Lightweight XR650L

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zacapa

Race Dog
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
2,110
Reaction score
3
Location
East Coast of Africa in the Hills
Bike
Honda XR650L
So I was clever enough to to tie up all my available funds in a brand spanking new XR650L back in early 2011. The speedometer is still in Mph because I reckon
they shipped all the leftover Stateside bikes over to us in SA back in 2011. The HP2 sold eventually so my bank manager was happy again since I bought the XR
for all the cash I had and used the Mastercard for bridging finance for the interim until the HP2 sold.

Have lived with big red piggy for more than 3 years now and happy with the way this relationship has developed. The rider has lost about 8kg in 3 years
while the piggy has been even better at weight loss - currently reflecting a tank empty mass of around 136kg which is 11kg lighter than stock. It took
a while getting there and ZAR 12K for parts thrown at piggy not counting my labour which runs at an exorbitant price / hour.

Well chuffed with the results I had a big fucking brainwave the other day, or it happened by accident I think. Lets have another one then. I pour myself
another whisky double. The big effing brainwave thing was quite simply an arithmetical anomaly for me as in Don't Fill The Tank Until It Is Full!

By chance I had this shortish trip planned with some riding mates and recently fitted a lithium iron battery to save some weight. The tank was half full from
the last ride and plenty enough for the shortish 120km loop. On the fastish section through the ex game reserve and up some hillclimbs my XR felt like it was
on steroids leaving my 690 riding mates well behind.

A week later I was in the valley again and on the easy fastish section from Mfula Store on the LHS of the Umgeni with some ruts and woops - kind of 40 - 100km/h
territory riding with another WD member who is not known for going slow on his new to him 690R. While still fresh I cruised this section at my happy pace and
waited for Trevor to pull in. Graciously Trev admitted that he was battling to stay in touch on that section. The ride developed from there and we missed out on a
few of the better sections because my GPS skills were not up to scratch on the day. The technical stuff that followed I sweated big time on one occasion since my
daily whisky and 2 packs a day routine clearly do not add to make this easier for a 51 year old. KTM addict Trevor is also a mean machine that will convince you
to go up the next hill with his never say die attitude. Glad to know this bunch of great WD's in my neighborhood, Dave, Trevor, Craig, Darren, Kingsley - you are
all good riding mates and my life is so much better for it. The guys I have not mentioned know who you are. We are all in this thing together.

Back to topic. Trevor earlier asked me to have a go on his 690R to see what it was like since I mentioned that I rode Craig's 690 a week ago. What a difference!
But! There is always a but.

I think I can get to like this Katoom 690R if I had enough time in the saddle. It begs to be ridden harder than an XR to make it work in the right way. The old
XR600R will always be the measure of things in my books when going fast in XR country. A consciousness of modern hardware sometimes leads to overspending.

Now if I can make my XR650L perform 95% as good as the modern bikes I will be happy. That's a bit of a bullshit statement though. Sometimes and sometimes
more you just realize that you may be struck in XR heaven for a long time and things are good that way.

HTF do I get down to 130kg tank empty weight. Anyone .. anyone? Throw me some unobtainium anytime soon..........................................................................
 
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