The first ever XT600 I bought was one of the early models that had been used off-road. Basically, it was totally shagged, from the slack suspension through to the knocking main bearings. Why did I buy it? It still motored and the owner only wanted fifty quid to take if off his hands. I wasn't sure who was going to give who the money, but it turned out I was the sucker.
The weird thing was that I then annoyed the previous owner by riding around on the bike for two and a half months without falling off or blowing up the motor. The good news was that the frame was straight... er, that was it! A slight exaggeration, but a bit of inspired mixing and matching from my large stash of spares sorted out the chassis before the motor seized solid. All XT's are a bit prone to piston malaise and I was lucky to get the mileage I did out of mine. Doesn't stop people going around the world on them but most punters in the know do a compression test before handing over the dosh.
The next move was a replacement engine, out of a later XT600E. Came from a crashed bike, heard running. The mileometer on the bashed bike indicated it had only done 9000 miles, which is considered just nicely run in for a big Yamaha thumper. It didn't quite fit straight in but a bit of drill work on the front engine lug solved it. The somewhat elongated holes had to be filled with silicone to stop the engine trying to thrum its way out of the somewhat basic tubular frame.
It ought to be noted that the two engines had different electrical wires coming and going, proved impossible to match them up until I got a little creative with the colour coding and fitted the igniter box off the XT600E, much to the breaker's joy. The original XT600 had non-standard electronic ignition, which confused things further.
The motor sounded so quiet compared to the old one that I wondered if it was running properly. A twist of the throttle revealed a whole new world in which things happened three times as fast as in the past. Yes!
Almost immediately I had to upgrade the suspension and brakes. What had seemed adequate under the old puffer was now plain dangerous. The first 90mph emergency stop, the forks felt like they were falling apart until the front brake stopped working altogether, the bike seemed to bound forwards.
Don't know what the cager thought as he suddenly found a motorcycle charging towards him, surviving only by doing a last minute swerve. At times like this the trailster heritage shone through: manoeuvrability, manoeuvrability, manoeuvrability...
A four piston caliper from the breaker's selection of rejects plus a hefty pair of springs a whole two inches shorter than stock were force-fitted to the front end, which along with a bit more fiddling produced a remarkable improvement in directional accuracy and braking. All things are, of course, relative but the bike was at least once more in the game, able to handle 100mph speeds without falling apart or threatening to throw me off.
The XT600E was a bit of an odd old thumper, not entirely happy at low revs but not really wanting to rev, either. It ran best between 3000 and 6000rpm, not exactly a brilliant power band. At low revs there was a lot of clunking and whirring, at high revs the handlebars and footpegs threatened to vibrate themselves into splinters of metal.
Yamaha may or may not have changed the engine's crankshaft balancer factor or the frame design, the newer engine not matching the older frame. The original engine was so worn that it had thrummed much more. At that point, I was unable to make any kind of meaningful comparison.
For the next few months the hybrid did the commuting chores, mostly cross London, didn't wreck any cars in the process and generally performed okay. Occasionally, it would conk out at tickover for no sane reason that I could see, needing a lot of effort on the starter to run again. Okay, the silencer wasn't exactly stock, a lot of the baffling gone on to another world; not necessarily a better one.
The freer flowing exhaust must, I think, have contributed to the economy, because I never managed to get close to 70mpg on any of the other XT's I've owned. This one regularly turned in better than 60mpg, only rarely did worse (90mph motorway jaunts) and could do 70mpg if I kept the revs below 3500rpm. Most XT's won't do better than 60mpg, 50mpg more typical of spirited riding.
On the other hand, oil consumption was very heavy, needing a litre every 90 miles, or so. None was apparently burnt off or leaked out so I really don't know where it was going, though I do know the motor always ran very, very hot.
The hybrid was sold when I thought something was knocking in the engine. I'd done about 12000 miles, so there still should've been loads of life left in it. Much to my amazement I really missed life with the old beast, the GPZ500S replacement not doing anything for me despite being superior in every possible way! Except the one that really counted - character!
