I was reading some of the old thread and came to some talking about the XR650R, since I own one of these I was surprised to see that some of you guys are using it for long trip.Mine is great but how do you travel with a bike that distroy tires like the XR does,I cannot keep a rear tire for more than 2500 miles( if carrefull), I wish I could know how do you travel with a bike that cannot carry spare tires (sub frame).

Have you tried the Dunlop D908RR rally raid ?
I've run one on my KTM 950 both on and off road and it gripped well and lasted well.

never tried these, what type of miles are you getting from them?

Thanks

I think that my the KLR-650 is somewhat similar to the XR650. I have use 3 different brands of back-tyres on my bike (Original from Thailand, Pirelly and Corean). I usually use a profile that is more or less 30/70 (off/road). Also y use the bike 95% in asphalt, the are lasting me for about 8000 to 10000 km.

The last one I used had 3500 miles on it when I changed it. Mixture of road and off road use carrying full luggage, etc. You should get a fair bit more on the much lighter 650.

This seems good I will try them next time I change my tires ( should be within a month)

its easy to wreck a rear in 2500 miles, but throttle restraint should yield 5000 miles on pretty much any tyre. I just got 11,000 miles plus on an Avon Gripster with 2mm left when I junked it to fly home. on that trip, I didn't get to do much off road, but I had hot tar to contend with.

IRC make fantastic OEM tyres for Honda - see if you can find some off people buying XR650Ls. alternatively, King tyres are relatively widely available in Africa and I got great life from their 130 section. I fitted the biggest thing I could find in Mozambique ... 100 section on XR650L and was super-impressed by grip and wear. big tyres are over-rated except in soft sand

Thabks Rich,
As you know its sometime a bit difficult to ride smoth with an XR650R, did you ever consider using a single seat on yours, the OEM is a butt killer for me and after 100 miles I am in serious pain. On my KLR or BMW 500 + a day is OK, I was maybe thinking corbin or even try to built one single seat for it??

Thanks for any comments

I left the seat as is and put up with the pain! I prefer to ride standing at 90-100kmh - I needed good pegs and high, wide bars to get a comfortable stance. Martin and I also tried sitting side-saddle or with our feet over the bars when we had long straight roads with no police.

Never mind tyres, mine seems to be devouring oil at an alarming rate!

I recently bought a brand new XR650R and have racked up just over 4000 miles over the past six weeks in the western USA - a good mix of dirt and back roads, some proper trails/desert and a fair bit of regular highway too...

I fitted TKC 80's initally (thinking they would last well in such conditions), and got around 3200 miles before the rear was worn flat in the centre, and the front had started to get that alternating high/low knobble thing going on. I've now swapped them both for Pirelli MT21's which hopefully will last a little longer - I got over 4000 miles on those fitted to my XR400 that I have back in the UK.

I understand that it is quite common for the 650R to use oil at prolonged highway speeds, but I am more concerned at the 25% loss of compression it is now suffering... luckily they come with a 6 month warrenty in the US, so it is currently back in the dealer getting sorted (at last)...

JennyMo xxx

I'd be interested to hear what they say about the oil burn ... I've had two and I've ridden on long trips with two others. both of mine (but neither of the others) intermittently swigged oil. normally it was about 250ml in 1000km, but once (80kmh) one of them necked 400ml in 500km. as far as I'm aware, I didn't lose compression or power ... it just meant adding oil from time to time.

I rate the TKC80 from continental for durability- I got 10,000 miles out of my rear (80% on road, but 90% of the roads were bad) and even more off the front. This was on a heavily laden 750 V-twin. Never even had a puncture...

Well, the diagnosis is as follows - turns out I have a leaky exhaust valve which is the cause of the majority of the compression loss, although they are going to change the rings too as I'm sure the crank case shouldn't be pressurising as much as it is (even though they 'wet' tested the compression and it didn't seem to pass any oil?), certainly the oil coming out each change is as black and as thin as you like...

Good job the bike came with a 6 month warranty - but admittedly, it is a very rare problem.

They did say that oil consumption is a known trait of that engine at highway speeds, so like you say, I guess you just need to keep an eye on it and top up every so often...

So, fingers crossed I'll be back on (and off) the road in a couple of days...

JennyMo xxx

My XR650R is a 2000 and I do burn about 250ML for 2500 miles ( nothing bad )I live in Florida and the heat ,sand riding and my light weight of 210 pound make the bike work hard sometime .I do not burn as much on road if I stay below 65MPH butif I go over 80MPH the oil loss is about 25ML for 1500 miles.
I am curious to see if you guy did any work on the bike :
_to handle better on road at high speed ( no front fender dancing in the wind)...
_how much weight do you carry for long travel ( thinking about long crossing riding off road)
_I now have a fan (ktm ) does it fit with the safari tank
_Did your bike oer heat in the desert at low speed
_any good idea for prep that you have done yourself and recommande.

lOVE THE BIKE BUT THE SUBRAME IS NOT THE BEST FOR EXTENDED TRIP.
Thanks for any good comments.

Hi HendiKaf - have a look at this thread:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...k-pack-30816-2

for pictures of my XR650R on a recent trip around the western USA - that should answer many of your questions, but here is some more info:

I fitted a low front fender, but mainy because it looks good with the rallye fairing kit x - I'm not sure if the regular high fender would have much effect on handling, unless you were going really really fast - and let's face it, the Baja boys do ok with a high fender x

The one problem with a low fender (as you can see in one of those pictures) is that it can clog up if the ground gets really sticky and muddy. I mounted mine about 2" above the tyre, but it was the sides that jammed up with mud - I had to remove it, rescue the bike, then re-fit it once I'd got to drier ground.

I used an XR's Only billet rack, and that was fine for supporting my tail pack (see the other thread) - I'd say that was 10-15 Kg certainly not has heavy as a 20l can full of fuel. The dry bag with my tent and sleeping kit was on the seat behind me.

I would say there is plenty of room for a fan when the Acerbis tank is fitted - it fits around the smog kit (which is mounted on the right hand radiator tabs on US models). I removed the smog pump asap of course! and had the larger reg/rec mounted there on the bracket originally, although it got a bit hot so I moved it to the front fairing support.

Bike didn't overheat at low speed in the desert, as I wasn't going at low speed in the desert, only fast... ahem x

I'm a total convert to steering dampers off-road now - I have the GPR system with the replacement top triple clamp and fat bar conversion - stops that front end wiggle (that can be so hard to catch, and usually spits you off) and rides like it's on rails...

People say the 650R is a bit under braked (I thought it was fine to be honest), but I still replaced the discs with Breaking Wave rotors, with the oversize 260mm front - the set-up they use on the Baja racers.

I've also fitted the Boechat electric start kit, 250w stator (to charge the battery and run the twin headlights) and a GPS.

Hope that helps...

JennyMo xxx