Dual-Sporting an Off-Road Motorcycle: 1994 Honda XR650L

Here's another one of my bikes. It's a '94 Honda XR650L. I had always had a low opinion of these beasts until I decided I wanted one. My '99 Yamaha WR400 was taking a beating on the long adventure rides we do from time to time with Dixie Dual Sport. I needed something that was dirt worthy but could handle extended miles on pavement and not need so much maintenance.

The picture above was taken right before I bought it. I got the bike used on December 30, 2007 with 9400 miles on it and I was instantly disappointed in the power it had. The thing was a complete dog. It needed work. At this point in mid-summer 2008, it still does. But the changes I've made have had an enormous difference in it's fuel economy, range, rideability, comfort and practicality. The bike was a mess. From a distance it looked clean. Up close there was years of gunk built up in places and it took powerful cleaning solvents to make it shine. But it shines now.

My first ride on it took me through the Ocala National Forest where I almost ran out of gas at 60 miles on the trip odometer. I got lucky and some quad riders gave me some gas and it was enough to get me to a station. I averaged just over 30 mpg. The bike hits reserve at 2 gallons with 0.6 left so at 30 mpg, that doesn't leave much room for error.
New tank- check.
Chain and sprockets were shot. New set- check.
Tires were bald. New set- check.
The stock handlebars sit in your lap. New bars - check.
The forks were pretty floppy. Fork stabilizer- check.
Footpegs were like little nubs. New footpegs- check.

I read up on Thumpertalk about something called "Dave's Mods". To try to get some more power out of it, you modify the fuel screw so it's adjustable, re-jet and drill the slide. It was marginally better. What's really helped was opening up the airbox. I took out the snorkel and used a utility knife to remove pretty much the whole top of the airbox. Ran much better, but fuel economy was still crap and it had, well, let's call them "issues". At full throttle in fifth gear it would start bucking and cutting out. No jet changes seemed to help. I just resigned myself to living with it and use the bigger tank to make up for inadequacies. We men are good at that.

By the time I posted this, it has almost 11,500 miles on the odo- just over 2000 mile since January 1. I have changed the oil twice, replaced the fork oil and put on Seal Savers to replace the deteriorated fork boots, and got the mods above.

Just last week, I did the best thing I could have done to make the bike more rideable and fun.. I replaced the stock carb with a Keihin FCR 39 flatslide pumper carb. Jetting was almost identical to the jetting it came with as a stock WR400 carb. DTM needle, 42 pilot and 150 main. The thing flat out hauls now. No flat spots or bucking. It just accelerates from bottom to top cleanly in each gear and without issue. Idle is much smoother and it starts like a charm. To top that off, it now gets 41 mpg. With the 4.7 gallon Clarke tank, that's 189 miles max range. Pretty good for a dirt bike.

To make the bike more practical, I added a rear cargo rack and a top box. For those long adventure rides (and commuting) this luggage is indispensable.

Now, what's left to do? Top end and timing chain/tensioner. I'll be replacing the rings and valve guide seals to maybe get a bit more compression and maybe use a little less oil. The engine rattles coming off the throttle and it sounds like a loose cam chain to me. That should be it if I'm lucky. After that, it should be a reliable steed with many years of service ahead of it. Even though it's already 15 years old.

Here it is, ready to go anyhwere: