So we've all heard/seen the 650 xchallenge...let's see your XCOUNTRY!

Hi there worldwide X country friends!!!

long time reading this... now it´s time to write!!!

Got a 07´ with 2400km couple of months ago... ride it for more 2000km now! this bike is amazing!!! a really fun bike in the everyday ue on the city (sao paulo - Brazil) !!! off course, a light off road pass for the weekends!!!! my F800gs is in vacation!



found and built some aftermarket protectors and a bit more black - pics later.

since here in brazil we almost don´t have too many XCountry, I got some doubts... and askings for the seasoned X countrers..^

- someone tried the booster plugs? really work? and together sports exhausts and air filter?
- aftermarket exhausts (akrapovic, scorpion, arrow, leo vince) got a real diference in the throtle with it alone ?

(I´m planning to do this: booster plug, sports exhaust (hand made by a specialist here), kn air filter and irisium sparks..... think that this will make a great diference....) someone tried?

- for additional lights.... do the generator makes enough to sustain 2x 55 or 35W lightS? - any electrical problems?

For Donn: wich is your wife windshield?

is that for now!!!

thank you all X countrers!!!!

Regards from Brazil1!!!!

another doubt!

tail tidy fits the OEM blinkers?? fits it on the original position (horizontal) or have to reinstall it verticaly?

regards!!!

danielks--Congrats on the new bike!!

Don't know about a tail tidy that works with OEM turn signals mounted horizontal. Somebody else here will reply.

I suggest that if you do the new sports exhaust, iridium plugs and K&N filter then run it that way for a while. If OK, forget about the booster plug. The ECU is pretty good with the original map and the O2 sensor will help it to make adjustments. Booster plug only if you really are not happy because it's not the greatest.

On the generator, the 35w lights should cause no problems. The 55w lights will be OK if no other auxiliary running (no heated grips, no heated clothing). A satnav will be OK since they use so little electrical juice.

My opinion.

Are the girls really that good looking in Sao Paulo?

Hi Drone!! thanks for !!!

my idea with the booter plug is to "improve driveability", is that they say on the site, and is that Jens (the owner engineer, I think) - and since it makes a richer moisture, I think that it will runs better with the sports exhausts and KN/Iridium.... A improvement for the intake/exhaust globally. I will tell you what happened since I made!

tail tidy can be fit with the oem blinkers on the vertical? no damage by the exhaust?

here in brazil we do not we do not use heated gadgets... I´ll try to get a pair of 35W HID.... I have a pair on my 800GS and it works better than any other!!!

Girls of SP ?? Come to see man.. .. you´ll not believe!!! it´s near NY.... it´s like you go to a motorcycle vendor.... many models, many brands.... speeds, trails, tourers.... understood?

I think the tail tidy with the vertical blinkers is to avoid exhaust heat. But it looks so very bad!! Can you make your own? Like this one?--



"many models, many brands.... speeds, trails, tourers" -- I'm sure I could find one that was right for me!

Drone, they're supposed to melt. Makes a G650X run like a KTM EXC!



(Folks, they do that from the factory!)

Drone, I'll try to make a tail tidy at home!!! POst it when it done!!

Someone here tried the Xchallenge rear shock on the X country ??

This guy fitted one.... with a 21/18 wheels....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBQTj1UcDGc&feature=fvsr

Liked the luggage rack of this X challenge!

regards!!

(It's an XCo in that pic isn't it?)
Actually I personally don't.
Though I'm not as afraid of breaking an alloy subframe as some others, I think that putting your luggage (I even note a topcase mounting plate) so far back is asking for trouble in that dept. Apart from it being one of the worst places to put weight on in terms of weight centralisation and a low c.o.g. on a bike
Then already the small TT racks are better (read "more forward mounted")

Some riding...

I'm still here too by the way!!!

I'm a little sad to see some old faces move on (and a fellow Baja rider at that - Deb!), glad to hear leafman come to your senses and realize you are still in LOVE with our little XCountry beauty after all!

Welcome new riders and hello to you guys like me who have been hiding out a little bit... (yeah I mean you Plumber boy)

Drone, we know you will never leave this group, you'd miss us too much. Which is good because somebody needs to answer all the newbie questions and we nominate you!

I have about 18,000 miles now and commute every day but the season is getting too cold and a little dark and ICY as of this week... so I will be cutting down on a bit.

News is I am working with Ted Porter from Beemerworks to still upgrade my...

