A few shots of my XSR700 Scrambler after a month in Morocco, leading three tours. I’m impressed with how it’s shrugged it all off, just like my old Teneres in fact. But then, why wouldn’t it? All I do is turn off the Tutoro chain oiler for the piste, then wipe it down and turn it on again for the highway.
The engine is just right. I keep forgetting it’s restricted to ~48hp (bought it like that and liked it). The Heidenau K60 tyres are just right too; letting a couple of seconds out makes a big difference on the piste where I’m glad the ABS is disabled. Could do with a bit more and better suspension at times, and standing up is like pushing a wheelbarrow, but it’s a Scrambler, not a trail or enduro bike. Within it’s limitations, I can now sling it about on the dirt and on road. It turned out well. Riding it home in a week or so. Full 7500-mile report.
Just flown back from a quick tour in Morocco and setting up the XSR for departure in a couple of days. It was handy pre-running my routes last week; despite recent heavy rains which has seen some places re-mudding their adobe roofs, all my tracks with the exception of Jebel Sarhro were in pretty good nick, including MH19 Trans Atlas which we managed to cram in on the last day.
Getting back on my XSR after riding XR250s with 70,000kms on the clock, the Yamaha feels amazingly taut. On the weekend I nipped down to Surrey to buy an XR400 for Algeria (more about that later).
All that needed doing to the XScrambleR was fitting an elongated and bigfooted sidestand adapted from an MT-07 stick (£20 used on ebay + £25 labour). A seamless job by my weldy mate, Jon. That took 10 minutes and a wall to lean on. Next, see how the Kriega Duo 36 Saddlebags fit over the back. My pillion-to-rack spars are better than nothing but aren’t brilliant at limiting swing into the wheel; they’re too high and forward. A proper rack is best, but a bit of stick and zip tie from pillion-to-indicator may do the job.
And so here it is, another AMH projectile ready for three laps of Morocco and a dash home. Looking forward to it, just as long as it handles OK on the dirt. I’m pretty sure it won’t be much worse than the heavier CB500X Rally Raider from 2015 (right).
My XScrambleR sets off in a month for Morocco and, bar some luggage, is ready to go. Don’t think I’ve ever had a bike ready so far in advance.
Using some left-over or unused components, I fitted a Tuturo Chain oiler which I still think is the simplest and most effective way of getting this messy but necessary job done. It is, of course, especially handy on bikes without a centre stand where hand oiling the chain is a particular faff.
For luggage I’m going to use some simple Kriega Duo 36 Throwovers again, as I did last year on the KLX in Baja. The great thing with the XSR’s underpipe is that it’s right out of the way of luggage but bags still need something to stop them swinging into the wheel and chain. In the spirit of the Chouinard RURP, I’ve come up with RURTS (Realised Ultimate Reality Throwover Stay) an ultra-minimal side rack. The weight is taken over the saddle; the slim stays help locate the bags. If their reality ultimately turns out to be too realised, another stay from pillion pegs to the rear flashers will fix that. I’m sure they sell broomsticks in Morocco.
Once the holes were drilled the RURTS were another 10-minute roadside job, but lacking anywhere better than the kerb to work, I weakened and got my LBS to do the rest of the heavy jobs.
Shock The new wheel on the front has raised the bike 30mm, and the fork preloaders may help it stay that way. I was looking for a way to achieve a bit less than that on the back – partly with a taller tyre and partly with a longer shock. The OE shock is basic; it’s fine for very normal riding but only has preload rings. They are found used on ebay in their zillions. I preloaded it on the first run, but found it lacked any rebound damping to control it.
The OE shock is 310mm long. I was looking for a shock with rebound damping that started at that length but had extendability. Looking at the usual suspects, only the Wilbers640 Blueline could be specified with that feature for a reasonable £512. All it is is a chunky thread and nut at the bottom of theshock below the red rebound knob, and which can be unscrewed (lengthened) to a pre-set point then locked out. Rocket science it is not, but you need to remember that 10mm on the near-horizontal shock adds up to more in actual seat height. Pythagoras will know exactly how much, but when my Wilbers arrived I maxed it out and sent it to the shop.
Doing it this way makes the shock/bike more sellable later, as it can be wound back down to the standard 310mm XSR height. In fact this whole XSR build, including front wheel swap, is fully reversible. No one need every know. For once in my suspension history, I’m going to endeavour to set the static sag before I leave. It’s a bit tricky alone, but there are instructions on how to do it all over the web. I dare say it will need some tweaking on the road as it beds in, and I’ll sure miss the Hydraulic Preload Adjuster of my previous Hyperpros, but there we are. As it is, C-spanners keep Elastoplast in business and come free with the shock.
Tyres I could have tried something new from my do-it-all category, like a Mefo Super Explorer, but only Heidenau K60 Scouts came in a range of sizes which sort of included the XSR; a still ridiculously fat 170/60 17 72T was delivered for £97 from Germany, and a 100/90H-19 Catspaw (not Scout) from the UK for £61. Looking at it now, the rear looks a bit lower profile than I’d prefer, but there was no 170/80 in 17.
