Added an XT225 to the stable! Now what?

Added this guy to the stable today, I glanced through the XT225 thread, but what are some of the "must-haves" for this bike?

Gonna use it as an all-arounder to replace the BMW except for long trips on slab. Hopefully plenty of dirt in its future. Taken it around the block a few times so far and it's a blast! (Plus, insurance on it was only $22 a year!)

Just ride it,see what you need,every body does different stuff with em. Great commuter bike and backwoods bike as well.

If you going to use it on the street and off road, get some good tires.Look around, lots of tire choices.

Looks like shinkos are on there. Good tires. A good time is had with upgraded suspension. Gold valve emulators, springs front and rear are solo nice.

Needs more mud on it.

I use Cheng Shin tires and get about 10,000 miles out of them. Most people don't like them, but they work fine for me on and off road. I have the 4mm thick "monster tubes" in them.

The main upgrades I made to mine are a Clarke 4 gallon gas tank, an Immix Racing rear rack, a kickstarter, and a Cigar Mike centerstand. I don't know if he is still making them or not, but they take any worry out of having a flat tire. I also have a Works Performance rear shock (I weigh 220) and Progressive front springs. These changes raised both ends of the bike about an inch, but the nice thing about it now is it doesn't use up all the suspension travel just from sitting on it. Feels almost as high as a 650. There are also little things you can get that make it a better bike, like a carb mount choke and wider footpegs. Check Procycle and XT225.com. You can also do the Z1 exhaust mod, I bought a Z1 modded pipe on a parts bike and installed it, it is noisier, sounds like a real dirt bike, but I did not notice any extra power. I did have to go up one size on the main and pilot jets, and turn the pilot screw out about 2 1/2 turns.

Hi Domino Tree,

come and take a look at

www.xt225.com and start enjoying yourself.

Regards

Reggie

Go to this thread http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178968&highlight=xt225 read it in it's 500+ page entirety, report back.

Tme well spent.

Good luck with your new bike!

Thanks for all the links, I've got a shopping list coming together now

Looks like Cigar Mike's out of the game, so no centerstand. That would've been really cool to have.

Been riding all morning, and the XT225 is a lot more "agreeable" than the BMW. This thing is *so* much fun! As a little guy (5'8, 135lbs), it seems like I have to fight a bit with the BMW, whereas the XT225 tells me "You know, you could be going about 25mph faster through this turn right now, and you could lean over a few more degrees if you wanted..."

I think the first thing I'm gonna do will be get a 14 tooth and 16 tooth front sprocket. I can put the 16 tooth on there if I'm gonna be doing a lot of higher-speed stuff, the 14 will work if I'm doing mostly dirt, and the 15 it came with will be what's on there most of the time. The 15 seems pretty good all-around, although I would mainly like to drop the RPMs down some at freeway speeds.

The old adage holds true; it's a lot more fun to go fast on a slow bike than to go slow on a fast bike!

The 16 tooth is not going to work. The bike can't pull it effectively.

Hmm, ProCycle actually speaks pretty highly of putting a 16 toother on there. With the 15, would it be "safe" to do any real freeway duty at 60mph? I'm not averse to running a motor at high RPMs, but it seems like it might be harder on the motor of a small thumper.

Edit: I just found a chart that says at 60mph it's gonna be doing about 6200RPM, with a redline of 8500RPM. That doesn't seem so bad. Probably gonna drink some oil though.

The 16T sprocket will reduce RPM's but won't increase top speed because of lack of horsepower of the bike. I put a 14T on mine and top speed is the same as it was with the stock 15T.

>"...What to do with an XT225...?"

Re-jet the carb. This makes a lot of difference.
Add a 4 gallon Clarke tank.
Seat Concepts Seat.
Rear rack.
Good for a long-ways then.

Later on you can trim or remove the snorkel and drill the pipe. Given your small size, the stock
suspension will probably work ok for you.

After re-jetting, the stock-geared XT225 easily does 65 on the highway... as long as it's not a big uphill!

You'll have loads of fun on the smaller bike...as your already finding out!.On the TW200's folks usually put larger foot-pegs....unknown on the XT's OEM peg's?.

Hey domino,
Congrats on the new mount. I too utilize a XT225 for commuter and fire road use with a little singletrack thrown in. Some mods I have done are:Cycra Probend bark busters, pro-moto cargo rack, weld-on foot peg extensions (a must), corbin seat in basketweave, Race Tech emulator valves (2.5 turns) and fork springs with spacer, works performance shock w/ 9 clicks of preload, K&N procharger Filter, FMF powercore 4 (Loud, almost obnoxious but pulls good right out of gate), looking for a quiet core insert for that, rejetted carb, after monkeying around with jetting found 130 main, 42.5 pilot and 1 shim on needle, and 3 turns on the pilot screw, and 16T countershaft sprocket. Contrary to above poster the 16T works great for street use with Shinko 705 treads, otherwise I run Dunlop 606s, Bike wants to shift to 6th at 55mph. Good to keep a 14T in the bag for offroad fun. Biggest complaint is range however easily rectified with clarke tank. With the 2.3 I am looking for petrol @ 100mls. Has anyone figured out how to maintain stock appearance with the clarke? I hope this gives you some ideas to research and enjoy.

Yeah the pegs are definitely tiny on this thing. Already got the Happy Trails rear rack and soft-luggage side racks, so I'm good there.

As long as I can keep up with traffic on the freeway (~60-65mph) I'm a happy camper. The suspension seems a *little* soft to me, but it's not bad. Something to think about later.

And that Clarke tank is getting ordered in short order!

I guess it's just mainly "ride more and figure out what I want" at this point!

>"Yeah the pegs are definitely tiny on this thing."

I bought some extended foot pegs... I think from DMO.
Fit nicely and are way better than stock. There are other brands available out there too.

http://www.dmospecialties.com/

>"And that Clarke tank is getting ordered in short order!"

Keep an eye on the Clark gascap. Mine started to split after a couple years.
Bought an aluminum 'billet' one from Tusk to replace it.

congrat on the bike,

I am also 5'8" and WAS 145 lbs so I am thinking you are skinny! any way, ride and you will learn what it is a must for YOU. I have a KLR and have ridden that for 7 years now and I think I am done with mods except for a new seat that now I need because stock is not working for me anymore (some people say they can not stand it for more than 30 minutes, I can do it for over 5 hrs just fine)

I was going to put the link to HT but you already now, here is one more link fron Turbo City maybe you will need the skid plate
http://www.turbocity.com/default.php?cPath=69_85

Have fun!

Damasovi

Clarke tank and 16 tooth sprocket are on the way! I figure I'll try out the sprocket, and if it doesn't work for me, I'm only out $15. Ordered the "natural" finish Clarke tank so I can see through it. Who needs a fuel gauge?