I bought the 2009 XT660Z in mid 2010, i was in England for a few days got to see the bike for about 5 minutes based on the agreement that they would hold the bike for me until i needed it shipped to Ushuaia Argentina in early 2011, it had 12,000 miles on the clock already it looked like this... as i didn't get to go over the bike i rode it exactly as you see it for 38,000 miles it had a a few mods done and it saw me thru the mileage, there is a ride report here of that ride http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=668901 once i was finished it was time to strip the bike and do some modifications and upgrades before i carry on riding here are a few shots from the trip... so after all of THAT its time for some work.... twin wall bars - DONE heavy duty risers - DONE dual gps set up - DONE high out put spot lamps - DONE front turn signal relocation - DONE crash bars - DONE barkbusters - DONE exhaust front suspension rear suspension side stand foot enlarger center stand foot enlargers chain guard cush drive kev fuel mod new swingarm swingarm bearings new hard luggage chain roller chain and sprockets quick fuel disconnect valve adjustment brake and clutch levers ...and probably a few more things - need to get this list done first!!! time to get dirty
Very interested in seeing this done by a professional who also happens to have a ton of seat time on the subject!
Here we go, the cockpit... i did riser and bar upgrades...the stock risers are made, from one piece, this is good in some ways but not in others...if you are in the middle of nowhere and you have an off and one or both get snapped you are stranded, period. Some small villages/town might have only one drill, and chances of them having the right size tap to fix it...unlikely so i changed to some heavy duty risers that use a thru bolt design, for less that $50 its a good swap, same height as the stock ones, but i got 1 1/8 so i can fit Renthal twin wall RC922 bars, about 30mm higher than stock but the stock wiring and cables still fit along with this i added new barkbusters hand guards, after a good off in Argentina and another in Bolivia the old ones were done! New levers $41 inc. shipping - they are a perfect fit, no cutting or filing required like some had people that i know tried to fit. I ordered black with red adjusters and the shorty version the ebay link is for US ebay but they say they ship worldwide http://www.ebay.com/itm/17069429780...=ADME:X:AAQ:MOTORS:1123&vxp=mtr#ht_6597wt_960 these are the parts you need as they don't specifically stock for the XTZ Suzuki - GSXR 600 1997 - 2003 Clutch Yamaha - FJR 1300 2004 - 2008 Brake once i sent them this info they sent me a money request via paypal, it took about ten days to get them once i got them about 3-5 minutes to fit, brake side just becareful the piston rod in the master cylinder come out its on a spring, on the clutch side, reduce the pressure on the bar adjuster and fit, readjust clutch back to spec...easy ...and this is what they looked like lots more to come...
Great info man! I have found the same issue with one piece handlebar holders... please give more info about the risers you bought, any link? Can I fit original handlebar on it? I already have risers from off the road for original 22 mm handlebar, also rised it for 30 mm and it works great. Kepp it comin...
first rule of Adventure riding...don't ride at night! Besides the fact its dark so you can't see anything...in the undevloped world there are lots of dangers on the road be it dirt or black top, animals, cars with no light, road debris, potholes, kids etc, etc the XT has a good looking light that works well in low beam but on hi beam not so good...time for lighting upgrade i added 3600 lumens each spot lights from ADVmonster link to these lights is here...and BTW if you get these DO NOT look directly into them, they have the potential to damage your eye sight!!! these photos were take at 125th of a second for a comparison before - standard HI beam after just spot lamps i built a separate wiring harness which included a relay and a waterproof switch, the switch for them is below the speedo if you know the bike or looked at the older photos you will notice the spot lights are where the turn signals used to be, i moved the turn signals into the area where the running lights were, as the low beam is on all the time anyhow. if you do this make sure you have a quick disconnect on the spot lamps. If for some reason you have to take off those panels you don't want to have to cut the wire, i use deutsch connectors that are waterproof. so take the wiring from the side lights and turn signals and simply swap there locations...easy. Two connections per light. You will need new orange bulbs, they are part number 194NA and cost $2 per pair i added new crash bars from SW Motech, LINK the stock ones had a broken tab, even though one of my trades is welding i didn't want to fix them because they block the access on the left side of the motor to cover for the crank, so when doing a valve clearance adjustment you have to remove the crash bars!!! Great design Yamaha, or was it on purpose so the dealer can make more money to stop people doing their own adjustments? still lots more to come...
