XRL owners sign in.

[mcma111]

Originally Posted by ThumpnRed

The upside is that the BS runs in cycles

No shit. What upside???

[bomber1965]

Originally Posted by purpledrake

I have a permanently mounted canopy (nice Canadian fiberglass unit) on my F-150. The XL will not fit inside the canopy/bed. I would like to get a carrier to fit into a standard hitch receiver. My concern is with the weight of the XRL--with fuel and whatnot, the weight easily exceeds 400-lbs., which is a lot of weight (plus the tare of the carrier) to put on a single connection point.

I am not particular to Harbor Freight, this just a convenient example. If anybody regularly uses a hitch receiver carrier to haul a single XRL, please send your story & picture.


Thank you, PD.

I run the www.versahaul.com hitch mount carrier. Rated for 500lbs. I load the xr650l with saddlebags and 5.8gallon Acerbis tank full, no problem with sway or bottoming out. This is with a stock 2007 four door jeep wrangler. I got my hitch hauler on Craigslist for about $100.00

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by ThumpnRed

If you are going to keep that up, you need to think about reworking your suspension. Perhaps pick up a spare frame when you see one for cheap

These bikes are great for that! (going airborne). Stock suspension is awesome

[ThumpnRed]

Originally Posted by mcma111

No shit. What upside???

Just like the piston in your engine. Low in the stroke now... what happens next?

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by Sierra Thumper

I agree....the pictures alone have cleared my soul a little...gorgeous
I'm so inspired by them, I'm warming up the garage and bike with space heaters, to do an early morning oil change on the xrl. Been putting it off.....too cold, but Walter has inspired me

Right on :-)
This winter and last haven't been typically bad here thankfully. Î was able to go for a nice xrl day long ride week before last. Fun and didn't get cold Looking forward to the next ride though, perhaps next week si Dios lo permite. It's gonna be a while yet before the upper altitudes melt enough to ride up there but I'd rather be riding the easier stuff than waiting for the better stuff to melt.

Maybe this year I'll get to do a multi-day xrl dirt trip... with camping...

[techforlife]

Originally Posted by ONandOFF

Right on :-)
This winter and last haven't been typically bad here thankfully. Î was able to go for a nice xrl day long ride week before last. Fun and didn't get cold Looking forward to the next ride though, perhaps next week si Dios lo permite. It's gonna be a while yet before the upper altitudes melt enough to ride up there but I'd rather be riding the easier stuff than waiting for the better stuff to melt.

Maybe this year I'll get to do a multi-day xrl dirt trip... with camping...

camping,,,,,,,,,,,,beeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr


B

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by techforlife

Nope...lay it on it`s left side ,,,do not need to drain the oil....just have a clutch kit and right side gasket ready.. Only part that may suck is removing the old stuck on gasket,,get some single sided razor blades .. B

And some of that gasket removing compound, or paint remover, to soften that glue residue that's a bear to scrape off.
Otherwise, right, piece of cake

[mcma111]

The factory gaskets are PAPER. No need for chemicals or paint remover. WATER is all you need to soften them up to assist with the removal. That and some fresh razor blades,

[joexr]

A sharp flat wood chisel makes a really good gasket scraper . Just dont use a hammer.

[mendoteach]

Originally Posted by mcma111

I'll bet ya a dollar to a donut that you have cooked the piston. I bought a basket case XRL some years ago that the PO blew due to long wheelies. Oil starved the pump and that's all she wrote for that motor.

Oil starvation because of long wheelies will never be a problem for me. I was born without the balance wheelie gene, and am to big of a wuss to loop out enough times to learn. I can power wheelie just fine, but when the torque curve can't keep up, down she goes.

Steve, I am hoping to have somebody help me with degreeing the damn cam in the next week. If that fails, I'm buying a degree wheel and giving it a go myself. Here's a good article I found:

http://www.muzzys.com/articles/lobe_centers.html

CW, says 110 degrees on the intake with zero lash. Different than how they are generally done I guess.

