Hey everyone, So I finally got around to plating the XR and took it for the first true ride since I bought it months ago. I mean I've puttered round the backyard doing doughnuts but that's pretty much it, so I was excited (and nervous) to take it above 30 kmph and actually ride along some gravel roads. I was also hoping I would like it, I mean I've spent all this time and money rebuilding/improving it so fingers crossed that it wasn't all in vain. First impressions: I really need to get my front brakes fixed. I mean the wheel stops and when I release the lever it can move freely again but to stop I have to pull the lever the whole way to the bar. Didn't surprise me as I'm still waiting for the caliper rebuild kit and I knew that they weren't amazing, just meant I had to leave some long distances between me and the car in front. Knobbies on the road were actually fine. I've heard how dangerous they are, and I'm sure that's correct on wet bitumen, but I am running the tyres that came with it when I bought it and the front especially is a very aggressive motocross like knob. I started out quite gingerly through the corners but found they stayed pretty well planted at moderate lean angles; certainly enough to get around the corner at the posted speed. The bike started to make a high-pitched whine and I freaked out thinking there was some bolt that I hadn't done up correctly etc. But then I noticed that when I turned into a corner it would go away. After a bit of experimentation I realised that it was just the howling of the tyres when it was upright, I guess they had worn down more than the knobs on the side which didn't make that noise. Long travel suspension is amazing, I decided to ride these some gravel roads that I had taken my roadbike on (decided to go adventuring before the XR was plated) and went through them probably 5 times quicker than I had before. In this case it was definitely the different equipment, as my skills at off road riding are still terrible. In fact in the whole ride I noticed only one real problem with the XR: vibration. Like I mean shockingly bad, jackhammer vibration. I ride a small aircooled road bike, I believe Honda cut costs and just got an old XL185 motor, overbored it and slapped it in a roadbike frame. Anyway the point is that I am used to vibration or thought I was, as the little single would vibrate enough to make my right hand and foot feel numb. But the XR...I reckon after 25km my throttle hand was asleep and my butt had the awful pins and needles tingle. Is there some way of reducing this so I can actually ride it a distance? It was fine on the dirt, probably because I was on the pegs a lot, but on the tar it was just awful. So....solutions? Here are some quick picks. Notice that I even forded a small creek which sounds more impressive than it was. Cheers, John
Indeed, it's a rush on a big bike that most are afraid of even sitting on, lol! Exactly. It's been crappy for months now, please go away already! I didn't get to go today but maybe tomorrow! And thanks! I'll get a video maybe, probably on the 650 though.
I'm trying to give it some sirious action, have registered for this years "King of the hill" hard enduro ( www.heca.ro ) , hope XR will be OK for it! Rebuilding it from the start just now. Hoping piston rings will arive in time...
Never ending story Left one was leaking and missing a piece of chrome on the shaft.. Right one has a tad of flyrust..
captain do you have a pic of your headers from the front? my left pipe looks nothing like yours, its has a flat bend to it at the bottom...yours are very close and neat looking.. ps. your 88 should NOT vibrate...are lugging it too much? maybe go up the rev range more and report back ever since putting back tthe twin headers and oem muffler the bike is even more smooth as there is not extreme thumping like before... exhausts make a big difference in perceived thumpiness if you will If I lug my xr really low it will rattle and shake but never at the bars, so thats worrisome you have that...I get it in the frame and foopegs but never enough to NUMB me. also our 88 bikes are nice with vibes because they have a twin gear balancer shaft...that is spring loaded unlike otheryear xr6...this is to help with the slamming effect of the crank when accelerating hard or downshifting... other year xrs have a nice whine to them and slappiness if you will until warmed up because of this(different cam chain as well on 86 and down models, they were bigger) anywhoo hope you get it sorted nice 88 btw! once again
The split gear cut down on the gear noise. Some people remove the springloaded half of the gear to reduce rotational mass , if not the whole counterbalancer.
I remeber seing pics of twin carb xr6 with thicker sprockets and chain...is this not so? I thought all single carb heads have a thinner chain up till 2000. in any case royal is yours the same as 88 and up bikes? I thought you posted some pics about that cheers bud
Have any of you guys had any problems with gears slipping on any of the older XR6's? I have an 88 model with a fair bit of work done but the engine has never been apart to my knowledge. I'm officially the 4th owner but when I went to title and register the bike as a street legal DS bike I tracked it down to the original owner and he explained the bike had been stolen from him back in 1990. He was totally cool and just signed over the old title to me, mostly he was please to finally find out about what happened to his forest friend. Over the last couple years that I've owned it, I've noticed that occasionally it will slip or feel like teeth are missing in 3rd gear as I'm accelerating hard to 4th gear. I only notice it on the pavement and only if I'm really pushing it, its almost a feeling of very slight wheel spin on loose dirt, then it catches and runs fine. And it only usually happens once while in 3rd going to 4th. I've honestly never tried to just ride it in 3rd to see if I can get it to slip repeatedly either. I'm a little hesitent to pull the motor and split the cases to find out that nothing is really wrong but I was mostly wondering if this might be a common problem for our big pigs. Anyone else feel this happens to them? I've checked the oil every time I've changed it and nothing metal is showing itself but again, this could have happened years ago with a previous owner. Thanks for your input. Later Travis
Evidently some of the '80s XR600s did have problems with 3rd gear. What you're describing sounds like the gear isn't engaging fully into the "dogs" and/or the dogs are rounding off. Or, possibly a bent shift fork which would also cause that to happen. Regardless, you're going to have to pull it apart and repair it. It will only get worse if you don't.
I had a similar issue - it was just old saggy clutch springs. Put in some new EBC units and the clutch stopped slipping. So before you start digging that deep into the tranny, pick up some $15 springs and give it a whirl.
Hoped I can get some too Still works in progres, have'nt tried a tm40 yet but tought someone could advise me what jets should I cary with me. Tought of bringing a few pilots, think everything else I can tune... works so far...
If the gear dogs themselves were slipping out of engagement and then back, it would make a horrible noise. It sounds to me like your clutch is slipping and/or the clutch basket is becoming grooved to the point that is affects engagement. I take it you use the clutch for these gear changes when it slips?
Well, it could be his clutch, but why would it only do it from 3rd to 4th shift? Seems like it would then do it from 4th to 5th change badly. I had an '82 XR500 years ago that would slip in and out of 2nd and it didn't make a horrible noise doing it.
word check clutch first...measure springs, and discs and fibers and file the grooves if any on both the inner and oute basket... youll be very pissed if you tear down the whole engine only to find you have the exact same issue...not to mention you will have the awesome conundrum of wether you want to replate or rebore and sleeve the cylinder etc since you have an awesome 88 engine I just changed my clutch, everything was still in spec but visually I had some browning on the fibers and I also had zddp residue... btw I slipped in 4th and or 5th at wot...this is becaise its harder on the engine to pull such a tall gear good luck
}} I read somewhere that people also were having issues with that stupid little spring on the gear shuft spindle not being strong enough or something causing a bad shift or non shift could be any of these things at this point but I would start with the easiest stuff I say this becaue Im so paranoid the first that always comes to mind is the WORST and usually thats when steve comes in and shuts me up and says hey its this simple thing fix it and ride and well he is always right jajajajajajaja!