Hi,
I have been riding my xt660R for 2 years, 60kkm, through Brasil and parts of Chile, Argentina and Peru. Mostly on tar, but a lot of really bad dirty roads too ( check out about the sandy roads on "Jalapão", Tocantins - Brasil for example ). It has taken a lot of abuse, given me little trouble, but those were all because of broken chains. These big singles tend to "punch" the transmission a lot, and the 660s are worse than the old 600s ( I have an old 90 xt600z ténéré too ). That results on broken cush drives, chains, fast wearing sprokets...
But it's just a matter of carrying spares, daily lubing and keeping an eye on it. Other then that, I've had no trouble, and I know a lot of happy owners too ( from Brasilian's Clube XT600 ).
It is a good choice for those who want to travel around south america. It`s quite common in Brasil, with spares found all over now.
It's almost the same price as the, now localy made, G650GS with ABS, but the spares are cheaper and you can count the bmw dealers in brasil with one hand. And it is lighter too.
I hope it helps.
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