[Sierra Thumper]

The po of my bike had just changed the oil with fresh 20-50 when I bought it......I was able to get some good rides on the 20-50.....but it was due for an oil change, so I went ahead and picked up some valvoline 10-40 full syn, and a wix filter, and put them in today......the 10-40 made a huge difference in the power, downright shocking I knew there'd be some diff because its been cold here, and the 20-50 isn't meant for cold weather riding. But I had no clue how big the difference was really going to be. On my high hp street bikes you don't really feel much diff....but on the lower hp dual sports you feel everything.
The bike literally pulled like it was in a gear lower than it really was.
I got on the gas and thought I was still in 4th and I was in 5th. And that was with the 4.6 IMS full, and heading up a slight hill. Thats never happened before on this bike
Between the thinner oil and the powerbomb/cut airbox with some fine tuning, she's really pulling strong now for an xrl at 5000ft up
The more power I'm getting the more I'm wanting tho

The only thing I miss about the 20-50 is that the motor was a little quieter and smoother......but it felt like it was chained to a post before the 10-40. And I did most of my riding in warm weather with the 20-50.....and the difference is still this big.

I just wanted to let you guys know my experience....if you're running 20-50 I'd recommend going down to 10-40, and a full syn at that
Not sure why the po opted to run 20-50 in the poor xrl
I bet a guy would notice even more of a diff if he went to a full syn 10-30....a little light for our bikes I think, but I bet it would raise the fun factor in the engine department even more And you could prolly pull it off in a colder climate for the winter riders

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by Spud Rider

You might consider one of the motorcycle tow dollies. ... You put the transmission in neutral when you tow the bike. However, it's far safer to remove the drive chain, if you have a master link.

You can make one of these tow dollies yourself, and it will cost much less. If the ferry people won't let you keep the bike attached to the dolly, you can remove the bike from the dolly when you get to the water. Store the hitch in your truck, and load both vehicles on the ferry separately. This will cost less than paying an extra $50 to ferry a trailer.

Spud

Now that's funny... I can picture the look of consternation on the toll collector's face after thinking here comes a big fare!

I think if going this way rather than roll my rear wheel, I'd build a dolly to put under my rear wheel.

[mcma111]

Mendo,

I just read the cam timing article. I just wish that CW made the cam to drop in like a Mega Cycle cam. None of this degreeing crap. KISS...

[Sierra Thumper]

I have 3 harbor freight torque wrenches, a 150 ft-b, an 80 ft-lb, and an inch-lb. So far they've been great, I've actually cross-tested them with each other and they've all been very close. But today when I was using my inch-lb to tighten up the 8mm bolts on my oil filter cover, the little sob backed off the calibration nut on the handle without me noticing, and as I was tightening the bolts I was thinking, this doesn't feel right. Its VERY easy to strip those oily little filter cover bolts...I was able to catch it in time, and just used my 80 ft-lb instead.
But anybody using the harbor freights keep an eye on the calibration collar at the end of the handle......NOT the locknut sticking out the end, but the adjuster at the base of the handle. I found out today that they tend to loosen up VERY easily....poor design

I know I know, thats what I get for using harbor freight crap ....but I've had the 2 bigger wrenches for years (gifts) and they've been flawless.... thats why I recently picked up the inch-lb......and got bit by the horrible freight bug

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by mcma111

The factory gaskets are PAPER. No need for chemicals or paint remover. WATER is all you need to soften them up to assist with the removal. That and some fresh razor blades,

I couldn't talk mine off with water, but the gooey remover softened the residue right up to scrape off easily. Looking closely at the Honda paper gaskets, I see a film of, for lack of a better word coming to mind, glue. I suspect that's the stuff adhering to the aluminum mating surface holding the paper remnants on, which water doesn't permeate but gasket / paint remover does.
But yeah scraping a lot more is also a solution.