After I sold my TT600R in 2011, I was able to buy both an 1977 XT500 and a 1997 XR400. The XR was a little tatty, but some (not too much) TLC, new oil, breakpads and greasing everything made it a nice little bike. My first trip was an XT500 club event. I had to park outside the gate... Did a Rallyweekend a few months later ... a weekend trip with camping gear in April... .... and even a german Rally (Baja300) in may... ended somewhere in the middle, (I could not figure out how to find the hidden checkpoints, even with the GPS) I advertised it for sale last December, but when the first 2 guys wanted to meet me to have a look, a week later, i got some kind of vision of an empty space in my garage and I did not want to sell it to them anymore. Most be my female side talking to me. So i still have it!
I recently bough Cyril Despres book "4 times Dakar" (okay, it is not really up to date) and discovered this picture of him in his first Dakar-rally, in 2000, on a private XR400
Had to disguise my XR to be able to join a different brand off-road trip.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Somehow I managed to avoid the whole e-start, bigger lights, big bore, pumper carby, usd forks, which diesel oil will fuck my clutch the quickest, stressing over inability to start (must be something wrong with the bike) phenomenon. Phew. Getting ready for a ride on Saturday. Fuel, check. Riding gear dirty, check. I'm done. Will post pics in a week!
Thank you!! It's a RSW Racing top triple clamp with 2" tall mounts (1.5" to 3" tall available) and the bars are Moose Flex series, Burleson bend. Close to a CR high bend but about 1.5"- 2" narrower. Barely enough room to mount everything up but I really like that bend for dual sporting. Swept enough to be comfy sitting, straight enough to work well standing and narrow enough to get through trees better than the stockers.
Had the Annual Hennorit last weekend, an XT500 club event. Lots of mud, cold and wet! XR was not noticed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Went out for a play in the muddy hills on Saturday. Bike went well. Rider, not so well. It's time to get some bike fitness back.
I'm not really all that good on ride reports, so I'll just post up some pics. These were taken in on my trip to Big Bend Nat'l Park in Aug. Out in W Texas, my 5+ gals of fuel (200-220 miles range) just barely got me to the next gas station on a couple occasions. Spent the night here. Dinner (steaks, fajitas, & Tex-Mex) and breakfast were all rolled into the price of the room. Such a bargain! Lots of desert beauty out here....