i own a xr650r, and am wondering whats the best method to cool down after a long hard run. Should i just turn it off straight away or let it idle for a few minutes before turning it off.

Thanks

although there's no turbo to wind down after a thrape, its worth "warming down" before switching off: it allows the oil and water to take the heat away from the hot spots. think of it like circuit training: warm up, thrash, warm down.

I'd have to disagree - the longer it idles the hotter it gets - fans are there on many bikes for low speed running not high speed. All the water gets circulated very rapidly, no need to idle it to circulate the water! Continued running just adds more heat to the system.

Shut it off immediately. And don't give it a quick blip of the throttle either, that just sucks oil up the rings unnecessarily. Just stop and shut it off. Simple.

------------------
Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------

One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

you're right, Grant, about adding more heat to the system if you sit idling and my reply was incomplete and therefore misleading: I meant to say to ride the last bit steadily and hit the kill when you stop rather than either leave it idling or thrash it right up to hitting the kill switch.
that said, I'm interested in your point, Grant, about sucking up oil into the rings. my XRL has used 0.5 litre oil/1000km from new and the rebuild to fit the kick-start didn't uncover any other problems to indicate why it uses oil. it doesn't smoke noticeably, but seems to draw oil up into the airfilter from the gearbox breather.
any ideas welcome
Rich

I've got 3 different methods for stopping my XR650R engine, dependant on whether I need to check the oil level or not:

1) Kill the engine as soon as I stop
2) Stop, let engine idle for 30s, kill then check oil level
3) Pull clutch in 200m before a gas stop to let engine idle for 30s, roll to a stop then kill engine, check oil

If the engine is not allowed to idle for 30s before checking the oil then you will likely get a false low oil level and overfill, which will result in an over oiled air filter causing rich running & possible overheating and possibly causing the counter shaft oil seal to blow.

The cooling system is *not* effective unless the XR650R is in motion, so it will get hotter, eventually overheat and boil out it's coolant if left to tick over on the side stand (about 15 mins in England in winter!). The boiled over coolant will be captured by the header bottle and sucked back in as it cools - an invention of the Light Car Patrols and Bagnoll/Bader in the Libyan desert)


The cooling system is effective on the move - so long as the XR650R is not a restricted model (North American bikes are restricted ex-dealer) and the jetting is right. De-restriction is relatively cheap and simple (loads of info is available at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/XR650R ).European and Aus XR650Rs are generally unrestricted although some North American bikes are sold new in Europe and Aus bikes are restricted ex-factory. If you have a 40mm tail pipe tip then it's not restricted.

The pre '03 XR650Rs had a couple of easily improved weak spots; upgraded parts are available - the clutch bushing is prone to seizure & the counter-shaft seal (behind the front sprocket) will easily blow out and dump the oil if the engine breather gets pinched (& possibly by overfilled oil). However IMO both these points are related to abuse, I have not pre-emptively fixed mine, but you may feel differently.

HTH

Ian



[This message has been edited by Ian Bradshaw (edited 24 August 2003).]