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yojuan

New member intro from SD

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I started riding motorcycles in the late 70s in my early teens. Raced motocross for a few years until I got bored of going around a track, then I discovered a motorcycle can take you far away from home pretty fast! I guess adventure riding in those days was just called riding your motorcycle ;) I have explored a lot of San Diego county bikepacking on my mountain bike, hoping to see a lot more on a dual sport. My riding style has definitely changed, I'm a lot more aware of my mortality now! I'll leave the rough stuff to the youngsters, I'm perfectly happy to cruise the fire roads & jeep trails now.

I'm a big Honda fan, but have strayed to the blue & green bikes in the past. In fact I just finished restoring a somewhat classic 1992 Yamaha XJ600S Seca II. Sadly I do not have a dual sport currently, but I'm looking around for a XR650L. Right now I'm in the process of clearing out the garage as I have 3 motorcycles in there, too many bicycles and other equipment intensive hobbies. In fact it has been decreed that I'm NOT buying another motorcycle before I clean up. I enjoy restoring/fixing up motorcycles as much as riding them, if anyone has a junky / non-running XR650L laying around that needs to be rescued, let me know!

My restored Seca II on Mesa Grande:

R4Okutll.jpg

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Nice bike.  Welcome to the group, see ya on the trail.

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My brother in law has a 2013 XR650L with about 1700 miles on it that he would like to sell.  Bought it new and just decided it wasn't for him.  PM me if your interested; located in Escondido.

Welcome to the page!

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1 hour ago, Uncle Champ said:

Stuff for sale, hmmmmmm

Welcome, are you sure you want a big ol L?

My first choice would be still be a XR650R, but I'd prefer something street legal that I actually can register in CA! I may look at a DRZ400S/KLX400, the venerable DR650 or even KTM 640 Adventure. Basically anything capable of riding asphalt to the dirt, my trailering days are over.

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Just an update, sold the old restored Yamaha Seca the day after I listed it! Guess my price was too low.

A few days later I tracked down a 2007 XR650L that needed some work for a bargain, exactly what I was looking for. It already has a Clarke 4.7g tank and a Supertrapp IDS2 muffler installed, so I don't need to spend money there. It has already been desmogged and the PO already did "Dave's Carb Mods" correctly (I confirmed). I'm in the process of replacing the clutch, tires, sprockets, chain, sliders and cleaning everything right now. Should have it running in the next week or two.

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Sounds good, now we’ll really see ya on the trail! 

Check out the ride coming up on October 14h.

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17 hours ago, yojuan said:

Just an update, sold the old restored Yamaha Seca the day after I listed it! Guess my price was too low.

A few days later I tracked down a 2007 XR650L that needed some work for a bargain, exactly what I was looking for. It already has a Clarke 4.7g tank and a Supertrapp IDS2 muffler installed, so I don't need to spend money there. It has already been desmogged and the PO already did "Dave's Carb Mods" correctly (I confirmed). I'm in the process of replacing the clutch, tires, sprockets, chain, sliders and cleaning everything right now. Should have it running in the next week or two.

Welcome!

Nice job on the bikes :good:

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Just an update, got most of the work done that I needed to do to get the XRL running.

Tc0X8Yol.jpg

Bike runs really well, only issue is a slight sputtering at WOT which I have to debug. I took a few disks out of the Supertrapp, so it may be running too rich. Turns out I have a Clarke 4.0 gallon tank, not the 4.7. The two bolts at the lower front where the braces attach are seized into the insert, so the inserts just spins when you try to remove the bolt. Have to figure out a solution. 

I got caught up on most of the neglected maintenance items, but still have to check the valves and would like to do a compression test (although it's kinda late for that). Before I head out on the trails I intend to install hand guards and take care of a few other non-essential cosmetics.

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Sometimes you can put a screwdriver or putty knife behind the braces to hold a bit of pressure against the bolt head while you use a drill or impact driver to spin out the bolts.  After you get it removed, you can use epoxy or something like that to hold the insert.  Plenty of how-to videos online.

Suggest a skid plate as well.  Valve check is really easy on the air cooled Honda engines, gotta love that!

 

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2 minutes ago, tntmo said:

Sometimes you can put a screwdriver or putty knife behind the braces to hold a bit of pressure against the bolt head while you use a drill or impact driver to spin out the bolts.  After you get it removed, you can use epoxy or something like that to hold the insert.  Plenty of how-to videos online.

Suggest a skid plate as well.  Valve check is really easy on the air cooled Honda engines, gotta love that!

I'll give that method a try. I've also read on the forums spinning the insert for a minute or two to soften the plastic then pulling it out & using epoxy to re-insert. May need to have a spare tank before I try that though!

I have a skid plate fortunately, bolted it on after the picture. I grew up in a motorcycle workshop, the techs made me do valve checks on the old CBX1000 because they hated to - 24 shims! Took me hours, my '83 XR500R was very simple compared to that bike.

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I've heard the same thing about spinning it to melt the plastic but never tried it.  

People on the forums bitch about checking and adjusting the valves on the Super Tenere, it's a two cylinder bike!  Yeah, it's not simple but it's also not difficult.  Can't beat screw/locknut adjusters though.  

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Very nice!  I took the "buddy strap" off of my seat early on; did weird things to my butt after a while......

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2 hours ago, simicrintz said:

Very nice!  I took the "buddy strap" off of my seat early on; did weird things to my butt after a while......

That's the plan, but first I have to repair the mounting holes on the seat pan which the PO somehow destroyed. Strap's the only thing holding the seat on right now ;)

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