Hello, first of all let me tell you that i am relatively new to motorcycling and have only around 4000 km around my belt but i love travelling. I am the owner of a 1991 XT600 and i love everything about the bike except the kickstarter and the lack of estarter.
Also the bike gods blessed me so that when i bought it i was a complete noob and didnt question too much the fact that instead of a battery the bike actually has some sort of power regulator. Now don't get me wrong the engine runs smoothly and i only had 2 problems up until now on wich matter i will ask for your advice.

So here it is : first the kickstarter is killing me but only when the engine is cold. The thing is that sometimes it starts on the second kick and thats no problem no matter how busted my leg is but other times the damn thing just wouldnt start and im stuck there for 1 hour kicking and cursing between my teeth. What i want to know is : should i get an iridium plug spark? could this be the problem ? Or should i look somewhere else...like the engine not geting gas or something like that.
: second thing is ...and this is something relatively new, i noticed a few days ago that rarely while im driving at a certain speeed, the engine sudenly feels like it goes into a lower gear and, the speed remains the same but the rpm go up . Any idea what might cause this?
: and third is im curently running on sone tires that have a 50/50 profile. Do you think it would be a good idea to buy a set of 17 inch weels with street rubbers and buy only off road rubbers for the 18 / 21 ?

Also , im thinking of making a round the country 3000 km trip this summer. Leaving the oil and chain aside what else do you think i should check before i go to make sure i dont remain stranded in the middle of nowhere .

Thank you all in advance.