So after three months of looking at just about every bike for sale in Queensland, I had to decide what bike was going to be most useful for day to day commuting as well as for adventure/off-road riding on the weekends. As much as a cruiser, for......well cruising, around the streets of Brisbane is a tantalising prospect, and a big adventure tourer for mile-munching in comfort would make my rear end happy, I could not resist going for another Honda XR650R.
Yes there are newer, more bling bikes in the same class these days, but despite getting close to pulling the trigger on a Husqvarna TE630 and not wanting to fork out $14 000 for the KTM 690 EnduroR, the simple fact of the matter is that none of the latest offerings offer the same package. I don't want to go into much detail here but to summarise:
Pro:
Lightness
Simple reliability
Versatility
Out the box off-road racer
Road capable
Seriously quick
Con:
Kick start only
Needs setting up properly to get full potential
No longer made (but that was due to Honda making no money because they didn't break!)
So this is my second XR650R, the first one I had in the UK but the type of riding really did not suit it there (including a few enduro events). I vowed to buy another one the day I sold it, and out of all the bikes I have owned, the XR provides a riding sensation that stands out.
This is a 2000 model with a Pro Circuit exhaust system (very loud), Hot cams stage 1, Vortex CDI programmable Ignition and airbox mod. She runs beautifully and still feels tight with 10 000km on the clock. The oil and filter, coolant, indicators and tail light have been changed since purchasing it.
The plan is to get it looking something like this:
Over the coming months I will be documenting the modification process and also the regular maintenance which will take place regularly with my daily commute helping to rack up the kilometres fast!
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