Nice mods! Which model of tyre are you using? What about the 12v plug? Great job, I can only envy you with this milage around Americas...
there are more to come... tires, i used conti trail attack when i knew i was doing about 80% road riding, i got over 10,000 miles on the rear and 20,000 on the front, when i switched to dirt i used TKC80, the best i could get from a rear was almost 5000. I did a tire swap in Newfoundland and the only tire they had was Kenda k270, the rear on the bike is the one i got, it has more tread on it still after 6000 miles than a TKC80... 12 volt, its a touratech unit, two minute install, it has an inline fuse, but i add a 4 in one charger if i need to do any additional charging when i am riding, it plus to that and has 3 12 volts plugs and a USB, i'll add a photo for you
this is the unit i take along $1 on ebay!!! no great loss if it get broken...obviously not for use for anything that generates heat
I did a tear down of the complete rear end to do a rear shock upgrade from the stock Sachs shock to a custom built Ohlins unit FA817...the difference from stock Ohlins was i got them to replace there standard spring with an upgraded unit and do some testing on the bottom mount and have everything set to be able to carry the weight of a RTW rider and all his luggage the shocks... i also did a front end spring upgrade to Hyperpro progressive springs but forgot to take photos when i did the swap, sorry about that before i do the swingarm write up and show how its done have a look at this, this is my front sprocket that i changed, this one has 35,000 miles on it... so the new swingarm arrived very early so i have time to do a swap before the bike goes off to a show in a couple of weeks the new one on the left and the old one on the right with the crazy damage i ordered new needle bearings, spacers and seals to do a complete refit these are the main set for the swingarm pivot as i doubt any off you took your bike apart before riding it, this is what the needle bearing look new i asked the dealership if they would put the bearings in for me, they quoted 75 pounds and told me it would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours!!!! Having owned a motorcycle shop i know it doesn't take anywhere near that, i think they were trying to get some money back for selling me the swingarm so cheap so here it is, using a hydraulic press take measurement as you go along so the bearings are in the same location and there is enough space for the seal there is a lot of space in the swingarm for additional grease to be in there, so again make sure the bearings are in the right place with measurements the whole job of putting all the bearings, spacers and seals in a new swingarm took me about SEVEN minutes and just for reference i use Timkin premium hi temp red bearing grease to do a swingarm removal take out the rear wheel, i put zip ties over the sprocket to the spokes so keep it all together for an easy refit later, i have the cush drive rubber mod and it want to spring apart, this stops that happening i this in my tool kit, if there is a problem getting the pivot bolt out this fits in the open end and it long enough to hold everything in place when putting it back together as well get anything out of the way that is in the way!!! brake caliper and rubber protection undo the lower dog bone bolt and remove it once this is taken out then remove the pivot bolt and the swing arm can be removed, chain does not need to be take off. ...continued in next post
You think the swingarm could last, and not worn out, if you would change plastic chainguide when it was worn out? Did you had any issues with rear sprocket hub freeplay in the wheelbearings? Did you have to change it alot? What about rear hub rubber? I found these parts are weak point on Tenere. By now (18 000 kilometres I already changed several whealbearings in rear sprocket hub. I had changed (in warranty) rear hub, because bearing socket got too much freeplay. And I had changed the sprocket hub rubbers. Now at 18 000 km I will soon have to change rubber and bearings again. ( But I do qiute some offroading)
So, are you a Pom or American? If you are not a Pom, how did you get around buying the bike in England? Did you have to get Insurance, Tax, MOT etc Cheers Trev.
when i got the bike it had 12,000 miles on it, i have done a mod on the rubbers adding inner tube to tighten it back up but the same rubbers for the last 38,000 miles the reason that the swingarm had an issue was bad quality chains in south america, that were made for smaller bikes but were all that was available, there were no O rings to be found, the chain ate thru the slider as well, so on the new swingarm i made new sliders out of a high density delrin that we use in the shop where i work to counter act this happening again. no bearing issues, i am carrying spares but will only change when i need to, you might want to look uto higher quality bearings, google allballsracing for them
Dual citizenship, UK/US, bike is registered at family in UK, i did a export on the V5 so not responsible for tax and mot, i can change that back whenever i get to the UK, i have it insured thru my carrier in the US, considering changing it to a US reg so on the RTW when i am in Europe i don't have to pay high fees for the UK, basically playing the system!!!