That was sold, another XT600 hunted down. This time a really prime Tenere, only 3800 miles, one owner, never used in the rain let alone on the dirt. The dog's bollocks! The day after I bought it I couldn't start it. Know that sinking feeling? I tried the usual stuff to no avail. In fact, I ended up warping the battery's plates, wrecking it!
After much hassle I found that the coil was partially breaking down, producing enough voltage to make the plug spark when it was out of the engine but not under combustion conditions. One enriched breaker later, I was back on the road. Thought I'd bought a real lemon but turned out to be merely the luck of the draw.
I really caned the engine for the next couple of days, just to let it know who was boss. All that happened was that my hands were vibro-massaged into numbness and that I had to keep filling up the massive petrol tank with fuel.
In contrast to the other XT's I've owned, this one didn't consume oil at a noticeable rate, an indication that the engine was in a particularly fine condition. The slightest bit of wear in the oil ring or bore equalling heavy consumption of lubricant.
Performance wasn't noticeably better than the hybrid, though the engine felt happier in a larger power band and only really threatened to destroy my fillings when thrashed. Just off idle it was a much more contented beast, feeling as if it could thump out the torque whilst counting the power beats in tune with the distance between lampposts.
If the throttle was hastily unwrapped from 1500rpm in the top two gears, the motor would gasp in outrage whilst the transmission churned to a tune of self-destruction. It really needed 2500 revs to run cleanly under such wanton abuse, though a gentle bit of throttle encouragement would take the bike up the side of a mountain even in top gear.
Well, probably, as I tended to avoid circumstances that would have the bike going head over heels. It only weighed about 350lbs but a lot of that mass was a touch on the top heavy side, being tall and narrow even if the wedge was well tucked in, and I often felt close to losing the bike in a big way.
The OE tyres didn't help, having quite a lot of Teflon in their construction, but they didn't seem to want to wear out and being an ardent hacker I wasn't going to dump them until the tread was dead, was I? There is a certain art to XT cornering on damp roads that includes sliding the back wheel to an outrageous degree. Whilst it isn't the most secure feeling of motorcycles it does, conversely, let you get away with murder. Most of the time...
A rainy autumn blast through heavy city traffic almost ended in disaster when the controlled skid around a huge bus turned vindictive. Probably because there was only about 2mm of rear tyre tread left. The back wheel stepped out about a yard, the violence like a kick between the legs when you have an hard-on.
I twitched both the bars and bike on to a new line of survival, the back wheel shakes dying down as the bike went upright and then giving one final massive shrug as if to say, watch it, mate! I'm not sure which end my breakfast wanted to exit out of and in work my fit of the shakes was much commented upon.
Another time, the nearly worn out front tyre went into a sudden death slide and without even thinking about it I pulled the bike back from certain carnage (probably of the blood rather than metal kind, as XT's are basically tough little buggers that can survive falling off the side of a cliff). Didn't even realise I had reflexes like that until they were put to the test.
New Avons were bunged on in a rare fit of expenditure and proved jolly useful, though the bike would still step out without much warning, it was that bit more controllable at the extreme edge and could be flicked back into line without threatening to break my arms.
The best of times on the Tenere, a wild blast through the countryside in company of a couple of Dakar replicas, the speedo but rarely going below 90mph. Must've been something about the atmosphere, I seemed catapulted into a new high, in which the bike was so easy to control and my lines through the corners had divine inspiration.
The worst of times was a really cold and wet winter. Both the XT and I didn't want to get going of a morning and only the threat of unemployment made me ride into work. Ice-rink road surfaces and mad cagers both tried to take us out but we somehow survived. In one memorable rainstorm I was absolutely soaked through in less than a minute - the Tenere's sit up and pray riding position not helping one tiny bit.
The Tenere met an untimely end when some youth nicked it from outside the fish and chip shop I was paying a visit to. Youth as in mangey thirteen year-old with a death-wish. He thought it hilarious to play chicken with a bus, causing massive carnage and surviving with a few scrapes whilst turning the XT into a metal bale! Amazingly, arsehole social workers wanted me to be understanding and forgiving, weren't too amused when I suggested disembowelling would be too good for him! I'm now - big surprise - desperately trying to find another XT!