EDC Yamaha XT660Z Ténéré: Moto travel/prep' tips that work for me.

[WIBO]

Due to photo bucket culling the hosting of images....if you connect with Firefox after adding a 'view photo bucket embedded images' extension...you'll be able to see the images.




The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil as written in this 'Travel' section.

Over the years I,like all of us, have honed our riding equipment and motos to work for us rather than against us ...usually. It's an ongoing process as ideas and tips....for me anyway.

Other riders will be familiar with ideas/products and some not.



In no particular order.......








I have taken tips/research from others to make my riding easier so I'm passing on the very same and more.

I thought I'd share what works for me relative to my moto and others can take from it what is applicable to them, if anything. There should be an easy cross over of ideas that will work with other makes of moto I'd say.

I hope any new riders to our discipline can find tips and tricks to help them remain within said discipline.

My riding usually consists of road work and trails so I usually ride with the choice of being able to hotel it or camp it as I see fit.

I'll mention what small things I've done to my moto first then move on to other stuff.

I ride with simple tools/parts to effect repairs relative to what can actually stop my moto from working.....a broken chain....a collapsed bearing...a regulator...cables...levers...instant gasket......JB weld....nuts and bolts etc.


I ride with the minimum kit/weight as;

1. I will be lifting my moto when I drop it.
2. Less packing time and flaffing about wondering where what is.
3. I will be lifting my moto when I drop it.


Before any long, long ride I replace brake pads if they're close to wear limit,so they are out of the equation. Same with a chain kit.....same with oil and a filter change......same with a clean air filter.....I keep the older pads to reinstall upon my return for local use.

If my moto breaks down and I haven't the simple wear items covered then its my fault.....anything major,then it's just bad luck that I could never have covered..I can't beat myself up about it.




Back in the day.

My new to me moto with 3500kms after four years from one mature owner...an XT660Z

He installed Leo Vince end cans and Acerbis handguards. My successor to my XR650. I change the oil/filter every +/- 5000kms with 10W50 fully synthetic oil.




I ride with hard luggage as I ride Europe more than off roading. If my off road riding was 50/50 I'd have soft luggage.


These tips can be pretty much applied to all adventure motos to a certain degree.


High front mudguard was fitted as mud will pack up under the standard low guard if there's no decent space between it and the tyre. This can block the wheel from turning in muddy going resulting in a get off.







First I removed the standard towing loop on the lower triple clamp...more on that later.

The rear of the aftermarket guard from Polisport,will touch the radiator so a packing washer is used to give it room. I use the washers one finds from a child's BMX/MTB brake block mount.








Where the silly Yamaha tool kit lives under the seat and into the tank I coiled up a moto tie down strap in case I or others have a break down. This type of strap will have a hook at each end and is ideal for towing another moto. The ratchet type tie downs are to light and fragile for this task IMO.

When towing I tow from my right foot peg to the left foot peg of the stricken moto. This means that I have line of sight with my mirror for traffic to my rear and the other rider still has access to his back brake. If towing via handlebar then the rider is always fighting against the force of turning and starting off at junctions. This system works off road too.











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[Andi_Archer]

Yep the towing trick peg to peg does work I rode on a broken down towed vehicle last Summer.The one problem of having the line so low though is that it can snag on the towing vehicles rear tyre when turning left unless they are taken with care.The towed bike needs to move way over to the right of the front bike to allow clearance on the tow rope.

[Mike54]

In the UK if you tow from your right peg to the broken bike's left peg, it means the duff bike is sitting out in traffic, to the outside of the running bike. Not a great idea. Far safer to do it the other way around i.e. left peg of running bike to right peg of broken bike.

[Andi_Archer]

Yes but you do then have the problem of the rear brake being unusable.I found that provided I stayed out enough for the rope to be straight when not turning and the lead stayed bike in, I was no further out that the outside edge of a car.

[WIBO]

In the UK if you tow from your right peg to the broken bike's left peg, it means the duff bike is sitting out in traffic, to the outside of the running bike. Not a great idea. Far safer to do it the other way around i.e. left peg of running bike to right peg of broken bike.

