1987 Honda XL-600R
In 2005, I had a 1990 CR500R, and a 2004 Yamaha Roadstar Warrior. This was a pretty good combination, as it let me blast all over hell and gone in either venue. The only problem was all the trails.
I kept seeing these inviting trail heads on the side of the road while riding the Roadstar.
It slowly dawned on me that I needed a dual sport bike.
I had just gotten rid of my '03 Suzuki DRZ400SE to get the Warrior. What the hell was wrong? How come I couldn't be satisfied?
I really was enjoying the Roadstar Warrior, and was not ready to sell it to finance another dual sport, and besides, at that time, the best dual sport I was aware of was the still unchanged DRZ400. Been there, done that. It was useless on the street, with it's narrow 5 speed transmission, and horribly uncomfortable seat. If only someone would make a six speed...
I had no choice. I remembered fondly the XL-600R I had had in college. Why not see if I could find one of these for a give away price and use it to fill the niche between the other two bikes? Sounded good. Off to Craigslist.
In no time at all I found the perfect bike. $400 over in Ellensburg. Done and done. We met in the Safeway parking lot in Cle Elum, and it was soon mine.
It burned oil. Lots of oil. I had a mechanic pal go over it, re-hone and re-ring it (bore was true), but it never stopped burning oil. I couldn't get the rings to seat. Maybe it was the synthetic oil I had used during the initial break in...Hmmm. Lesson learned.
It was a fun bike. Very easy starter, even cold. Much unlike the earlier 600 I had had. This bike was a second kick starter, even cold. It handled sufficiently in the off road trails I took it on. Best of all it was fun...and comfortable on the road! Nice.
Then it happened, one day while driving along with the family, I saw a 2006 Husqvarna TE450.
Sold the Roadstar.
Sold the CR.
and sold the XL600R for $800, which was just a little over what I had into it.
Bought a Husqvarna TE510.
Now I have one bike, and those pesky trails have all been explored!
Two pics I used to sell it on Craigslist. Remember seeing it? Yeah, that was me!
It was pretty clean. I would have liked it more if the rings had ever seated. I never even got around to replacing the fork seals. I bought new ones, and handed them over to the new owner when I sold it. I hate changing fork seals.