Hi!

I'm going to travel from Poland to north Africa or east USSR and east Asia. So I need a bike which allows to drive about 120kmh in Europe on highways or other fast roads and then just relax on bad road / off roads in that part of Africa or Asia. I tried my friend's Honda Africa Twin but this bike is too tall and too heavy for me.

I read almost all post concerning XT600E here but I still do not know if this bike is form me. I have three questions:
1) Is it possible to drive about 120kmh on highways / fast roads comfortably? 2) ...and ride together wit Africa Twin???
3) Which one is better all-rounder XT600E or XT660R (models)?

Thanks,
Artur

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Cheers!
Arthur

I dont know about the new XT:s but my XT is definately not comfortable to ride over 100kmh on highway, with knobby tires without a windshield.. After 15 kilometers I feel quite weary and tired. But its good for off-road driving if one can handle a heavy machine like this.

I think that it's not a problem to attach a windshield but what about over 100km/h vibrations in general? Many people here ride RTW on tuned XT600 but how it is on highways?

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Cheers!
Arthur

I've put in about 9000km on this Euro trip so far on my '02 xt600e and found it to be fine running to 110kmh on most roads. The main advantage with the 600 is it's a bit lighter than the 660 - useful if you'll be really loaded - and a whole lot simpler with the carb. Saying that there's a lot of 660's around so they're pretty popular in the Med area. But the youngest 600's will be at least 5 yrs old...

ive not ridden the 660R but my 600E is not that ideal on long stretches over 100km/h. A screen would help i'm sure but i also got a sore backside after about an hour.

great off road though even loaded up.

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www.onabikeinafrica.blogspot.com

to be honest, if you are going to ride motorways at 120km/h for any great distance, a single is not what you want. In your shoes, faced with a motorway to get across Europe to get to the sweet spots (I take it you are time dependant), I would give serious thought to putting the bike on a train / ferry to get those distances out of the way and to give me more time on the points of interest of the tour. That being said, go with simplicity and expendability. You dont want the bike to dictate the course or enjoyment of your travels if you can avoid it. Travelling on your pride and joy has it's own rewards, but these are often at odds with the concept of travelling on a "voyage of discovery".

I have a 06 Yamaha XT660R with just over 16k miles on the clock and its great for touring and doing dirt track touring. Ive used it for the last 10 months to commute to and from uni in all weathers. Ive taken it for a 2 day off roading trip in wales which it handled very easy.

It is possible to ride at 120kph or 75mph for near most of the day but can get a bit vibby on the hands, footpegs, seat. Ive a bigger screen on that came with the bike when i bought it and it really helps at motorway speed. You can change the sprockets over very easily to change the gearing for slower or faster riding. I dropped to a 14tooth sprocket for the off roading just for the better slow handling as it was slow, techniqual off roading.

The XT660R is a great all round bike and can do anything that is thrown at it. The bikes very low maintenace being a big single, only needs serviced every 6k miles, is cheap to service, has plenty of extras that can help any form of biking.

If you want more information on the XT660 have a look at this forum

. : XT660.com The #1 xt660 resource : . | The #1 xt660X, xt660R and xt660Z Tenere resource

great site with plenty of information about the X (supermoto bike), R (off roading/touring bike) and the new Z/Tenere (adventure bike).

If you plan to sit on the motorway all the time then you might want to have a look into something like a honda transalp but it doesnt handle the off roading as well.

Hope this all helps.