Being a shameless show-off I thought I start a thread for one of my favorite bikes, it's a plated 1996 XR600R. As some of you have heard me say before about the Big 6, there's newer, there's lighter, and there's faster, but few are as much fun and none are more reliable. My goal with this project was to mod the engine to make monster power, have enough lights so it could be seen from space, run on pump gas (91 r+m/2), and not lose the legendary reliability. This is the result, 52 horse power and 170 watts pointing down the trail. I have lots more pictures and I'm happy to share any of the details involved with building this bike. I did all of the work myself so everything will be a first hand account. I also have pictures of the head after porting and polishing if you guys would like to see them. I suppose I should start with a parts list. Head: Kibblewhite Black Diamond Valves Mega-Cycles full race cam grind #173X12 Kibble racing valve springs w/h titanium retainers Machined valve guides (required to accomodate .405" lift cam) Intake runners ported and port matched, exhaust runners ported, matched, and polished. 3 Angle valve seats. Intake: 41mm FCR pumper carb (cha-ching) Uni-Filter and back-fire screen 9 filtered air box vents Tossed the snorkle Exhaust: It sets off car alarms and makes babies cry! FMF SS PowerBomb header (wrapped) FMF Ti4 Titanium muffler & mid-pipe Cyl: Re-Sleeved with an XRs Only sleeve (thicker) JE 10.5:1 comp ratio 628cc piston Electrical: Baja Designs dual sport kit Baja Designs 250 watt re-wound stator (it's the sh#t) 55/60 watt headlight Dual 55 watt projector beam halogen off road lights shock mounted on a light bar of my design. They come on automaticly when the high beam is switched on. I know I've left some stuff out but it's getting late and I need to call it a day. Thanks for checking out the thread, I'm pretty proud of how this bike turned out. XRs Forever!
Looks like a Scott Summers replica from back in the day. I swore I seen a picture of SS hoisting a XR600 up in a Dirt Bike magazine...
I've got the same model, I love it to death. My KTM out-handles it and makes loads more power, but there's just some sort of shits'n'giggles factor with an XR that you don't get from other bikes. I spent the equivalent of the market value of mine on a rebuild, and don't regret a penny. It's currently my only registered steed, and I'm happy about that.
Great work. Looks like a fun bike...I really like the XRs. small correction to your octane/knock index calc: (r+m)/2 (the scientist in me)
Scott Summers COULD lift a 290 pound XR600 off the ground ... but he was a hard core fitness/muscle builder ... don't try this at home - unless you're one tough mofo and he won 7 GNCC Pro Championships on one too ... while virtually all his competition was on 250 2 strokes ... the shear sound volume of that booming big bore thumper hunting them down from behind ... was outright intimidating to them ... I swear the noise alone made many people pull over some times
great looking bike, all up to this point.... gonna suck when you have an awesome bike with loads of power and lights, but no place to ride it because of all the fucking noise it created. just sayin... laramie
I started trail riding a Husky thumper back when just about every one was on two strokes and you aren't kidding about the noise. I used to come up on people and they would hear me and pull over, usually way before I even got on their back wheel.
I raced some national woods races back in Scott Summers' day, in the open A class, and would usually get lapped by him in the late stages of the longer races.... i ALWAYS knew when it was him coming up behind me... Big Booming Thumper coming fast... get off the trail before runs over ya! BTW, Nice bike you got there!
Point well taken. I have a spark arrestor/quiet core I made for it when it goes in the dirt, quiets it down to reasonable levels. I don't want to be locked out of my favorite riding spots any more than the next guy. On the street I let it bark. Maybe it's the little kid in me but I love setting off car alarms with it.
Light bar info please. I seen a happy trails light bar almost like yours. But they never mass produced it. The owner thought it would not sell. He had one mounted on his dr650 when I seen it. Nice looking bike. Ben
While some say the Orange bikes are this and that and this bike does better at this or what have you. I have towed many Orange, /green and Yellow bikes out of situations with my 97 XR600. This weekend it gets put back together and I am gitty. The rebuild (due to seizing of the wrist pin MY OWN FAULT!) includes. Hot Rod Connecting rod, new cam, cam chain and sprockets, new third gear, piston, rings, valves and valve springs. So it should be good for a while to come. These are great machines for sure
I too have towed a rainbow of differant colored bikes back to the pits. I've also used my XR to tow logs back to camp to be cut up for fire wood. It's quite a sight when my buddies with thier arm loads of sticks see me draging a 20 foot log behind the Big 6. And when it comes to throwing a roost, I'm sorry but there's none better. Sounds like you're replacing the whole valve train, you should consider new cam bearings also. They're cheap enough and then you won't have to worry about your top end for another 10 years. When's the last time a 450 owner said that?
Does well. Do i see buddy pegs on that thing? Who in their right mind...on the back .. oh never mind.
Here's some pics of the light bar. It's made out of 6061 T6 aluminum and mounts between the fender and the lower triple clamp. The "wings" have tabs that hold each light that are mounted with rubber gromets. This limits the vibration so the bulbs have a normal life span and provides a bit of flex in the event of a crash. This is the 3rd version of the lightbar and after repeated crash testing (I'm gettin' too old for this sh#t) I've yet to break it. The lights look like they're out in the breeze and would be easily knocked off. But if you draw a line from the bottom of the front tire to the end of the handle bar, everything inside that line won't hit the ground in a crash. That's not to say that if it falls over on a stump it won't break but I've dumped it many times and so far so good. I have the lights pointing outward about 10 degrees so they shine into the turns. The shock mounts. It's hard to see in this picture but behind the headlight mask I've stashed the AC reg and the relay for the light bar.
Building a torque monster is not without it's liabilities. Only the most expencive chains and sprockets stand a chance of making it out alive. Sadly that sprocket is not that old.
