Dirt Rider . Net Text Version Home
Pages: 1
86 Xl600
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: apachehusky---------------------
What changes can I do to a 1986 XL600 to make it closer to an XR, strictly for off-road use. Is the engine the same? what about the frame? 
Posted by: Gorgo---------------------
I've got a '95 XR600R and an '86 XL600R, similar bikes but not even close to being good at the same things. To be honest, I haven't ridden the XL yet, bought it for $300 as a project, am rebuilding the engine, and am making modifications to make it more like an XR. So far I've torn the engine apart, have bought replacement piston, connecting rod, valves, valve guides, gasket set, and spark plug. I've gotten a few other parts from **** with the goals of 1) reducing the weight of the bike, 2) making it a "real" street-legal dual-sport bike, 3) having a set of supermoto wheels for it, and 4) to have a project for this winter. I've been reading about some of the dual-sport rides having police show up at the start checking the true legality of the participating bikes so I want to have a bike at the start that is really legal (lights, tires, NY state safety inspection sticker, horn, mirrors, etc.) if they're there but the real fun bike (XR600R with a legal license plate but little of the other legal stuff that just gets knocked off by trees anyway) so I will always be able to ride. It'll also be nice to have something for someone else to ride if they don't have their own bike.
Anyway, no, the XL and XR engines are not the same. If you compare the older ones, the ones with the dual carbs, the XL has a bore & stroke of 100mm & 75mm (589cc displacement) and the XR has a bore & stroke of 97mm & 80mm (591cc displacement). The XL had a lower compression ratio (the XL is 8.7:1 I think) and tends to be jetted a bit leaner to reduce emissions. The XL also has a steel fuel tank while the XR has a plastic one (weight difference and the steel one is less likely to rupture if hit by a car). I put my XL next to my XR in the barn and started measuring a few things and have found that the rear suspension linkage has mounting points in different places and the links are different lengths, the seat bolts on much differently, the wheelbases are very close between the 2 but the swingarm on the XR is about an inch longer, the XL has rubber-isolated foot pegs, and the XL has a larger rear drum brake than the older XRs have (my '95 XR has a disk brake in the rear).
After buying the XL and seeing all of the obvious differences between the XL and the XR I've decided to really just concentrate on making the engine a bit stronger (the Wiseco piston I bought is 1mm larger in diameter and bumps the compression up to 11:1 I think), the whole bike a bit lighter, and make it a fun, dirtable street toy. I want to have 2 sets of wheels, 1 for dirt (a 17" rear and 21" front) and 1 for street (a pair of 17" wheels). I want to get rid of the "cush drive" on the rear so I'll be using XR rear wheels in both sets. The 17" front motard wheel will be a standard front hub laced up with an XR rear rim (the XR rear rim is 4.15" wide while the XL rear rim is 4.65" wide). I'm even thinking about building one of the RS600 flattrack exhaust systems for it for street use (someone on the Internet has published a diagram with dimensions for building the exhaust, do a search for XL600, RS600, HRC, and Pro Singles, something like that, the guy is in Great Britain and built a road-race bike by combining some 250cc race bike with an XL600 engine, very cool).
Anyway, no the XL and XR don't use the same engine. I've heard the XL will work in the dirt but, if you can get one with a registerable title, I would go for the XR. Heck, that I did...
Good luck!
Gorgo
Posted by: GS---------------------
Hi
If you would like to compare part numbers between the two models you could go to:
http://www.mrcycles.com/fiche_selec...ycles&mfg=Honda
Works like a damn!
Greg
Posted by: drgriffi1---------------------
You can't really compare a 95 to an 86, there's 9 years of technology between them. Now if you said you were comparing an 85 to an 86 it might be a fairly reliable comparison.
Posted by: bsmith---------------------
I would put my money into the suspension, and gearing. Leave the rest alone. Parts for those motors are expensive, so leave it alone and it will be good for years to come.
Unless you have the money and like to tinker 
Posted by: tyler_43---------------------
the XL's work fine off road... just take off mirror's, liscence plate holder, tail light etc. (you could also take off the headlight but sometimes it's nice to have one in the trails). My friend has an XL250 and it's a bit different from my beater XR, but I wouldn't say it's much better off road (but like i said, the XR's a beater and I have to fill it up with oil every time somebody rides it ). Sure the XL is a bit heavier, but there's nothing you can do to it to lighten it up without totally revamping the whole bike. At the end of the day it's still going to be heavy because of its age.
Text Version Home
vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2009,
Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2009
- Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser
