Thanks again for the reply.

So you went with an old model XR600R from the UK to west-africa (and back?) without changing any oil at all during the trip? How heavily were you loaded up on that trip if I may ask?

I still believe from everything that I have read that weight is going to be a main issue for travelling through Africa, especially if I want to see some dune action. Im not too concerned about the bike being too fragile as I am confident my mate can fix that for me (Studies at the Technical University of Delft, specializing in car engineering).
Im going to do this together with my best mate, so we already agreed to buy 2 of the exact same bikes which is of course an advantage with spare parts etc.


Looking forward hearing from your west-africa experience on the xr600r!

Cheers

Brakke Gaid

The first time I went it wasn't that old! (mid 90's). Both trips were one way with the bike being shipped back from the Gambia and me flying back. I didn't change the oil during either of those trips but it was changed just before departure.

I've had bad experiences in the past with oil I've bought (in Morocco mainly) being not what it was supposed to be, eg 2T oil turning out to be gear oil or something industrial diluted with white spirit, so rather the devil I knew. I took 2L of oil with me (last time, can't remember on the first trip) but I only recall using one of the bottles.

The picture I posted with an earlier reply was the 600R loaded up in Western Sahara. The one below was taken in Spain at the start of the trip. The panniers are about 10kg each and the bag on the back about 15kg. Add another 6kg for water that I started carrying in the desert and whatever 40L of fuel weighs.



A few others have said that the oil change interval on XR's is really when you're using them in competition and that with a better oil and slower riding you can extend it. My Rotax CCM takes a similar amount of oil and has 4K changes.

I'm not aware of anything that is so vastly different with the 600R that would warrent reducing that to 1K. Most bike trips involve riding long distances with the engine up to temperature - conditions where the oil is having an easy time. If you're going to go dune bashing though ....

WOW!

What a monster tank that is!

Gosh, that must have been quite a handful to ride like that I think.
You have informed very well indeed. I think i have a good feel what I can expect with a XR600R. Especially if i can find some addresses in advance for motor shops for any route I might take, than that shoudlnt be too big of a problem.

There is something to say both for the XR600R as the XT600E. I will be looking to buying one of them coming fall.

Thanks for all the help and advice.

Brakke

hi Brakke,

you might want to consider the Yammaha TT600R, also light, a bit more modern, very bullet proof. The last year for me anyway.

My first choice was the XR650L, but as you said: not available in NL.

There's lots of aftermarket to make it a good long distance tourer, i got the parts from Startseite, guy who ows this shop is sort of an TT600 expert.

Shout if you need more info.

Groet,
Sander

__________________
http://sanderonasingle.blogspot.com/