Buying a used
motorcycle can be a crapshoot. Either you get a reasonable deal, or,
sometimes you end up purchasing someone else's headache. We took our
chances and purchased an abused '94 Honda XR 600 that had been built to
a 628. First, we made sure the motorcycle was mechanically sound. It was
inspected for any noticeable problems. At first, we felt pretty lucky.
The only thing it seemed to need was a valve adjustment. So far... so
good! Then we put it to the ultimate test, 300 miles of the Baja 1000
course. To our surprise, the XR made the trip without mechanical
incident!
However, by the
end of our trip we noticed some clutch slippage. A new set of friction
disks solved our clutch problem. Again, so far... so good! Putting new
clutch friction disks on the XR is a simple job. Be sure you put them in
oil before installing them. This helps stop the jerky feel when
disengaging the clutch. It was also noticed the XR would ping after
getting hot. We tried to get rid of the pinging using numerous jetting
settings. This helped, but did not cure the problem entirely. Rich
Rohrich of Applied Fluid Dynamics (rrohrich@interaccess.com)
gave us the answer to our pinging problem.
Retard the cam
timing a few degrees by using a slotted cam gear, or run a cam with
later intake valve close timing like the HRC. The stock XR cam closes
the intake really early (~40.0 ABDC) which provides good low end and a
high dynamic compression ratio, even with the stock 9:1 compression.
Retarding the cam timing will lower the dynamic compression ratio,
along with the gasoline octane requirement. The major trade off is
some low end, but on the 628 you'll probably never notice. The upside
is that it runs super in the top-end! (Thanks Rich! "We really
should of known.")
The Off-Road.com
Honda XR 628 now runs better then ever, but it looked like something
pulled through a sewer pipe - backwards. This monstrosity needed a
face-lift! We added Acerbis plastic, tank graphicsand seat
cover. There is an important advantage to adding new plastic to a used
bike. It can force you to closely view potential problems such as
frame cracks, stripped bolts, loose bolts or anything designed, then
wired together by Mickey Mouse. Hiding paint rubbed off the frame by
riding boots was disguised with zip tied attached Maier frame guards.
The stock air filter was properly disposed of and a new UNI high flow
filter was installed. This allows the XR to breath and gives the
engine more performance.
Any backyard
mechanic can do everything we did to this motorcycle. The cost of this
XR 600 project is approximately $2000.00. ($1500.00 for the bike and
$500.00 for parts and accessories.) With a little elbow grease and some
cash, we have a nice XR that looks and runs well. If we were to sell
this motorcycle it would go for anywhere from $2200-$2800. So next time
you look at buying a used bike, don't walk away from the beater bikes!
It may pay to take a closer look.
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