The nearest K60 was 150/70 17, but as I was dropping from OE 180 width, 150 (over an inch slimmer) looked too much of a change for the rim size. Best of all, these retain the tubelessness (which reminds me, need to get some Slime in).
Actually, I think I need to address that stunted sidestand now the bike sits at least an inch higher. I could drill a hole through the foot and bolt on a block of wood or HPDE. How shit would that look? Good news is used MT-07 stands go on ebay from 20 quid. Weldy-mate Jon might be persuaded to hypnotise it and make it grow an inch, and while it’s out slap on an 5mm sandplate underneath; it will look like it was made that way and ought to have the strength to take a lifted wheel if I have tyre troubles.
Other than that, my LBS fitted some Oxford Hot Grips for me (£50 ebay). This is the first time I’ve actually bought a set; usually they’ve come with the bikes I’ve bought. and for UK commuters are a no-brainer. Along with my screen, my Barks and my Powerlet jacket, I simply cannot wait for the December ride back across Spain.
This whole project kicked off by taking a chance on the front wheel of an XV950 V-Star Bolt (left). It’s what Americans call a ‘compatability swap-out’ and the wheel had been sitting on ebay for months; £130 with tyre and one bearing.
No wonder there were no takers; a V-Bolt is a mock-Sportster – something which proper Brit bikers would probably scoff at (while secretly fancying). Being V-twins, ‘Sports Heritage’ XVs are of course very popular in the US and the recently released, 250-kilo wire-wheeled SCR 950 Scrambler (right) is virtually the same thing, but about as ‘scrambler’ as Triumph’s effort (or mine), and I suspect doomed to low UK sales. The recent Ducatis and BMWs are much cooler.
Boredom alert: I learned things the hard way doing all this so go into unusual detail to save others on similar projects from making the same mistakes.
An XV runs one, 298mm disc on six bolts. I needed a 282mm-rotor if I was to try and reuse my calipers. Many internet hours passed – distant stars exploded; babies were born; a celebrity sneezed. I discovered that FJ1300 and V-Max rear rotors, and good old XT660Z fronts come in 282mm/6 bolt. Cheapest was a V-Max for 40 quid; new OE bolts were another £10.
Notice I say ‘disc’ not discs. The XSR and many other bikes get unnecessarily fitted with twin discs. It must be some sort of marketing cue which goes over my head and is certainly not related to outright performance. Discontinued XT660Z: twin front rotors; forthcoming T7 with 50% more power: single front rotor; HP2 Enduro/GS12 is another example. No denying it; XSR brakes are great; Bike mag (left) recently logged a Tracer 700 pulling up just as well as high-end sports bikes. On my XSR I believe they’re overkill and add unsprung weight. With a single braided line and 3-4kg saved, the suspension will like it. In fact (and annoyingly), the XV wheel is nearly a kilo heavier, even with one disc. Oh well, I’ll save by ditching the second caliper.
Getting to the point of removing one wheel to offer up the other had taken quite a while. I live on a hill and have nowhere to work but the street. Luckily a neighbour let me use her back garden if I didn’t mind removing and replacing the alleyway fence. A scan on Gumtree brought up an trolley jack down the road for 20 quid and at last I was in business.
I’ve long known OE bearing prices are an easily dodged scam (see this vid). Down the Yamaha dealer that’ll be 21 quid for the missing wheel bearing, but this commonly sized bearing is classified as a 6303. Seven quid for a top-of-the-range Timken jobby (right) from a bearing shop in Croydon, or about the same posted online. These places might have done dust seals too, but I didn’t want to push my luck; they must match the wheel spacer ø, so that’s a tenner for a pair posted from Wemoto.
I also needed the in-hub collar/spacer that goes between the bearings. I tried used online but couldn’t find the exact width (fyi: 70mm x 24mm out ø x 17mm in ø) so succumbed to new for £13 posted from Fowlers – the Partzilla of the UK, but without competition-driven discounts. Another ten days pass by.
Good video below on wheel bearing removal and installation. With one bearing already installed, I was able to use the spindle as an alignment guide, gently tapping the frozen and greased bearing round the outer edges with a 22mm socket for the final push into the frame heated hub.
The XSR’s calipers are so fat that you have to remove both to get the fat OE wheel out – never seen that before. But offer up the XSR rotors with the new wheel loosely in place and – CLANG! – the 90-mm wide four-pot XSR caliper fouled the XV cast spokes.
Stars exploded, babies were born… and many hours and Photoshop alignment estimates later (right), I decided an XV950 caliper (below right) would probably fit my fork mounts. I tracked one down in Texas for just $25 + the same again in post and tax. Stars… babies… celebrities… Another ten days pass.