SHOCK

Yeah that's right, still not happy with the Wilbers bottoming out despite cranking up the spring rate 3 more times, shipping my shock back and forth to Ted. He is going to be carrying some new brands (all are Dutch spinoffs from WP just like Wilbers is, and related to Hyperpro). I will wait until there is more info but we are talking Yacugar and Tractive. Don't ask me for more info but I will post it when I have it.

Finally I must admit that my wife and I have a new offroad toy that has kept me busy farkling it for the last 2 months and this has kept me off of this thread. I will not corrupt our hallowed halls with any pic of it (but PM me if curious :) We already took it to Moab last weekend and man it is fun!

But don't worry! It has 4 wheels not 2 so it is not a competitor to my true love my little XCountry is the BEST and I too will rider her into my nursing home years and park at the foot of my bed. That's right just like leafman and probably some other closet cases (Geoff and Mike for sure, and Drone is probably lying and never actually sold his, hehe). I'm collecting trip videos so even though the gas tank may be drained I can just park her between my bed and my TV set so I can see the road from between the bars if I prop my pillow up high enough. Or maybe I'll just ride her off the cliff at Dead Horse State Park and call it good when the time comes.. <sigh> how did I get off on this morbid tangent anyway???

I met a new XCountry rider here in my hood so we've done a couple of rides now. He doesn't really post but I have a funny story. He took it on a long trip and parked it in a sketchy neighborhood in a city... and when he went out the next morning somebody had stolen his CHARCOAL CANISTER off of the bike! They clipped the hoses and broke it off of its mounting brackets. Nothing else was touched! Go figure.

Snooker - now she can chase us in Baja in December.

Anyone here with 21 front low fender?

My Acerbis high fender is degrading from uv deterioration, so I have been thinking about putting the original fender back on.

Daniel, welcome. If you do some searching in the history of this thread, you will find some answers to your questions.

1.
I have a sport exhaust (Akrapovic racer full titanium system), I also have a Uni foam filter ( I think better than K&N) and I do have the Booster Plug. I run the standard sparkplugs.

I have the lid off the airbox and I have an air scoop to direct oncoming air to the filter.

Mine runs like a bat out of hell. For me, the Booster Plug helped the tractability of the motor. I also added the 17-tooth front sprocket.


2.
The charging system should handle the lighting you mention as others have advised but be careful. The charging system can quickly reach its limits at slow speeds with too many accessories on - like heated gear, grips etc.

I think an add-on voltmeter is great. You have a built-in digital voltmeter but a separate meter to constantly show system voltage is something that I am glad I installed.

Go back and research this thread. A lot of very good information from lots of people.

The XCo is a very nice little bike.

Leafman!!! thank you for!!!

Akra system is too expensive... here in Brazil, found it for U$ 3200.00 .... :eek1 and not in stock.... this isn't a deal!! I thinking about to get a LeoVince (Snooker advice - and liked it cause of the possibility of changes in exhaustion) or to built one rally look exhaust (I do preffer) in a bike shop here...
I'll try the KN... will get an UniFoam later.... Any subjections about KN ?

I tought something about to made an scoop on the air box.... can you post or pm a pic of yourS? is it inside the fairing ?

Why the 17 sprocket? the engine got too brute ?

Regards!

Dust has gone here, whore through a set of rear brake pads in a few hours of mud covered road and track sliding.
Need a real knobbie up front!, Tips anyone?

Daniel,

Air filter... Any seasoned off road person I know (bike or 4 wheels) avoids a fabric filter like K&N for dusty or sandy off road conditions. Sure they flow better but there is a reason and they just can't trap fine dirt as well as a properly oiled foam filter. I like the Uni. I left the top on the airbox but I added a sheet of Uni filter element (green fine filter) that I cut to size and put it over the filter as a prefilter - it is very easy to clean that way and don't have to clean the main filter which is harder. Works well. Obviously I'm not trying to achieve maximum performance. I'm happy with the performance and want to maximize fuel mileage and engine filtration/protection and keep it simple to maintain.

You can use a biodegradable oil like NoToil or J&P or Yamaha or whatever and clean it up with a filter cleaner and water in a sink in your hotel room. Safely. I use NoToil spray oil and clean it with a little bit of powdered Oxyclean in a small 5 quart plastic bucket with warm water. The days of using gasoline to clean it are over! finally.

