Thanks for the reply.Yes mine has the mech. cable to drive it. According to local dealer he reckons my bike is an Italian job. I'll get the measurements and let you know. Is it better to arrange things via e mail for this so as noy to clutter the thread? M2H
just see your Oil questions . There was a threat about Oil and the Problems of no Oil here http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=552341 How do you check the Oil level ? Do you know how the Oil circulation Work ? Are all your Oil Filters clean , there are 3 in this Bike The mechanical Rev Counter or speedometer was Standart on European XL / R . Try E-Bay Germany
That's the exact plan for my XL front end, along with a set of progressive springs. Eventually I may get a set of cartridge XR600 forks shortened and resprung, but my motor work needs to get done first.
+1 on the XR400R forks. they are some of the best 43mm conventional forks around and there is a lot of know how on how to tune them up. there are plenty of them on Ebay. However, as far as I can tell you will also need the XR400R front wheel and calipers to make it work. The XR650L/XR600R forks are a good second choice, but are longer and thus probably need to be shortened for the XL600R, unless you upgrade the rear end as well. The XRL/XR6R front axle is larger than the XL6R, but I think you can just change the bearings in a XL6R front wheel.
The upgrades will make absolutely no difference for a bike that sits in the garage, so would be a waste of money. I recommend going for a ride, which will also be good for your mental health. As others have said, you might think about adding the fork brace: http://www.fastfromthepast.com/servlet/the-500/Fork-Brace-Honda-XL600R/Detail For only $99 bucks, it should be a good bang-for-the-buck upgrade, and still allow for a cheap vacation to test it out. Recently, I tried adding about 4 psi to the forks of my '83 XL600R, as well as adding some pre-load to the rear. It made quite a bit of difference, and cost nothing. Ride red, don't just upgrade red and park it...
He can use his wheel with XR400 or XR600 forks. The bearings, speedo drive and axle parts from a XR400 or XR600 will work for the swap. One washer might be need to center the wheel in some cases.
$50.00 would buy my old '87 XR600R forks... They would bolt right on. Swap the rear suspension lower link with a shorter XR400 link to level the ride height out and gain some travel too. Thats about $80.0o or so. Some upgrades can be cheap.
the XR400 forks have a different offset for the brake rotor plane. you can't add spacers to the caliper mount to fix the offset (you'd have to remove material). I know this, because I have a XR400R fork install on my XR350R (which can swap wheels with a XL600R normally) and I have tried to fit the XR650L wheel and others on the XR400R fork. I believe the XR650L/XR600R wheels can swap between each other. The axle between the XR400R/XR600R/XR650L is the same, as well as the speedo drive and the spacer, but the axle for the XL600R is smaller, so the spacer and speedo drive have different hole sizes as well. Also, you'll need to check the rotor diameter between the XR600R/XR650L/XR400R/XL600R, which is/might be different.
I use the bike, it doesn't sit. I'm actually about to go on a ride after i post this, so any upgrade would be good imo. It's great on the street, but in the dirt the front end is just soft. I get plenty of preload in the rear. I am running 10 psi in the forks but the seals are blown too, so i haven't been in the dirt too much since I noticed the leak. I also just like my suspension stiff on my vehicles. personal preference. what does the for brace do? does it laterally stiffen the forks? $99 isn't bad I might order those with my fork seals
I was picturing you as more of a utilitarian fabricator in his 50's who used to work as a Union machinist or something. Then I went to your website and was BLOWN AWAY at how artistic and large-scale your stuff is. Makes me wish I was more disciplined in the metal arts. But I do what I want to make. I would love to make something while I'm there. I'll have to fab some side racks before I get out that way. SO- since I am getting off-track, can I make you a custom XL600 seat cover on my industrial sewing machine? I have been wanting to get some vinyl screenprinted original graphics on these things one of these days. Someone needs to send me another old XL600 seat cover so I can take it apart and make a pattern again. And to be clear- I could- and have- literally LIVED AT a shop like that. Minifridge, sink, hot plate, spare mattress in the corner... and projects.
Thanks so much Joel... for the compliments and the offer! The website is actually only about 2 months old; there is TONS of content I still need to get up there. If only I could stop obsessively working on this XL, maybe I could get some of that sort of thing done! In fact I am just returning from staying up way later than I should in the shop, fabricating mounts for my twin headlight setup. I will PM you tomorrow about the seat, and other stuff. Gotta hit the sack now. Cheers.
do you happened to have a picture of this. I'm more of a visual person and am having problems trying to visualize how/where the washer goes that's going to make the brake rotor align with the caliper, but yet keep the wheel centered. maybe, I don't have the same xr400r forks.
I was looking at running the XR600 cartridge forks just for the simplicity of fitment. If you run the 91-92 forks the axle diameter is the same as the XL600R so you can just swap triples and toss them in. For brakes I'm going to be using an EBC 320mm supermoto rotor with the modern nissan brake caliper so rotor issues should not be a problem for it's the same rotor that fits either the XR600 or the XR400. I also think the 400 forks are about a half inch shorter than the XR600 units but I'd still have to get them shortened. Last I checked the XR6 forks were like 2 inches longer than the XL ones. I want keep the forks at stock XL length and run a 17" front wheel and have the the front sit lower. I have a set of early dampening rod XR600 forks with the XRL triple but I've decided to not spend money on getting those re worked, I'd probably be better off starting with cartridge units. I'll still toss around the XR400 fork idea. I just didn't want to monkey around with separate wheels and custom bearings etc. I'd like to be able to toss my stock sized wheels in when the mood strikes.
I forgot that the 91/92 xr600r forks being both cartridge and the same axle size as the xl600r. that would be a good setup. I wish I had known/remembered that when I put the xr400r forks on my xr350r, because it would have been a whole lot cheaper. although, I have to say that, I'm pretty happy with the xr400r fork setup, now. I was going to mod my xl600r this winter. I already put xr500r rear shocks on it a few years ago, and it makes a big difference over stock. my front options were, adding valves to some xr500r forks I have around, or xrl forks with a different wheel/bearings. I'm glad you brought up the 91/92 xr600r forks, they are cheap. I'm going to check "fleabay" right away...
What's the story on the XR500R rear shock. Is that that basically the same as the XR600R shock. What's the length difference between that and the stock one? I'd like to swap in a better shock eventually as well but the only option out there is a Works shock, unless I find and old one that works well and have it rebuilt.
the xr500r (I think it was a '83) shock I have has remote reservoir and both compress/decompress rate adjustment. it's about the same dimension/length. it was a free thing for me to try and I was surprised how much better it made it. the rear stays on the ground better on lose ground/gravel, etc... the spring rate is still a little soft for me, so I have to preload it quite a bit. I don't have any experience with after market shocks, I suspect anything is better than the stock unit. also, I don't know if the stock unit is rebuildable. after almost 30 years, I'd be surprised if any of them are still any good or have much charge in them. I'm always pleasantly surprised when I get a shock rebuild on other bikes, how much difference even that makes. the xr500r unit I have is rebuildable.
I have a mid 80's XR600 shock laying about that has a remote reservoir and a LE Lindeman Engineering ( http://www.le-suspension.com/ ) sticker on the body so I'm guessing that it has been worked on. PM me if your interested.
That should raise the back of the bike about 1.25" from my experence and works great with the 1.5" longer XR cartridge forks. Night and day difference in handling. Well worth doing. Since your forks are the early ones with the smaller axle, a fork brace would be a good addition. With the 17" front wheel it will be a riot to blast around town on.
