Hi All

Myself and two friends are planning to start a RTW trip soon on our Yamaha XT600's What spare's do you think we should take with us?

We plan to go through Europe, Ukraine Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongola then Back into Russia to Vladivostock and from there to North America.

We obviously want to take as little extra weight as possible but what spares do you think will be essential to take?

All help and views much appreciated.

I don't know the XT's very well but most singles have lots in common.
Some overlanders miss the importance to fully prep their bike before leaving. Spend the money (and time) NOW and start with as many new parts as you can handle. Shake the bike down hard before leaving, this can turn up potential problems. Work from there to make it perfect.

I see guys only two weeks out who suddenly "notice" their chain and sprockets are totally knackered. No excuse for that crap. These Americans Started in Italy ... and this was his sprocket in Turkey! Neglect and ignorance gets you this:

Go over the bike carefully ... and use quality parts, OEM when possible. Learn the bike and learn to pay attention to it ... everyday! Here is my short prep list, hope it helps!
1. New Battery (even if you think your current one is OK, buy a NEW, MF sealed battery and make sure it's charged properly upon installation. This is another common screw up by travelers. New Battery!
2. New, high quality Chain and Sprockets. My choice would be standard Yamaha Steel sprockets and DID X-Ring VM chain. (best in the world) I would carry a new front sprocket with you. (or two for easy gearing changes). Change the front sprocket at 10,000 miles. This will extend chain life by about 50%. The X-Ring VM should go for 20,000 miles if you do reasonable care.
3. Bearings. Wheel, Head, Swing Arm. Buy All New, sealed, high quality Japanese bearings. (or German)
4. Go over wiring harness from Tip to Tail, look for any wear or abrading, corrosion at connections. Dilectric grease on all plugs and multi-connectors. Zip tie any loose ends. KNOW YOUR WIRING. Bring schematic along.
5. New Clutch and Throttle cables. (doing this should mean no spares need be hauled along) Don't oil your cables, this will ruin them as they have a Teflon lining.
6. Prep Wheels. Make sure they are straight and spokes are tight and not corroded. Your life rides on your wheels and tires. Important. Let an expert do this.
7. Make sure you are not over loaded. Over loaded bikes will bite you in the ass at the first long section of mud. Strip that Mother F*#@§ down to bare bones. Light is right. Two Wheeled German Motor home is not the way to go.
8. Tools. Rather than a load of spare parts you won't need, I'd sooner bring good tools and know how to use them. Build a specific kit for your bike, leave the rest behind. There are mechanic shops out there so you don't need tools to rebuild the crank on the side of the road.
9. Spark plugs (Iridium) and spare. Bring spare plug cap/coil wire. (OEM)
10. Start with good synthetic oil and new filter. After that it will be catch as catch can. Hauling oil makes no sense, IMO. Maybe one oil filter. Use it at 10,000 miles. Change oil at 5000 miles (or whenever).

never seen sprockets like those before lol...

choose the right type of engine oil with the suitable weight because of the temperatures you're going to go be punished with!

where I live, I only use 10w40 semi synthetic oil!
most people will tell you to use semi-synthetic oil on the XT as the engine is supposedly prepped to run that!

Also, make sure the type of tires you use or want to use are easily available where you'll be passing by!
Don't forget to take some tube repairing tools and at least one spare tube for each wheel...

For me for example, where I live, it's hard sometimes to get new tubes!


Good luck and have fun!

Vando

Having just completed TransAmericas (2 x Tenere, 2 x 45.000 km), here's a summary of what I took, with a bit of evaluation:

First, I second Mickey D: start out with as much as you can change now, that'll save you a lot of sh*t.

1. Cables - throttle, choke cables can be repaired with bicycle parts - no spare needed. Clutch: take an aftermarket one and store it somewhere under the seat. Ours did not break.
Tacho and speedo: you can live without.
2. You have identical bikes? Then take one complete chain & sprocket set as spare. Further, take indeed the DID X-ring and change the front sprocket a few times, you'll get easily in the region of 30.000 kms.
3. Handles - have barkbusters or what they are called, but they will not always avoid breakages. So, 1 set for both bikes.
4. Spark plugs - estimate the distance, divide by 15.000 km and take that number, and change them at that distance.
5. XT6 - paper air filters? - you'll need a couple of them, or change to washable, non-K&N filters.
6. Ignition - start with a new spark plug cap. TCI or CDI? CDI - bring spare CDI. TCI - bring spare TCI, regulator / rectifier (and start out with NEW batteries). Coil - never heard of them breaking ..
7. Wheels - we did have spare spokes, but also rebuilt wheels, no spokes broken ... just bring a few.
8. Tyres - do not carry tyres, you'll have to use what you can find. No mud? We were happy with the Pirelli MT90 - got 25.000 km out of a rear, loaded up (canvas was showing ...). Tubes - do not be tricked into carrying bulky heavy duty motocross tubes, instead bring 2x front and rear thinwalled tubes. And a patching kit.
Keep pressures high - this protects rims and tyres and reduces wear. On our Tenere - 2.8 bar rear, 2.4 front.
9. Bring all kinds of 2-component steel, glue, putty, tape, wire, instant gasket, electrical wire, etc
10. Carburettor: bring spare float bowl seals and one spare float needle set for each 30.000 km.
11. Bulbs - you can buy anywhere.
12. Fuses - bring a few.
13. Rear shocks - have them rebuilt or buy aftermarket ones - ours are Technoflex / Wilbers. One broke, I had a spare seal kit and had it rebuilt along the way - but that was not easy.
14. Front forks: new seals, new oil and pray ... Carrying one set of seals is feasible.
15. Clutch: start with new plates and forget about them.
16. Make sure that all nuts on crankshaft, balancer shaft, flywheel and clutch are tight as per workshop manual.
17. Although some state to the contary, a safe estimate of the lifetime of a XT6 piston is approx. 45.000 km. Worth the investment to replace.
18. When rebuilding engine, use ONLY original Yamaha parts and gaskets. Believe me, I learned the hard way .... see below.
19. Gearbox: 5th gear inspected?
20. Install bashplates.
21. Install a 'stonescraper' on the chain, as per motocross bikes - they'll save your chain from damage.
22. DO NOT drive the bikes too hard, and travel LIGHT.

