HMarc's '93 XR650L

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I was looking for a Honda XR650L to modify into a better dirtbike at the expense of street riding, yet keep it 100% street legal. This model Honda, which is air-cooled, is quite low-tech and simple to maintain. Couple that with the facts that there are Honda dealers everywhere (even in remote towns in Baja, Mexico — even if they are Honda outboard dealers), and that they are a very common model in production for over a dozen years, means parts are easy to get and every semi-competent motorcycle mechanic can fix one.

Then and Now

The next two photos show the bike as it was when I bought it in Jan-06 and what it looks like now (May-09).

I bought the bike from a friend who was the original owner for a very good price with 19k miles on the odometer. It had been used primarily as a commuter, and needed a bit of work. In particular, the steering bearings were badly notched, and the fork fluid volume was 1/2 what it should have been, and was pretty scary looking. A new set of bearings, a good flush, and refilling with the proper amount of fresh fork oil returned the front-end to good condition.

The bike came with the XRs-Only head mods (extra big fins welded on to help with cooling on hot days, or when there isn't enough airflow), the FMF pipe, and some front fork and rear disk protectors, and the 4.7 gallon Clarke tank.

The mods I've done to it include:

Removing the passenger pegs, rear tail light assembly, stock turn signals, reflectors, fork guards and most of the other little bits it didn't need. Filled an apple crate with stuff I took off.
I re-tuned the suspension for me, as I'm a fair bit lighter than the original owner.
Replaced the stock footpegs with some big fat dirtbike-style pegs.
Cut the stock seat down by an inch or two, and had it recovered in black.
Replaced the bars with Renthals, plus new grips.
Added a Scotts Steering damper.
Added Acerbis rally guards with integrated turn signals.
Painted the side panels semi-gloss black.
Built a small luggage rack to hold a Wolfman Tailbag, bolted the license plate directly to the fender. Added mini-turn signals to the luggage rack.
Mounted a Garmin 276C GPS via a TouraTech locking mount.
Mounted a spare inner tube above the front tire.

I've now got 23k miles on it, and just recently (as Premium reaches $4/gal. in Spokane) found that it is quite a fun bike for short runs into town. The fact that it gets better than 3x the miles per gallon that my pickup does just adds to the pleasure!

The dash, showing the Scotts steering damper, the Renthal bas, the Garmin 276C GPS & Touratech locking mount and the Acerbis rally guards (w/integrated turn signals). I know, the tank looks pretty crappy — I called Clarke and they told me it couldn't be painted, but they'd sell me a red one for about $150. My wife thinks I should spring for it. I dunno, I kinda like the "well used" look...

My favorite shot of the bike

This was an intermediate stage between the original bike and it's current state of modification. The shot was taken in SE Oregon, at about 4,200' on the road that runs north/south on the west side of the Alvord desert. Those are the Steens Mt.s (9,733') in the background. Little known fact: the Steens Mt.s are really a single mountain, rather than a mountain range as the name would suggest. They were originally called the "Snowy Mountains" during early fur trade, but in 1860 were was renamed after Enoch Steen (a Major in the US Army).