I think Leafman is one of a very few who like the 17 sprocket. I'm frankly a bit shocked by that and I'm willing to bet most offroad people like to go down to the 15. It just depends on how slow you ride in first gear and how fast you ride in 5th gear. When I'm crawling up slickrock in Moab I have even used a 14 tooth for a short trip. I'm happy going 80mph on a 15 but hey we all have opinions.

Exhaust... Forget the Akra, crazy prices. For me the Leo is still working fine, you just have to beef up the mounting system at the top of the muffler so there is no way it can sag and melt your coolant hose at the front of the pipe. See my mods page for ideas, there are other better ideas out there.

Auxiliary lights... People seem to love HID lights. I went the opposite path. I wanted LOW current draw, reasonable light output and CHEAP. I went with 2 of the modest model 30 LED lights from sanjoh at AdvMonster.com for $60 each or so... and you can read my Aux Light MOD for more details. The early models sanjoh sold reportedly had quite a few failures. I personally believe this was due to running the drivers at a very high current to achieve the most light output. My solution to this is to also install his $45 LED Dimmer module which is waterproof and has a wireless remote control fob. It also has a high beam bypass control input that I wired to my high beam so that when my high beam is on it always outputs 100%. The beauty of this is you can aim the light for proper location for high beam but set the dimmer to only output say 30% when you are in low beam mode, so in daytime cars can see you a bit because they are on and aimed a bit high but it does not stress the lights at all running at this low PWM duty cycle. In this "low" mode I measured the current draw at only 0.25 amps for both of them! Then hit the high beams at night and WOW they are bright! When both of them are on 100% I measured them to pull only 1.4 amps. That's the equivalence of each one being 7.5 watts!

I've had them on a year now and no problems at all.

Don't really understand your situation and question. Are you saying the dust is gone and it is now mud, so MUD on radiator, REAR pads worn, but want a more aggressive knobby for the FRONT tire? Are these 3 different questions?

Are you running the stock 19" front rim size and the stock low cut fender? If so to cut the mud off of the radiator more you might try the Wunderlich Extenda Fender. I don't run in much mud but it works great for me and others that DO run in mud, I hear. Here is a pic:



For 19" front tires, your choices are limited. I still think the most aggressive semi-knobby is the TKC80 (shown above) but I'm not really current on anything new out there perhaps. Kenda Big Block also but they may wear quicly?
For a rear 17" knobby I don't think you can beat a Dunlop D606 based on what I read here. It is the only serious knobby I have tried though. I have been trying Mefo Explorer lately and I've got 5000 commuter pavement miles on my rear and it is showing a lot of wear finally. Yet is decent off road. Amazing tire really. Might try a Heidenau rear next. or not. What say ye Geoffrey?

Daniel, hey man !

Yes, I agree the Akra is crazy expensive. The Lleo V should be just fine. I have used them on other bikes.

My scoop is something I fashioned under the plastic cover that allows a direct shot of oncoming air into the filter.

I don't know about the K&N. I've used them many times on different bikes but they were all street bikes. I have read and heard stories about them not filtering as well as many people think.

The Uni foams are supposed to be as free-flowing as K&N and they are supposed to filter better, epecially in heavy dirt/dust situations.

I LOVE the 17T sprocket. My engine pulls hard down low. I use my XCo as a dual-sport. To me, that means street and dirt. I run it regularly on single track trails and dirt roads but I also use it as somewhat of a sport bike. I also use the XCo for long distance trips.

The 17T sprocket is awesome. Of course, the prime benefit of the bigger gear is for high-speed running. It helps the motor settle-down into a more-relaxed cadence.

Although, I do not use the bike as a pure dirt bike for severe off-road situations, it does surprisingly well on dirt with the 17T. I rarely bog down for want of a lower gear and, it allows me often to avoid having to shift gears.

Yes, if you want to run hard-core dirt trails, rock cliffs or clay pits etc, or like to make jumps into the air, a smaller sprocket would obviously be better. For me, the XCo is not the bike for that.

Anyway, the best advice is -try it. Satisfaction no doubt depends on a person's riding preferences. Several of my friends have reluctantly tried the bigger cog and they have all kept with it.


This is the sort of off-road running I do and the 17T works great-










After that, I can then run the twsities -



Or, run 8-10 hours on the interstate ( and 80 would be slow, lol)-

Finally have 1 in the garage, been looking for awhile. Will be a winter commuter.