Just curious. Planning a big trip, well several actually this year and looking for the right bike. I'm interested in an XT660 I've been offered. I don't see many threads about them or a lot of opinions about them on here. My general feeling is it's heavy for what it is and not really suited to heavy dirt use. Looking at the basic design and layout it seems more to me to be a commuter style bike with an offroad style. The engine though is pretty reliable and can be tweaked to offer a decent if not astounding turn of power. The ones I've seen suffer from yamaha cancer and rot readily, in fact a dealer I was chatting with yesterday showed me an MT03 which has got so bad being on display it needs new parts although has never been on the road. Anyhow... the bike has a frighteningly loyal following with owners fiercely promoting the bike as the answer to every question in life. I'd like a more balanced opinion. I am not at all sure about it. Yamaha recommend the engine life to only 50 000 miles, they rot faster than a dead sparrow and they are very overweight for a small single. On the other side the machine seems reliable with few (but some) reported problems and is cheap to buy, get parts for and looks easy to work on. I fancy one but I'm a bit torn. Thoughts....?
I have only had mine a few weeks and having come from a08TDM900 it was a very different feel. I would'nt say its a piece of shit or anything but it did'nt blow wind up me dress. That was on the first trip home and on the blacktop. I had to remind myself its not my usual ride. Now I live in the bush and got this bike to go looking up tracks and trails and hyw is only a very small part of the plan. I have been useing it on this prperty to do some light mustering and run around the waters and only now am I getting the idea behind this bike, and I'm begining to like it. I wouldnt get too carried away with the weight as an issue as its not. A little balast can iron out a rough track at times. Its no sprint bike either but it will be with the group at the end of the day. The creecks in this country are rock bottomed and unstable. I have great confidence when crossing that the bike will come out at the place I point it. The fuel range is looking to be around the 340km mark which is ok for 15ltr but again Im used to 480/500km so I need to get used to that. It would be fair to say Im getting to like the bike. Its not afull blown allroader nor has it been marketed as such, at least not here. A reliable compramise yes. Stable, yes. Two cans,,why?. I no nothing of this rot issue you mentioned, or a short engine life? I can only assume its maybe in European based bikes on salted roads maybe???
According to most people it sucks, badly. It's overweight, underpowered and rots worse than a Kawasaki. But I like mine. I have not had any rot issues (both my Kawasakis had bad cases of rust, in Mexico City), not at all and it has never broken down. I don't get why people think that it's heavy, it's lighter than the ER-5 that I used to have, only 15kg heavier than my 07 CBR 600RR and 10kg lighter than my SV1000S. People also complain about the location of the water pump and the exhaust, nothing that can't be solved by a sump guard (which you want on any bike regardless of the exhaust) and the position of the waterpump, which can be solved with crash bars or engine guards (another thing you'd want on any bike). I've had it up to 100mph, that's the fastest it will go, but let me tell you that it gets there pretty fast (I'm pretty sure that with different gearing it could go faster) but the 21 inch wheel, high fender, high COG and long suspensions do not make for a stable high speed ride, even worse if you go with tyres that work a damn off road instead of the crappy OEMs (mine came with Siracs, which were bad on road, bad off road and wore really oddly). So... If you want an enduro, the XT is not for you, if you want a tourer, it aint for you, if you want a bike for slabing, the XT will disapoint you. It's pretty much just a do it all bike, which on my book, is what an adventure bike is, a bike that can handle everything you throw at it. If I want to go to the track, I take the CBR, if I want to go fast on the road, I take the SV, if I want to cruise on the highway and ride like an old man, I take the VN900 (oddly I haven't rode it in months... LOL!), if I don't know what to expect from my next ride, I take the XT.
Though I have only done 10000KM on my bike, I would have to agree with the above posts. Its almost like its the jack of all trades but it can do a little bit of everything. That's why I brought this bike. Earlier this year I have a FZ-1 '05 and I was hit by a car. I loved riding and nothing was going to stop me riding, but I was left in a place where I didn't know what I wanted out of riding, Do I buy another road bike? Do I want to ride off road? (at that stage I have never ridden off-road) If I do ride off road, will I enjoy it? Those where the questions that I tossed up when I brought my bike. I brought the bike and dabbled in all sorts of riding. Touring, off-road, Twisties and I even took the bike on the track to do some laps. The weight is not a major issue. The bike feels a lot lighter than it is, you can easily flick it around the corners. The gears are pretty tall so if you were to ride into town it will be fine with that. I have taken it for some off road and the bike feels very stable and great to control. you can look at my youtube videos they are at varies points of my rides and at this present time the bikes ability is far greater than mine so I have plenty of room to grow my off road skill.
I had an XT660R and it made a great commuter but i thought the bike was pretty horrible offroad, the finish was not great, I struggled to find a decent screen to stop buffetting, the bars vibrated too much above 68-indicated (vibes are a personal thing), the heavy dual-exhausts feel top heavy and unnecessary and the was bike generally too heavy and the engine is so bland and soul-less that commuting was all it was good for. Pretty comfortable, relatively economical (not bmw levels), cheap - take your pick. Just don't sit on a 690SMC - seriously - you might not get back on your XT! I almost cried it was so much better (until I realised that I had lost ZERO depreciation on it because I bought it used and sold it to some bloke in Poland for the same money 2years later!) The reason I got rid of it was to replace it for a WR250R (the legendary R2!) and I am a massive Yamaha fan generally!
So you're comparing an enduro bike (the supermoto version) with a dual purpose? As I said, if you want an enduro, the XT sucks, big time.
