Buddy at work has a XR400 that he bought new and had been sitting forever. I think it still had the original tires on it so very low mile bike. He asked me to get it running. Of course the float bowl looked like a terrarium in there ha ha ha. Got it all sorted and running perfect. Took it for a scoot to test and because I wanted to try a bike I had not tried in a long time that was top rated for its day. At first it felt twitchy and semi scary to control the front end. I dropped the forks (raised the front), messed with the clickers and got it to work much better. The rear rebound adjuster was froze up so I put some lube on it and after a day was able to get it to turn. I adjusted the handlebars and levers, put a use 216 Fatty front tire on it and went out for another try. MUCH better. In fact... I kind of like this thing!!! (dont tell anyone). Yesterday I put 53 miles of tight rocky dry slick single and two track on it and really started to jell with the bike. It takes a different approach to ride as it is from another time and I ride modern 2 strokes a lot. That said this bike does a LOT of things right for trail riding. And here is the kicker, I'm oddly fast on it. My Beta 300rr riding buddy was not amused when I past him and then gapped him. He did not want to let it happen but it did. I've ridden literally hundreds of bikes. I have owned well over a hundred. I am somewhat of a chameleon that was as I can adapt to many bikes. This experience made me think for a lot of trail riders bikes have moved to far away from what makes a good trail bike. Low seat height, smooth useful motor with good flywheel that is very luggable and hard to stall (unlike modern 4 strokes), big soft seat, super simple air cooled design... its a trail riders dream. I suppose bikes like the KLX300R still kinda represent this category but what happened to simple, good working trail bikes? Does everyone want and need a finicky 40 hp 250, efi, hard to work on trail bike? I get it for racing, but for standard trail riding? I had a great time flogging this bike and passing people on new iron. Good times.
I get it 100% my OEM stock 1989 XR250R surprised my group 2 times, and got them laughing big time. Fact is in the tight stuff.....the thing really works like a sponge.
You're right about those things being a tractor. I had a chance to ride a friends 400 in some technical singletrack and it could go anywhere. The hardest thing I had to adjust to was how slow the motor spooled up.
I had an 07 and 09 KLX250s, basically a street legal KLX300 minus 50cc, so I could ride over to a local woods/hare scramble course for practice and was also oddly fast on it. I could run a good competitive pace on that 300 pound dual sport with 80's tech suspension even though it was more than double my own weight. I think the fact that they're not fast or high strung makes them easy to ride and less prone to making mistakes. I've always been faster on low horsepower bikes and always on the lookout for a bike like you're describing to use for practice. I'm tempted by the new KLX300 but I'm not getting any younger and I no longer want a bike that's 300 lbs.
my 85 xr350 is one of my all time favorite bikes. except when you drop it on a hill and it floods. then you spend half an hour kicking it
And the reliability of those XR's is off the chart. Hence the joke: What's the oil change interval on an XR400?... Every other owner.
As usual for those less expensive Japanese "enduros" you could strip it lighten it and dial it in to build your own green competitive machine in your own way. and maybe even be less on the $ scale than a comp ready Euro brand bike, or at least close.
I spent years riding a street plated KLX 300. This type of bike is good for all day plodding along, but not much else, and was a handful in fast or technical terrain, even with upgraded suspension. I hated mine for any real dirt chores, but loved it for any exploring that was going to include long pavement sections and lots of secondary dirt roads.
I would consider an older KLX300 like that for practice and maybe our long 6 hour hare scrambles. All the good of my KLX250s but 50lbs lighter and 50 more cc's. Not only do I think I could be competitive on one of those, but one of my riding buddies won our club's MX series in expert class on a KLX300 he borrowed from his Dad and did it against some pretty tough competition. Talking to him we both said the same thing, man do those KLX's handle.
I think I could do well in a race on this XR400 if it was all tighter 1-3 gear stuff. As it gets faster I like the bike less and less. The forks start to show their flex (which is actually good in the tight stuff and rocks) and the motor runs out of go to lift the front end at speed.
every once in a while I'd see an xr350 or 400 for sale on CL and think about it. I remember blowing by my buds on the trail, but then they were on TT500's back then. then I come to my senses. why shatter my dreams and memories with reality.
Kelly right with you, on that 250 I was snaking around the bushes with little effort, zero brakes. in flowing smooth even with some sharp stuff, that little XR can move really well.
I have a 85 XR200 with the 4 valve motor. I need to get that going. I actually have a new Lectron for it to replace the silly two carb setup. Even ordered a new tail tool bag for it.
My first full size bike was an 82 XR200. That bike was great. I rode it until my friend needed a bike and my Dad was moving up to the KDX from the IT200, which I still have-and sold him my XR. The old Honda iron did the job with no frills and solid reliability.
