Snoozin

A weekend of bike hooning, as I've got some really busy weeks/weekends away from home coming up. Plus we lost one of our little fur mates at home and I needed to get my mind off it, it sucks losing a loyal pet of 13+ years.

So on the XT it was, on Saturday a skid out to Rongotea, back to Palmy via Taikorea, Bainese, Rangiotu and Longburn pesting around flood gates and old buildings and so on. Then, back up Wharite - I hadn't been up here on the new (not so new now) tyres, and the thing was a revelation compared to sliding around up there on the old Metzelers last time!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (69) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (70) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (71) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (73) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

I turned up home as the sun was setting - and there was a wee parcel waiting, hooray Saturday delivery.

The pegs on this thing have always been garbage for offroad usage, little skinny rubber-clad things that are hard to remain stable on and clog up with schmutz really quickly. I guess they did reduce vibration somewhat, but yeah they needed to go. I ordered some DRC wide pegs to suit YZ/WRF/YZF from '99 onwards. Turns out they fit the XT with a bit of grinder tickling, and some mix and match springs. Ace result. Pics below of new hotness, and old shitness as a comparison.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (78) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (77) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Secondly, I added a tank bag to the repertoire, never felt comfortable with my phone/keys/wallet in my jacket pockets. I guess now if I fire the bike off a bank into a river, then I lose it all... but hey. It should fit some handy snacks too.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (75) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

So Sunday came about, and I figured it was such a ripper day it'd be rude not to go out for a bit more of an explore. The Mangahao dams (power generation) aren't too far away, about 35km to Shannon then another 50-odd return km of hooning out the back of the Mangahao power station on gravel roads in the hills. Pics below of a grand morning out.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (84) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (91) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (92) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (95) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (98) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Then what else to do but get home, slop some Motomuck on it and give it a rinse off. Given I quite enjoy cleaning vehicles up, this whole "riding bikes in the dirt" thing appeals massively to me!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (100) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

I think I'm going to tackle some suspension work next, the front fork is pretty ho-hum when you hit sharp bumps/rocks at speed, so a set of catridge emulators, a change in spring rate should see it right.

To be continued. A bit of a new fascination!

 

I've been shooting a lot of super tourers lately. Seeing the Laguna above reminded me, so I'll share a few.

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-23-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-158-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-13-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-220-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-231-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-449-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-444-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-344-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-463-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1997 Renault Laguna Super Tourer-290-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Turns out I can't help but tinker.

After a run out in the Santoft forest with Blizzo and Max, it became apparent that the XT could do with a couple of improvements. Namely, less weight, and more ground clearance. Without the saggy-ass underslung pipes, this thing would have DR650 spec ground clearance - maybe a little more!

So I flexed my PayPal trigger fingers and went shopping.

First stop was Dominator exhausts, in Poland. There's been a handful of manufacturers who make a high-mounted 2-1 pipe of these, but the Polish lot is one of the only readily available left. It's also quite cheap, how they shipped this here for $18 Euros is beyond me, but hey... it arrived yesterday, 2 weeks after I made the order.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (34) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Consists of an oval muffler which has a 'dB killer' in it (more on that later), a 2-1 section with slip joins and the individual header pipes. All CNC bent and machine welded by the looks, it seems pretty decent for the dollars.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (35) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Big old "DOMINATOR" sticker can respectfully go in the bin!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (36) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Close up of slip joint collector and welds. Minimal welds is nice I figure, on a big single that's liable to vibrate things to oblivion. Couple of springs were included etc to pull it all together.

The second thing, was to visit the Off The Road (OTR) website, the the pursuit of engine protection since moving the exhaust to a high location leaves the cases open to being demolished. OTR are basically the worldwide experts in XT660's, be it R, X or Z models and have a huge range of parts they've developed over the years. One of which, is a bash guard to suit a bike with a 2-1 high pipe on it. Click, into the car that went, along with a case-saver for the clutch cover, and a side stand add-on thing to spread the load a bit more on softer ground.

This actually arrived within a week!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (45) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (44) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Really happy with this. Looks fairly simple in it's construction, basically laser cut and bent then welded on two planes to create a nice case-hugging bash plate. Mounting brackets not pictured here!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (39) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

This is the case saver, a basic billet piece that attaches to the clutch cover via 3M VHB tape and prevents your brake pedal smashing it when you fall off.

