Boingk's XR600 - 'Outer Limits'

boingk

boingk

Standard gearhead.
Hey guys, I found that big single I was looking for:

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Well, thats her. Not the cleanest thing around but it came with 17,000km on the clocks and a few months of road registration so I'm happy. Also on the 'comes with' list are new Pirelli MT21 front & rear tyres (rear not fitted yet), a long range Acerbis tank (now fitted) and a Fox dualsports helmet.

The plan at this stage is to do a general go-over with the bike and do all the general stuff like oil/filter changes, new sparkplug, valve clearances and a new chain and sprockets because the old ones are totally buggered. The airfilter is getting replaced with a Unifilter performance item, so that should be interesting. The rear disc brake is close to minimum thickness as well so I'm after a replacement.

Final plan for this is to take it around Australia sometime next year and see a bit of the country while doing as much offroad as I can. No rocksolid plans yet, but its definitely happening. Any tips, hints, questions or comments are most welcome.

Thats all for now, cheers - boingk
 
Here it is with the Acerbis tank fitted, plus $3 worth of adhesive contact after an hour of boredom.

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More as it happens - boingk
 
Nice looking ground and pound. I'd really like to get my hands on a dual sport, and rough it up a bit!
 
Cheers CresentSon! You should take the plunge, they're an absolute hoot to ride. Mine is a road legal XR600R, which I believe you fellows didn't get in the states due to them not meeting emissions and possibly noise requirements. That aside, its hard to go past a big single-cylinder as an adventure tourer - lightweight and tough as nails, with power on tap everywhere through the rev range.

Anywho, I fitted a Unifilter - the 'Performance Kit' which comes with a new cage and two-stage filter to suit. The bike seems to like it a lot, I think the old one (original unit? :eek:) had decomposed and was causing the bike to run a tad lean. After that I replaced the toolkit bolts and made up a more comprehensive kit to fit inside. Here're the pics:

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Toolkit refurbishment:

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Cheers - boingk
 
Well color me jealous my friend. A nice Honda thumper street/trail has been on my wish list for years. Have a great time on your trip. Shoot lots of pics.
 
You mean like this used-to-be-a DR650?

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Cheers - boingk

PS - About time somone else was jealous of something I had haha, I've been nothing but ever since joining up here... you guys crank out some awesome stuff! And yes, I'll be taking plenty of piccies ;)
 
Righteo, I fitted the new DID X-ring chain and sprockets (Sunstar front, JT rear). The existing front sprocket was shagged:

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So was the rear:
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Oooohhh... shiny...
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The gearing is now 14/48, and a total blast around town and offroad. The 15t front sprocket will go on for any prolonged highway use or general road duties. Before the trip around Australia I'll probably get a 42~44t rear sprocket and combine it with a 15t front, as well as carrying a 14t for more offroad oriented sections.

Cheers - boingk
 
Just have to say I'm jealous as well. That thing would be a hoot anywhere it goes!
 
Cheers Big Rich! Hopefully it'll be able to go anywhere a bit more easily once I sort the cooling...

I want to be ready for any conditions before heading around the country, but couldn't find any oil coolers locally to suit. eBay brought up a mixture of cheap Chinese stuff and NOS parts from the 80's, so I went down to the hardware store and bought these:

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I'll braze them together with some half-inch copper piping that I have up in the garage and then splice them into the oil feed lines somewhere. I'm thinking the large line that feeds out of the head and up into the frame reserviour as its close to where I want to mount the cooler - under the headlamp - and would deliver cooled oil straight to the head... assuming the flow runs that way, which I'm 95% sure it does ::)

More as it happens - boingk
 
The Ballards alloy rear rack showed up today:

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Should be able to carry a reasonable amount of gear as its bolted into the frame at four points. Little dirty from the previous owners usage (single long trip) but otherwise in top condition.

Cheers - boingk
 
Rear tyre replaced with a Dunlop K750, and the 48t rear sprocket with a 40t. Chain lost 4 links in the process:

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The ride is brilliant for the road, pulls up to about 80~90kmh in 3rd and 4th is good for about 120kmh. Top gear will let you cruise at 120kmh and go... well.. faster than you should haha. No idea on actual speed because the speedo only goes to 140. I would estimate about 160kmh, or 100mph in the good old fashioned stuff.

