XRL owners sign in.

[mchester]

Originally Posted by techforlife

Wow! Awesome photo!

[Spud Rider]

Originally Posted by bwalsh

That leads to another question. How does having a spark arrestor affect these pieces of packing. I'd assume they can't escape thru the arrestor and would eventually plug up the outlet.? ...

All my mufflers have turbine core, spark arrestors, including the stock muffler on my XR650L. This type of spark arrestor doesn't employ a wire screen. Therefore, I can't answer your question from personal experience.

If you don't periodically need to clean the spark arrestor screen, then the particles are being pulverized small enough to pass through the screen.

Spud

[Spud Rider]

Originally Posted by JWhitmore44

...I don't know how long those top boxes will last on rough terrain. Looks like Spud has tested his out pretty well though.

My J.C. Whitney Travel Trunk is very tough. It has outlasted two luggage racks, and it will probably outlast the bike's subframe. I bought two of these travel trunks when they were on sale for $48, delivered.



Spud

[Spud Rider]

Originally Posted by Brown Falcon

That's why I opted for the dust/water-proof outdoor case for mine. Cost a bit more ($130), but this thing won't let me down!

I know, it's big, but not any bigger than that JCwhitney box. Currently working on a quick-disconnect so I can take it off when I hit the trails. It's awesome for my school books, running to the store, dry place to keep my helmet during class, etc.

That's a nice case, Falcon.

The J.C. Whitney Travel Trunk, and its clones, locks to a metal mounting plate, and disconnects quickly. When traveling with this trunk I would frequently unlock the trunk from the luggage rack, and hide it in the bushes when I wanted to explore a trail I had discovered. After exploring the trail I would backtrack, re-attach the luggage rack, and continue on my journey.



Spud

[SmokeBike]

Howdy...

Has anyone done this conversion ? I love juice clutches and have a complete assembly.

That said ... how does one mount the piston to the engine case ? Looking for suggestions on what I should fabricate..

thanx for the help

[flyingwombat]

Originally Posted by mendoteach

Excellent news. Thanks! Do you have your spacer yet? I got mine a few weeks ago, but I'm waiting for some one to help me with the degreeing the cam before I try and jet the thing. What year XR600 throttle did you use? And what were your reasons with going with it?

Yes I have my spacer, gotta pick up some longer bolts for it. I used a throttle from a 96 XR600R, I think they are probably all the same, not sure though. I like it because it has a pulley on the pull cable for super smooth operation, and it's much easier to reassemble.

If you use it, the start/kill switch will not fit. I used a Highway Dirtbikes switch perch mount, which is a thing of beauty. I had to file a bit of material off the corner to clear that stupid banjo bolt brake switch, but no big deal. I used a normally closed momentary pushbutton for the kill button and a normally open momentary pushbutton for the starter, got them both from Digikey (HDB has the pushbuttons also but I don't think he has a normally closed one listed on his site). Luckily I have a long thumb for reaching those buttons. The perch switch mount can also be mounted the other way so the switches are closer to your hand, but you will probably need a longer brake lever in that configuration.

The easiest thing to do would be to have Motion Pro make some cables for the XRL throttle. For me, the custom cables were a good excuse to swap on the XR600 throttle which I have been looking to do for a while. I also eliminated a whole bunch of redundant wire, connectors, and splices up front.

Oh, I installed an OEM CRF450X front brake hose today- it's about 6 inches longer than the CRF450R hose and looks like it will work great. I added grip heaters too.

Here's what it looks like (without cables):

[flyingwombat]

Originally Posted by techforlife

Thanks guys........i think i gave Radan enough in the line of pictures...i`m going to send him a spare peg i have and see ..he says that`s all he will need now...

B

Awesome, I could use a better set of pegs.

[Barron]

Originally Posted by beechum1

An electrical tester is something that I use very often, and without it, work simply doesn't get done. I don't require such precision that I need a 100$ tester, and when you spend 10$, you can sort electrical problems like this right away and not have to wait for someone else.