For a while I’d got hung up trying to track down a used Blue Spot caliper like my TDM900 had. R1s had them too; best brakes I ever did use. But it slowly dawned on me there are two (maybe more?) types of Yamaha disc brakes. Your cruisin’ XVs run slimmer, sliding twin-piston calipers (above left). An XSR’s opposed 4-pot unit is Blue Spot in all but name; very powerful but bulky. The less powerful sliding-caliper hydraulics are mildly compensated by the larger, 298-mm XV rotor (more retardation). My 282-mil vented V-Max (left) disc is smaller, but my bike is at least 60-kg lighter.
All lined up well on the same-diametre 17-mm XSR spindle by adding three and a bit 3mm washers to centre the wheel. The XSR’s spacers are 20mm ø x 17mm long (with a 17mm bore). What’s needed here is 28 x 28 on 17. Such wheel spacers are probably the same as XV items (see below left for pn) but the only way to find out was buying and waiting another ten days. Luckily, Desert Rider Jon is a mate with a lathe who likes this kind of challenge and made them almost overnight.
All this requires a 7.6mm rotor spacer to move the V-Max rotor out to line up with the XV950 caliper bolted to the XSR forks while avoiding caliper-spacing washers. Don’t know if the vented V-Max rotor is thicker or undished unlike an XV, but you only have a mm or two to play with for clearance in the caliper’s jaws.
Jon is milling one out in alloy for me. So this 7.6mm rotor spacer (right) is just about the only custom part needed to marry up an XVS wheel, spacers and caliper with an XSR fork and a 282mm V-Max rotor. You could use nuts as rotor spacers but I figured a fully surfaced spacer would be better at transferring the heat.
Sorting the caliper and spacing was the main challenge in this 19er swap-out. The brace now has only 5mm tyre clearance (above left). Mounting the trials guard on top will be easy, but I may get the brace re-done too – also an easy job.
Or, with a bit of a nick, I may just bend it in to give it more lift and more curvature (above right) to take the rear fender; a plastic universal trials rear for £28 from In Motion. I estimated the tyre to radiator lower edge clearance was 180mm; the forks are said to have 150mm of travel which leaves 30mm; just enough for the slim, plastic mudguard. This trials guard will be way wider than the new tyre so won’t look that great but will sure keep the muck off. Skimpy front fenders are for the beard & tatts brigade.
I was now ready to unbolt the XSR brake lines and calipers, feed in and bolt up a single 850-mm braided Venhill brake hose (£30), top up with DOT 4 (£2.99) and bleed.
By chance the ABS sensor fitted by reusing a sawn-down reflector bracket (left). Only one washer and no bending required. The XV’s ABS ring (£40 new; £20 used from Germany) is on the disc side and a bit larger than the XSRs (originally on the other side) and in the 400-m ride back to my place it seems the XSR’s ABS computer didn’t like it and the light stayed on. That may take some sorting, but at least I have brakes.
Other stuff. I bought a SW Motech ‘spoiler’ (£120) to double up as a sump guard. It’s pretty flimsy in 3mm alloy, and I think after Morocco will be wrecked, but that’s all there is and better a bashed bashplate than an unguarded sump. I may rivet on some more plate. As you can see, I sprayed the front unpainted bit with a few coats of plastic paint (and did the radiator covers while I was it it).
As expected, the Motech spoiler didn’t fit around my Akra pipe, but months ago in anticipation I’d bought a ‘sacrificial’ OE pipe off a new bike for £100. There are heaps on ebay right now (as with shocks) and the under-motor mass makes a good sump guard. Better a bashed cat than an unguarded sump. Interestingly, the OE pipe is the same weight (7kg) as the £1100 Akra which is now on ebay. My neighbour’s got her garden back now.
Final jobs: fit the rotor spacer and mudguard (maybe a taller fork brace?); try and sort the ABS light, if needed. Then take the brakes for a test run and consider a rear shock with a bit of lift, and extend the sidestand to suit. If it all goes or feels wrong it’s all easily reversible.
Two quick jobs while I’m waiting on wheel parts. Got a used Givi tail rack off ebay (£50 posted). At 3.2kg, it’s a heavy steel thing and a bit over-built, but mounts easily and solidly and, best of all, offers solid grab handles on the side. I find these useful for moving a stationary bike around, lashing it down, or lashing things to it.The actual rack is tiny, but would easily be widened if need be. A simple bar from this rack to the pillion footrests ought to hopefully be enough to keep some throwovers out of the wheels Fitting took 10-15 mins.
My fork pre-loaders turned up from Hong Kong. Basically, a pair of fork caps with an external screw pushing a plate down on the spring. In the old days we used to stick coin stacks under the fork caps to do the same thing, but with these you can do that plus easily tune in about an inch of preload. They look as well made as the OE caps, with o-rings and a good finish, but weigh at least twice as much. Better skip lunch then.
I’m not expecting any improvement in the fork action, just the option to firm up the front on the dirt. Front or rear, preloading does not make the spring stiffer (even if it feels like it), it raises the ride height. Fitting 5 mins per side. Cost £25.
Next step would be spending ~£100 on an aftermarket springs (right) – I did that and fitted some 95NM K-Techs when I got back from Morocco and reset the pre-loaders to zero. Feels the same if not better; a much better front fork.
Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 