Time to pull some shit apart, again.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (38) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Didn't take a huge amount of pics, but the old exhaust came off surprisingly easily. All the bolts and nuts cracked with ease, the O2 sensor was about the trickiest/most taxing thing to unscrew, but even that came off quickly. I didn't bother taking pics of the old stuff, but man it's nuggety. The old cans have catalytic converters in them, and weigh a tonne!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (48) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

The install was relatively easy for the exhaust. The header pipes had to go on first, but need to remain loose in order to line up the collector for the 2-1 section. Which I duly did.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (51) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

I then slipped the muffler on and tightened it all. Whoops. The main pipe was fouling on the frame, that ain't right... so everything needed to be loosened, and a bit of persuasion with a rubber mallet seated the slip joint properly.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (52) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Muffler then went on - with blue Loctite on the mounting hanger (Loctite seems a smart choice again, for a big single, surely?) and everything tightened up... what else to do, but kick it in the guts?!

So yeah, it makes a racket. The video doesn't really illustrate it perfectly, but it has a real whip-crack noise to it when the throttle is opened. Could be placebo but feels like it's more responsive? Anyway, lots of pops and bangs on decel thanks to the air injection gubbins for emissions purposes.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (49) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

The bash plate went on a treat, a couple of bolts were tricky, probably more in part to putting this on AFTER the exhaust. No drama though, I gained about 65mm of ground clearance by removing the old exhausts, and the bash plate claimed back another 10mm or so.... a net ground clearance gain of 55mm, so now we're bang on even with a DR650!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (55) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Case saver is nothing special to look at but might be a big bonus for me in the future when I stack it...

Here's a few beauty shots after a quick ride. It's hilarious now.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (66) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (57) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Looks heaps more purposeful now. Like, an actual dirt bike. It feels like it's lost that weight too, swinging it around seems a little easier/more fluid/I dunno could be imagining it and justifying the time and expense.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (59) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (63) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (58) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

The system is colouring up nicely after only a 25 minute hoon, though!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (61) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (62) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

No doubt this won't look pretty for too long.

Thanks for looking. I'm getting really pumped on this old thing.

 

Not doing a great job of flicking it so I'm still hooning it when I can. A quick run over Ridge Road to Apiti, starting from Pohangina, which isn't all that far from home really.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (24) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (29) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (26) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Thoroughly enjoying it though, and every time I head out on gravel I'm learning a thing or two. Not going to claim I'm quick, by any means, but definitely building confidence.

So - I have ordered a 2-1 high pipe and muffler from Dominator in Poland. It's being made at the moment according to the email, and should shave 10-12kg weight off its lardy ass and gain 65mm ground clearance. Also on the way is a bash guard to suit the high pipe - so it tucks up closer to the cases - a clutch cover saver, and side-stand extension from Off The Road in Germany, who are pretty much the peak XT specialists and offer zillions of other expensive fancy shit I don't need. I'm trying to get an alloy radiator shield that goes in place of the crappy factory plastic one too, from a joint in Belgium.

But wait there's more. A set of serrated billet pegs coming from JBS in Aussie (would rather Pivotpegz...), a new set of cush drive rubbers, a new DID O-ring chain and sprockets with a tooth smaller on the front to hopefully shorten it all up handily without sacrificing too much speed - but it's not like this thing needs to be doing over 100mph like it currently does...

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (30) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2000 Mazda RX7 RZ FD3S-53-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Probably the highest quality FD in the country.

New tyre day!

I ordered some Mitas E13 for the front, and E09 for the rear following some consultation with Blizzo and friends. Much much more aggressive than the mostly-road spec Metzeler on it (and way less dry rotted) and hopefully a shit tonne better on the loose stuff, as I had a few moments where the front end was on the brink of washing riiiiiiiiight out on the small rides so far.

However - bike shops aren't open on Sundays, and I was keen to get it done. Dad reckoned we could have a crack, so I loaded them up and rode out to his place to hook into it.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (18) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Couple of tubes on there too.

The front went exceptionally well, under 30 minutes to remove the wheel, remove the old tyre and fit the new E13 and a tube.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (19) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

The rear put up a bit more of a challenge, the sidewalls being much stiffer and the bead quite narrow vs the rim. It was trickier taking the old tyre off, and with a bit of soapy water the new one went on fairly well. Learned a few new tricks, anyway... while it was apart, we noted the cush-drive rubbers probably have a bit of a limited lifespan, and the rear sprocket much the same. So I'll organise some parts to give it a birthday, and do it all at once some time in the not too distant future.

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (20) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Then, voila! Completed tyre swap. Pretty happy with the look, it's a good lift from the old tyres and should, all going well, mean the bike is a far more effective thing to use in grubby conditions. Bit of a change on the road though, you can tell the big tread blocks move around a heap more!

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (22) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2007 Yamaha XT660R Phone (17) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Can't wait to go for a skid, now!!!