A 14t sprocket will give a bit more usability for trails, and a 13t sprocket will bring it right back for the real dirt. I have both in preparation for the 'round Australia trip, part of the reason I got the chain breaker instead of getting the local to do it.

Cheers guys - boingk
 
Lookin great Boingk. What size chain is it? 520 or 530? I've been working on a 650 that I wanna do kinda the same thing with - except it is a street bike that is going dirt only.

If you get a chance and take the tank off, can you take a pic of the underside and take some measurements for me?
 
Its a 520 chain, a DID X-ring. Bloody great so far, haven't even had to do an initial adjustment yet.

The tank is Acerbis's stock XR600 item, and I'm fairly sure they do one for the XR650. Failing that, Safari Tanks do high quality gear for just about everything, and IMS is always there if you get stuck. Was there something specific you wanted the measurements for?

What kinda work have you done/plan on doing to the 650?

Meanwhile I knocked off work early today and took the bike for a spin out one of my favourite roads and back, about 70 miles. While the stupid pull of the dirt gearing isn't there anymore, it works much better for the road with the new ratio, ripping you out of 50 and 60mph corners with ease. It'll sit on 130kmh/80mph easily, to, riding the torque curve. Funnily enough, it doesn't want to sit on 120kmh/75mph because its fallen off the curve a bit. Either way, cruising speed is more than fast enough for distance and freeway riding. The top speed is brilliant - I had it off the clocks a few times during the ride haha. So thats in excess of 150kmh/93mph, my guess is a legit 160kmh/100mph. Totally stable up there, too, with the big 21" front wheel doing its part.

Handling and braking are typical dirtbike; hang off the side a bit if you want, or duck down behind the tall bars and swing with it as you corner. Effort and weightless turning onroad, no big deal. Only thing I want to do is firm up the front a tad so its not as soft under braking - it may only need a few psi of air in the forks. The rear suspension could definitely do with more preload, its my suspicion that its been unloaded from stock and will, in either case, need more for my weight.

I'm now looking into options to cut the wind blast down a bit.

Cheers - boingk
 
Well, it's a Suzuki 650 (just like the one in my build thread). So I'm trying to ditch the cruiser tank for either a plastic one or a small vintage steel one. Right now it's just a motor in a frame with some ideas brewing. The more I see your 600, the more i wanna work on the 650 though.
 
I've been thinking about getting a proper chain oiler for a while, but in the meantime I rigged this up for less than five dollars. Its simply a 10ml syringe attached to a length of 3mm rubber hose, held in place with clip ties, that exits onto the rear sprocket. Push the plunger a bit as you go along and oil trickles onto the sprocket and then the chain; repeat every 100km or so.

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Cheap, simple, easy to make. Should make chain lubing a bit easier for the meantime until I get a proper system. I'm thinking of getting a Tutoro chain oiler before I go around, check them out at www.tutorochainoiler.com. They look like a good bit of gear and are quite cheap compared to the big names like Scottoiler.

Cheers - boingk
 
Well, theres been a bit of ordering since last time, due in no small part to the strength of the Aussie dollar. On the way are a Hotcam's Stage 1 cam and a Tuturo chain oiler, and I'm thinking seriously about an aftermarket ignition unit.

Meanwhile, I've come back from a reasonably long weekend ride on the XR. While I found it a hoot through the twisties and along backroads, its a bit of a pain on the highway. Seating position is fine, and the Acerbis tank and small front screen actually stop quite a bit of wind... but the gearing I'm running is irritating at freeway speeds. Fourth gear will cruise at 90~100km/h, and wind up to 130; 5th seems to sit most 'comfortably' on 120~130km/h but won't take hills too well. Dropping back to fourth is a bit extreme due to the 16% difference between the gears, leaving you either moving too slowly or revving too high, and 5th as it sits now is a pain to use.

In response to this, I've shoe-horned a 14 tooth front sprocket in, in exchange for the 15t that I was running. The gearing is now 14/40 - around a 7% step down - and feels much happier at freeway speeds. 5th will now laaaazily cruise at 100km/h and sit on 120 quite happily. Top speed isn't as good as it was before, but usability is much better.

I've also learnt to adjust the valves (cheers Dad!) and the bike is going a lot better than it has been - more throttle response, better roll-on... much better all around. Only thing now is that I've got to get used to the 'clickety-click' noise properly adjusted valves make on bikes like this. Coming from multi-cylinder bikes and two-strokes, it sounds a bit unnerving.

More as it happens - boingk
 
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