The XT350 Overland build .

I bought a 1990 XT350 to build my Overland ADV bike.


I put it in the work shop last weekend and started the build.

I took off the shock and spring and orders new spring.





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Looking at that shock,a compressor is not required,just turn the adjusters off.
if you mean a RTW bike you might consider a shock rebuild also for durability.
how many miles and what year is the bike,I like a 350 but the factories donot as they eat into the 250-650 market.

It 's a 1990,I wanted the lightness of a 250 but not as much power as a 600.At some point I will probably get a new shock but they cost 1/2 of what the bike did .


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No progress on the build this weekend,it was a toasty 19 degrees in the workshop so I took a weekend off.
I did however recieve my TUSK aluminum panniers and a spare rear shock because I lost the spring clip on mine.


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Cool project! That XT will make a great all-around explorin' machine!

I've sure enjoyed my XT225 and have no intention of ever getting rid of it, it works well in so many situations... Upgrading the front and rear springs (36mm front forks on both the 225/350) was arguably the best bang-for-buck upgrade I've done on mine as well. It's been the perfect bike for bombing around the GP and riding every which way back and forth over the passes.

The Tusk panniers look really nice , can't wait to see the rack your gonna fab up for them!

Went and bought all the steel for the F/ R racks and the pannier rack, $25.
I also got a Seahorse 120 hard case for tools .








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Built the front rack today also installed the hand guards and my OLD crossbar water bottle that I have had for almost 25 years.







Also installed some shorty signals that were on sale at CG for $9.99



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that front case does have potental,looks like a refit but ,cleaning up the rack (narrowing to fit the case, mounting the headlite near the bottom of the case,some clear plastic at top for a wind deflector .

I wanted to be able to bungee stuff on top of the case if need be so I wanted it a little wider .Also being a little wider helps to protect the signals a bit .
I also MIGHT add some LED lights next to the headlight .

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Interesting fabrication for the front box mount.

This build is FUNCTION over FORM !!.
Everything I'm building is to have a purpose and be in the right spot for easy use.With any luck I will be living off this bike for a year or more. !!.
I was going to buy the pre made front rack that sits down by the fender but with anything on it, it blocks the headlight AND it cost's. $159.
I also thought about a flat, above the headlight rack but when I stood on the pegs it made it hard to see where the front wheel was.
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You did say that case was a tool case? when full of tools won't that be a lot of weight in front of the headstem? will have a drastic effect on handling:eek1

Yes tools,but not to many,I have a tool tube behind the left pannier for all my tire changing tools.


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Got my new rear spring today, took about 3 weeks to get.


Stock spring on the left , new one on the right.



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That's a good lookin' spring, an Eibach to boot! I love the location of the Seahorse case. There's nothing worse IMHO, when a repair/adjustment needs to be made, then having to dig for a tool kit at the bottom of a saddlebag or pannier.

One thing I've always wondered about the XT350 is why Yamaha went with a 428H chain instead of a 520. The 428H is surely strong enough, but it makes a guy wonder...

520 conversion has been ordered!!.


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What ratio are you running? I ended up with 16/45 on my conversion which puts me at 6k revs at 70 mph fwiw.

Are you going to do a fork swap or anything on the front? If not, I ended up putting 20wt fork oil in along with ~1.5" spacers and it made a massive difference. the forks still deflect a lot, though.

I highly recommend a manual timing chain tensioner, as I've had 2 stock auto tensioners fail on mine now. The auto tensioners also appear to over-tension the chain from what I've seen.

I've used mine as a similar overland-type bike and it does really well. Cycleracks rear rack is great, as is a Clarke 4 gallon tank. I get about 55-60 mpg on mine.



I don't know what your riding conditions are going to be like, but if you can relocate the battery, the TT350 airbox is a good upgrade because the air filter is much larger and seals better than the panel filter in the XT. The TT also flows a lot more air, allowing for raised needles and different jetting.

What rate did you get?

I might do a TT fork swap if I can find it cheap. I will have to go look up what ratio I went with,can't remember .I went with a 700lb spring ,I couldn't find out what stock was but read on this thread that another big boy got a 750lb for his and it was a little to stiff.I 'm going to do mostly off-road touring at first,mostly dirt /gravel roads with some 2 track and single track.Hopefuly someday this will be my RTW bike .


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