+1. I have a really nice multimeter and the only thing that it has confirmed for me after posting and comparing results to others is that very few if any of the electrical readings on the XR650L need to be within spec. I have been working on electronics for over 16 years ant the system on this bike is the most tolerant system I have ever seen (of course I usually work on milspec weapons systems....).

With that being said, to help our friend with the odd colored wires and the tail light that needs some attaching I would first find ground (you should be able to trace the color back to the center of the bike) then with all the wires separated so they absolutely won't touch take one from the bike then one from the light and put them together until you find the running light (power all the time) after you find that, mark it and just touch the wires together until you find the brake light (rubber bands around the hand brake or something vise gripped to the rear brake pedal worked for me )

Easy as pie

(but an el cheapo multimeter does makes finding ground a cinch)

-Barron

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by F250Pal

Cycleracks. Very happy with it.

[bwalsh]

Originally Posted by JWhitmore44

I don't know how long those top boxes will last on rough terrain. Looks like Spud has tested his out pretty well though.

I wasn't even talking rough terrain, just gravel and dirt roads.

Originally Posted by Spud Rider

My J.C. Whitney Travel Trunk is very tough. It has outlasted two luggage racks, and it will probably outlast the bike's subframe. I bought two of these travel trunks when they were on sale for $48, delivered. Spud

I shouldn't complain about my top case as I got it for free from a friend who is an inmate.

EDIT: Spud, we all love your photo's! Is there a possibility you could start captioning them with the location where they were taken?

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by AndyCBR

Guys,

Brand new OEM head and valves.

Any need to lap in the new valves in the new head.

I'm thinking not.

Thanks,
Andy

Can't hurt, can only help. Made a notable difference in sealing the combustion chamber when I did.

[Spud Rider]

Originally Posted by bwalsh

I wasn't even talking rough terrain, just gravel and dirt roads...

The J.C. Whitney Travel Trunk is very rugged. However, since it is well constructed, this trunk is heavy. Therefore, the trunk puts significant dynamic loads on the luggage rack and subframe as it bounces and vibrates at the rear of the motorcycle. These forces are multiplied by the leverage of the long moment arm from the swingarm bolt to the trunk.

I used to blast along gravel roads with a heavily loaded travel trunk. My reinforced subframe held up pretty well to this abuse for about 25,000 miles. However, I eventually noticed the beginnings of a hairline fracture on the right subframe. After repairing the weakened frame, I now travel as lightly as possible. I currently use my travel trunk only while running local errands, on pavement.

The rear ends of these bikes take a lot of punishment, even if you are only riding 50 mph on a gravel road. If one wants to ride even gravel roads with a loaded luggage rack, he should weld gussets to the subframe and install a Cycleracks rack, or a similar rack which mounts to a passenger peg bolt. Even then, I would prefer to place heavy loads in a Giant Loop bag, rather than hard luggage. While riding off road, I only load my Manracks SD rack with light items such as clothing, rain gear, et cetera.

Spud

[ONandOFF]

JWhittmore44, that is quite a useful setup... Thanks for the details. I would be concerned about mounting a socket open end up though. The rubber cap may not always be there nor in good repair...

bwalsh and ThumpinRed, very cool seeing the insides of those things. Thanks for those details also.

So far my method of cleaning the kill button is to cycle it a few times with the power on.
If you suspect it may not be passing power reliably, one way to check it is to keep the test light on the load side and watch if it stays on.

[Olderslowerguy]

Went to a biker build off yesterday that a friend of mine had entered a beautiful 68 Honda 350. It was mostly a HD event, but one guy had built an "interesting" Yamaha dirt bike. Said it was scary on the road, but not bad in grass...
What do you think?

[Spud Rider]

Originally Posted by Olderslowerguy

Went to a biker build off yesterday that a friend of mine had entered a beautiful 68 Honda 350. It was mostly a HD event, but one guy had built an "interesting" Yamaha dirt bike. Said it was scary on the road, but not bad in grass...
What do you think?

That's an impressive work of fabrication. I also think that bike is a work of art. Thanks for sharing the photograph.

However, I wouldn't want to ride that bike on any surface, paved or otherwise.

Spud