As for us, no immediate partystoppers. Our troubles:
1. Crankshaft bearings on one. Were replaced by non-Yam parts, and held out for 50.000 km, and then almost broke. I managed to reached a Yamaha shop in time. So, if you replace, then use original stuff. Otherwise, when good, leave on.
2. Persistent oil leaks on one bike - I still do not know why exactly. No partystopper, but potentially a serious threat to the health of your bike. Use original gaskets, and any sign of leakages at home to be taken care of rigorously.
3. Broken rear shock, as in seal gone - should have rebuilt at home.
4. Cutout in heavy rain - turned out to be a spark plug with too large a gap.
5. Bulbs, wires,

Nothing left us stranded in the middle of nowhere, these bikes are indestructable!

Safe travels & have fun!

Auke

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Auke
http://aukemarieke.blogspot.com

My 2003 xt600e has 76.000km on the stock motor, everything still goind strong. No need to change piston if the bike works and doesn't drink oil.

I wpuld however, bring a little 200ml bottle with motoroil, it's nice to be able to top of it the engine "drinks" a little oilfumes after some interstate-riding, the oil can also be used to lube chain, sprockets and such.

I havent been on at round the world trip, but I could imagine that some sort of chainlube system would be nice?

A very interesting question from Jens. Is a chain lube system worth having or not? If yes, then which type?

Geoff

I have used a CLS 200 electronic chain-oiler on my '06 Dakar. One nice feature of the system is the automatic adjustment to ambient temperature changes (viscosity changes).

It work great and all. But, looking back, I would not install any type of chain-oiler again.

IMO, today's x-ring chains with a regular treatment of some sort of non-stick chain lube from a can will do just fine for the life time of any chain & sprocket set. (15-20,000 miles). One less gadget to worry about...

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

Errr..toothbrush and a credit card...

I'd rather have a reservoir of oil than carry a can or bottle of chain oil on a big trip. You can usually find an oil that will work on route. I'd rather have a thin oil getting to the rings where it counts rather than spray my chain with (sticky) goo that traps dirt around the chain and does not 'fling' off - the rings may be fine but the rest of the chain is stiff and dirty and requires cleaning and, I speculate, traps dirt and could affect wear life of the sprocket. You don't need an electronic oiler, any gravity fed one will be just fine.

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Find out details of my 2011 trip to Siberia on a lightweight dirtbike:
www.brighton2expeditions.co.uk

So what would be the best type of lube to use? I've heard of these 'dry' lubes but have also heard that they don't cling quite so well in the rain. My present lube is quite a sticky, messy one but is about to run out. So it would be nice to have some suggestions to try out.

Geoff

I've used DuPont Multi-Use Lubricant and was quite pleased with it.

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

There is a whole slew of oiler-designs out on the market. Most simple gravity fed oilers adjusted for, let's say, morning temps, will piss the entire oil onto the chain because it flows faster during day time heating. I dislike the part where I would have to fiddle with it constantly to have a somewhat uniform flow, besides the mess...

Below some pics of my CLS 200







In the bottom right corner you can see the 10-step selector switch for general adjustment, i.e. dry weather (1-3); rain (4-6); cleaning/lube cycle (7-10). The electronic would make sure that the flow at each setting would be consistent, regardless of outside ambient temperature. Overall a pretty slick system.

The electronic control box (no pic) measured ~3.5"x2.5", which I had installed under the seat. The system was tied into the ignition. Once the key is pulled, the system shuts off automatically.

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

Thanks for all the replies so far guys, the helps really appreciated and coming in really useful.

Ive just done a 2000 mile round trip to Norway from London with my missus on two XT600's. About every second day I would wipe the chain right round with WD40 with a sock over my hand(hand in rubber glove to keep wd40 off), then leave it a bit, then wizz the back wheel around while spraying chain wax over the chain. Chains felt great the whole time and only streached a little with all our load on. I recommend Castrol chain wax, I used it for years and it works a charm. You are, however, right about the wax trapping the dirt, so you must first clean.

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