You don't even need to go that far - I would add that if you just want a dualsporter, the XT is 'very average', big time. Just because the 690E says it's an enduro doesn't mean that it isn't also a dualsporter. The 690E and the 690SMC are to each other as are the XT660R and the XT660X. Just shows how price and 'extreme-ness' can produce such a contrasting pair of bikes :) The WR250R is a single cylinder dualsport bike, the XT660R is a single cylinder dualsport bike. I think the WR250R is a better dualsporter than the XT660R which is why I sold the XT.
I know this is kind of a null point. But I personally would hate to ride the WR250 more than 150km in one sitting. For me to get to dirt I have to ride 80-150km depending on where I'm going. so in one day I can easily rack up 300+km and I would not be able to do that on the WR. I might also note that this bike is my primary vehicle. I don't own a car. I never brought a car.
Unlike the KTM, which was meant to be an enduro and a motard, no one ever tried to pass the XT660 for an enduro. Sure, you can use the KTM as a DP, but that doesn't mean it was meant to be a DP. Just compare the size of the fuel tanks, compare the size of the seats, etc. If you want to judge the XT660 for sucking at being what it was never meant to be, go ahead.
Since you're asking, I think the xt660 is well overweight, dull, gutless, undersprung, thirsty (stock), and just boring. At 50k it will need new rings (compression rings wear, oil scraper ring is good). A plodder trailbike. But if that's what is required, then it fits the bill nicely. My 2c.
Cheers for the replies guys. What I'm getting here is that it's an ok bike, not ideally suited to any one thing but can manage most things to a degree. The corrosion is rampant on these here in the UK but then BMW R1200gs's rot here for some reason but nowhere else apparently so there's definitely "something in the water". Manufacturers quote an approximate life of 50000 miles here although I do believe they're capable of more than that. I do agree in my experience they tend to be a bit thirsty but I don't think calling them gutless is fair. They tend to be quite nippy for their class. I guess I'm not looking for a bike I can learn to love because I have to. I'm not sure I would believe in these things. I saw one go down in front of me in first gear and need a near total rebuild which shook my faith in them but hearing this mixed opinion makes me think I will carry on with my current machine and just patch it up with bits to overcome the design shortcomings.
The part about the KTM was supposed to be anecdotal. I like my bikes to have a sort of 'soul' - sadly I just didn't find one in the XT660R.
I'm not fond of model specific forums because of this: Model specific boards usually end up turning into support groups where people help each other overcome, or avoid, buyer remorse and lessen the pain every month when the payment is due. On the other hand, there are people that hate a specific bike, and deem it a POS because it wasn't what they expected it to be. Those people are also not the kind of people you want to listen to when looking for advise, they are as bad as the apologists you find on the model specific boards. For example, I own a cruiser, a Vulcan 900 Classic. Do I like it? Hell no! I don't regret buying that bike, and I knew I didn't like it when I got it, but I got it for a reason. Is it a bad bike? No, it isn't, even if I'm not thrilled to ride it or how long I've tried to get rid of it, unsuccesfully, but it's pretty good at being a middle weight cruiser... And it was meant to be a middle weight cruiser and do what middle weight cruisers do. I just don't like cruisers. Too bad if you expected the XT660 to be some sort of faster, more road capable WR450, it wasn't meant to be that. It was meant to be a middle weight do it all bike, and it's pretty good at that. IMO, the bike has loads of character... for a do it all bike, even if not all of it is good (XT owners consider the crappy fueling and backfiring to be character, just as BMW owners consider the myriad of boxer issues to be part of their charm). Happily the OP got the information he was looking for, so an objective view, rather than the "it's a turd" or "it's God's gift to humanity" views, answered his questions.
My XT660 was just great as a road bike, pretty much as comfortable as any bikes I had. The only problem was off road with a touratech huge protect everything bash plate was it would get caught in ruts. If you want to shed some weight get rid of standard cans and put a high level header pipe an can extra ground clearance, less weight and better performance. Yes mine did show engine corrosion but no worse than some other makes
I had one for almost 3 years. It was an earlier model and fueling was terrible but it never had a problem. It is a good bike for short and relaxed country trips.
To be honest I let it go and decided to stick to what I have. The bike I ride is not ideal but I love it and enjoy riding it so I'm going to bite the bullet and spend out on getting up to speed. The XT felt lardy and "souless". Sorry if this offend anyone but I find Jap bikes mostly are a bit souless. The Japs are very clever at filling gaps in the market with products but their bikes feel to me like you're riding what they want you to buy. There are exceptions, I really like the 660 Tenere but it's over-priced now and still very compromised. I think, for me, the simple fact is that we have more Adventure bikes than ever before and less choice. There is no one bike out there now you could really buy and use for traveling and expect it to be good without making large changes. I think motorcycles have been compromised by delicate gadgets, poor quality control to maximise profits, flash designs to appeal to wider markets, weak and under-engineered components and too much consumer marketing controlling the basic premise. Modern bikes are not what they used to be. Wow... I sound old...
"modern bikes are not what they used to be"??????????? I realy do hope thats not also a sign of demensia setting in jtw000 Soul less Hmm,, maybe its waiting for the tails and trails and adventures to be added.... I intend on riding pushing and draging my xtr all over the country and I'll see what comes of it. Good luck with your travels........oh and do them before you do get too old. Ceya
If you can, find and read the BAM road thread,i rode an xt 10,500mls, 2,000 mls over probably the worst "road" in the world ,i think the xt is a really great bike . This year i bought and modded an xcountry but to be honest i enjoy riding the xt better. Buy one ,they,re cheap and tough as old nails.