Great pictures, I love looking at other XT's :D

Cool little screwdriver, I found a similar tiny one on an old keyring this afternoon.

Derek, are they Avon Distanzias I see on your bike?
If so how do you find them on the road in wet and dry conditions?

They are. I did fall off at my work once in the wet, but I think the tar in the parking lot was mouldy/winter-ed up:oops2:. Other than that, I cant fault them. I give them a good blast everyday and they remain good. I do, however, want to go more offroad bias tyres. Pirelli MT 21's :funmeteryes:

Ok thanks.
I will order a pair on Monday.
The new ones that were put on it when I bought it are awful on the road even in the dry.
It will be good to get some tyres that I can be more confident with.

Distanzias arrived today, the front came off and went on no problem but I had a hard time getting the 4.60 off the rim.
I think the shop I bought the bike from put the wrong size tyre on.

Derek what pressures do you use front and back for road use.

I weigh about 90KG's with my protective gear on, no pillion or luggage.
Place I ordered the tyres from said 26 front 32 rear.
Avon said 33 front 36 rear.

Get different pressures from every thread I read from google.

People have different preferences :)

WAAAAY too high.

From the Yamaha Owner's Manual -

Front 1.5 bar (22 psi)
Rear 1.5 bar (22 psi) up to 90Kg load, 2.25 bar (33 psi) over 90Kg load or high speed riding.

I run my Distanzias at 22F/26R and they are fine. The higher figure for the rear is because I am a lardy old git and also have a topbox permanently fitted which adds a few Kgs to the back end.

I ran my old Kingstires at 21/26 but thought I should ask the manufacurer regarding the Distanzias rather than going by the XT owners manual that are referring to the Dunlops and Bridgestones.

I would have thought the individual tyre makes have their guide pressures rather than using the same owners manual recommendations for any make of tyre but I am probably wrong about that.

I probably weight in at about 110kg with my riding kit on, and I use the Yamaha recommended pressure. 1.5 on the front, 2.25 on the rear, for motorway commuting:thumbup1:.
I works for me.

All tires should have the recommended PSI labeled on them on at least one of the sides next to the rim size and width....

Just go from there and then go lower or higher depending on how you feel the bike matches your likings or not

Vando :cool4:

That makes sense but, as you said earlier, there seems to be no consensus on what the pressures should be. All I can say is that I stick to the Yamaha recommendations and they work fine. Anything much lower or higher gives noticeably worse handling. True for the Avons and the TrailWings I had on before.

I have finally solved my running problems. I upped the primary needle up one notch, and leaned up the air mixture screw a bit. Job done. She starts with no choke now:clap:

mmm i'm pretty sure i said to do that first :innocent: glad you got it sorted :thumbup1: the standard xt carbs are quite forgiving and are not hard to work on.

fitting different carbs and a big bore is not so easy mine is still in need of some fine tuning but its getting closer :thumbup1:

If it starts in cold temperatures and around sealevel, with no choke, and keeps going, you're running to rich in the low end.