If you live in the UK you could think about inverting it..........but ........you can stay in your lane as you're only two bikes wide really......you need a rear brake to keep it safer IMO...think of having only a front brake available at oily traffic lights or at roundabouts etc.






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[WIBO]

I changed over levers for cheap CNC adjustable shorties which work just fine. I use the originals for spares. I have 70,000kms on them now.




I bought a better tip for the brake pedal as I found my boot would slip off when scorching the twisties here. Not so much grip with the standard one. When I can be bothered I'll cut and weld it so that it sits lower.







The water pimp is exposed to damage if dropped so I bought a rudimentary guard. The Yamaha engine guard bars are good in that they cover the pump very well from damage. If I can pick up a second hand set that would be better. The problem with this guard is that in a big impact it'll just teat the bolt mountings off too. Better than nothing though IMO.




Lower water hose is exposed so I just wrapped other material around it until I was able to find another wider,thicker water hose from a 4x4.










I changed my grips to motocross grips as I found the standard grips too hard. I also have a simple cruise control fitted.

I can stretch out my right arm and wrist...on autoroutes you can ride for a longer time with your left hand. Really handy.











I use a chain with a split link and with this in mind I carry a short length of chain and two links in reserve along with a chain breaker should I have a break. Clips dobbed with Tipex mean that if they ping away they'll be more easily found.






Speaking of Tipex...a dab of same on bolt heads means whilst you've stopped for a break and a chat you can glance down and see if any bolts have loosened off.










Speaking of wheels....zip tys at spoke crossovers will assist in stopping a broken spoke getting caught on a disc etc.










Spare throttle cable with a zip ty against the exisiting.






Clutch cable against the original too..... Duct tape to close the end from dust/water etc. I have benefited from this tip whilst in the middle of nowhere on one occasion ....5 or so minutes later back on my way.


















Double charger on the XT fits well here.








Some zip ty's stashed here on each fork leg means you can access them quickly without delving into any tool bag etc.






A hole drilled on the filler neck gives the XT another litre of fuel. It fills faster too with no air locks,wheezing or bubbling. That makes 24 in total. Use grease on the drill bit to catch any plastic swarf.






Some spare hose clips stashed here. Different sizes to include fuel line sizes(Once,joined together and along with wire,they were able to hold a BMW 1200 GS sump guard back on that had been torn off after a dry river bed crossing. GS owners should take note as the sump guard is just held on by rubber bushings,directly onto the sump due to no under engine frame to provide fixation or support.)









Standard gear lever works OK but as I needed a spare I bought a second hand one of the Touratwat ones.





Look!...they even have the shaft drilled to save weight on my big,goofy,heavy trail bike. I'm glad I saved those 100grams.









Cheap foot pegs have taken a good few hits over the years. Far better than the standard thin goofy ones.








Air filter breather on the XT hangs low,leaving it exposed to having the rubber bung ripped off if off roading properly..this will mean direct dirty air flow into the cylinder. I cut it short.







Over a few days and with sustained speed riding this drain hose will fill with engine oil. Normal easy touring will see hardly any fill the tube. You can buy an improved oil catcher,from Yamaha,at the base of the cylinder head to stop this.

I keep mine as is as and I use a small hotel shampoo bottle,kept in my handlebar bag,to drain the oil into and this then goes into my chain oiler. Half a cup of oil over a few thousand kms will not matter to the engine.



Air spoiler to try and sort out the wind buffering. Puig make this one. Mine broke in two after a good few thousand kms after going yellow and opaque.

















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[WIBO]

Xt's come out of the factory with a light mist of grease on all of their bearings. This coupled with the heat of the oil in the frame allows the bearings to get dry and notchy.


A grease nipple mounted here means you can give a couple of pumps every month until clean grease comes out...the head bearings will be well lubed.


Wipe surplus off with a rag.

[crofty]

Great stuff Keith, building up to be a useful check list for Maroc. one thing I wondered about was the handlebag bag you use, does it ever interfere with the steering?

[RandG]

Great stuff Keith, building up to be a useful check list for Maroc. one thing I wondered about was the handlebag bag you use, does it ever interfere with the steering?

Not on mine but I do have renthal bars with risers.

[crofty]

RandG What kind of handlebar bag are you using? must check in the morning as I think mine has risers too.