 kms on her 1985 model on several trips across Africa (she bought it second hand with 5K kms on the clock), and it never let her down once!

Her second XT350 is a 1994 model which she has ridden across the Australian outback, also without any hiccups. She is so fond of her XT's that she'll probably never sell them, as they are perfect for long-distance travelling in remote areas. The XT350's are very economical with fuel, usually 320 - 340 kms before hitting reserve. With an auxiliary tank or small jerry can of 5 or 10 liters you can cover more than 500 kms between fill-ups.

In terms of reliability, my (Dakar)rallye-prepped R80G/S was a POS compared to the XT350's. After riding across Africa for a few years, my dad wondered if my wife actually rode her bike, 'cause he couldn't understand why I only asked him to send parts for my R80G/S, and never for the XT.

With hindsight, I should have bought an XT350 as well for our African journeys, but I was lured into buying a G/S by the BMW marketing machine at the time. It's way too heavy for many parts of Africa. And I'm talking about the first generation R80G/S (!) which are light-weights compared to the stupidly heavy juggernauts that followed in the GS lineage.

My wife and I crossed the rain forest in Congo (then still named Zaire) on several occasions and I can assure you it was quite a struggle for me (and I was a young, fit 85kg/190cm athlete at the time with lots of on & off-road riding experience!). The BMW's cylinders would scrape over the earthen 'banks' when riding in the muddy ruts, to the point that the bike would start pivoting on the cylinders with only one of the wheels touching the ground. Which meant my wife had to turn back and help me lift the heavily laden Beemer out of the muddy ruts. Then I would try to ride the top of the 'middle bank' until I slid back into a rut, and the whole ordeal would start all over again. I was exhausted most nights after struggling with the beast all day, while my wife (58kg/174cm) would dismount her XT 'fresh as a spring flower'.

We also own a KLR650 (1995, bought 2nd hand in 1998), which I rode across the Australian outback, and while it is a much better bike for riding dirt roads than any Beemer (except for the new GX650Challenge), it's still a lot heavier, more complex, less reliable and less fuel-efficient than a XT350. The fact that it has water-cooling is a disadvantage in terms of reliability.

Based on my experience (5 years & over 150,000 kms in Africa), my advice is to keep it as simple as possible. On a trip across Congo (Zaire) I once came across a German KLR650 rider who was stuck for 6 weeks in a remote village waiting for a new radiator and water pump to be shipped to him. Even today, I would not hesitate taking one of our old XT350's for a trip across Africa.

Don't worry about finding small metal flakes in the oil filter. My wife's two XT350's always showed small metal particles in the nylon oil filter at oil changes. I used to do the maintenance for four colleagues and friends that rode XT350's, and all four of them showed small metal particles in the oil filter/screen at oil changes, and they all did over 50,000 kms without any problems at all.

The thing to check on XT350's is the double rubberized intake that connects the two carburettors to the cylinder head. When they get old, the rubber cracks and the engine will draw air through the cracks, which of course leads to a very lean mixture.

Just check your XT thoroughly, check steering and swing arm bearings (good thing on the XT is that it has grease nipples on the swing arm bearings) for wear. Valve clearance adjustments last a long time before having to do it again. In my experience you can easily do 20K kms between valve adjustments.

Don't put too much weight on the luggage rack as it will cause the rear part of the subframe to break. Better is to reinforce it before the trip. Or put all the weight on the saddle (side panniers and roll-bag on saddle).

Just go! You'll never regret it. You will if you don't go. Africa is the ultimate 'last frontier' for those seeking true adventures. My wife and I still reminisce about our years riding across Africa.
cheers!

One more thing, Tripper. You can put your concerns about air cooling and highway speeds to rest. As she had to keep up with my R80G/S, my wife would ride her XT350 at full throttle for days on end when we crossed the Southern part of Africa where there's long stretches of sealed roads (Sth Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, etc.). She really flogged her XT350 and I was actually waiting for the engine to blow up, as it had 85,000 kms by the time we reached Cape Town. All I had to do was top up the oil on a regular basis, but nothing dramatic. Upon returning to Europe I took off the cylinder to measure the wear , and it was not out of spec yet (after 85K kms ridden hard in Africa!), but getting close, so I decided to have it re-bored and put in a new piston and valves, as I had it open anyway. And today the bike is still going strong!

Just wanted to say thanks for those interesting and informative posts Gypsyrider; great experience there that should expel any doubts about the durability of XT350s!

yeah awsome comments. Its funny you mentioned the rubber, as that was something that was going when I last used the bike. it was cracked. All comments were good, martynbiker, gypsyrider....and all others for sure.

quick repair.
 

to repair the rubber if its cracked use windscreen fitting adhesive, the black stuff, or even just silicone if you cant get that, smear it into the cracks then wrap them with the Black self amalgamating rubber tape that Satellite dish installers use. this stuff bonds to itself. its so good actually you could even forget the sealer! ( OK you have to take the carbs and the rubbers off to do this)
not a permanent repair but one i know has lasted over 11,000 miles!


Martyn

re: quick repair
 

Martyn, thanks for the tip about the self-amalgamating rubber tape and windscreen fitting adhesive. Great idea! I have done temporary repairs with silicone in the past, but I'll definitely apply your idea next time, as the OEM XT intake manifold is quite expensive. A roll of self-amalgamating rubber tape is going to be part of my on-the-road repair kit on my next ride. I can see it coming in handy in quite a few applications, especially since it doesn't bond to the substrate, so it can be cut away and peeled off without leaving a sticky mess behind on the substrate (i.e. if one needs access to wires, tubes, etc.)