Bringing back the beast '84 XL600R

[hutin' unit200m]

hey,

I'm rebuilding a 1984 XL600R, I have alot of questions.
I picked up this bike used for $500, 90% complete and not running,somebody removed the blinks,tail light and passenger pegs.

Any body got one of these, I would love to hear about this bike from a daliy rider's point of view, I plan to do alot of trail riding and would like to know how the sproket tooth count effects the bike.

I downloaded a xr manual same engine(mostly), But I still cant fuigure out the decompression set up , please someone enlighten me, I got 2 decomp. levers on the top of the engine how do they connect to each other and the to the (??handlebars??) and dont say "a cable" I need details

another thing , there is a cam follower behind the brake pedle, what the hell does this connect to,and control ??? I plan to buy a manual, which one should I buy, I need details.

Thanks for any help or insight.I would not have been able to rebuild my trikes without this site.

[firefirefire90]

Just rode one of these the other day because I thought I was going to buy it.

They, for one, are tall bikes. Don't know how well they would do on tight trails. They are geared pretty low. This one only topped out at like 74mph. Really cool bike though. Not much on the looks(didn't notice passenger pegs) but hey, for 500 bucks you can't go wrong..

[hutin' unit200m]

Hey fire thanks for the reply, I'm 6'2" so the height is perfect for me and at about 230 lbs the bike should be able to buck me off in all gears( i hope)

I think I have somewhat fuigured out this decompression thing,
I think one of the decomression levers hooks to this cam follower thingy right beside the kicker??? and the other one hooks to a third lever on the handlebars??? can anybody verify???

[Kilborg]

I'm 5'7 170lbs....Not a big guy by any means but im strong enough to throw the big bike around. It IS tall and heavy, but you get used to it. 2 weeks after riding my xr600 daily when i first bought it and im in better riding condition then i have been in my entire life, and that includes before my shoulder surgery.


My bike has stock gearing. Outside of flying down the highway (I would estimate this thing tops out around 80), the bike has perfect gearing for all situations I have encountered. Be it steep hill climbs or just grabbing a gear to get some more speed for that rhythm section ahead, the gearing seems very well placed and the engine has a fat enough powerband where you dont have to spend too much time worrying about what gear your in.

A real shop manual is a good idea. You will probably keep the bike a long time. I know mine has earned a place in the garage for atleast 10 years.

Any other questions feel free to ask and I'll try to help out.

[hutin' unit200m]

I cant wait to drive this monster, compared to what im used to.

I started driving a 1984 rm 125 ,and it had a peppy little powerband in super high revs. My first love is the smell of two-stroke

then I went to the atc200's ,l'il torque monsters,but a little overweight.
but at least its not a golf cart like all these sissys drive around here

yup, real men drive dirt bikes, yup

......so borg does your xr got the same decompression set up as mine ?
how is it all laid out?

[Kilborg]

125's are pretty uninspiring. The 600 is no racebike but it will keep you happy for awile. Its not a horsepower monster, but you have a sense of unlimited torque. It will suprise you.

Dont bash on the golf cart sissies too much...I did for years and I'm on a badass 450r quad right now. Then again, I'v always been one to keep my riding skills up on everything.

Should be the same decomp setup. Its hard to explain, but you got 1 cable going from the kickstarter area up to the topend. This tees off to the decomp lever cable, and the decomp unit on the head itself. The shop manual will have the specifics here...and actually most of the "well worn" big xr's i have ever seen had the decomp system done away with.

Keep the decomp system on. Even with the perfect kicking technique the big XR can and will kickback and not start for a good while...thats the nature of an aircooled bigbore single.

as for real men driving dirtbikes....I ride my 600 more then anything else in the garage if that says anything. Im debating on just buying a new crf450x or trading in the trx450er on a 450x. Ill probably end up keeping the quad...I do enjoy having the best of all worlds.

[darrel632]

make certian you have your cam chain adjusted and do your valve gap every oil change, that 600 is notorious for tossing a broken cam chain through the works or sucking a valve. beyond that replace the cam chain every 15,00 k and have fun, I never use the handle bar decomp. by the way at 5 10 185 the kick decomp is more than adequate