Honda XR650L

In December last year, AMT had the chance to do a runner for a few days with Stay Upright Tours, operating out of Cairns on Queensland's far north coast. We've ridden up north before, as far north as you can go without falling into the Arafura Sea, and although we love the damn place we're well aware of the perils if something goes wrong when you're literally hundreds of kilometres from Intensive Care, Bob the Builder or anyone else. We had no problem hooking up with Stay Upright, though. These guys really do the business, they treat their customers like rock stars and they know the map like they made it.

The purpose of this particular runner was to get a chance to ride the Honda XR650L, released only a few months before our trip to Cairns and a subject of interest among those who like idea of getting on a big bore four-stroke and riding until their bums wrinkle. It wasn't a cushy test, either. The route chosen by Stay Upright tour guide Gerard Smith and our mutual mate Rob Brady was an honest two-day test that covered 670 kilometres. Some of it was fast work over gravel roads and some of it was tighter riding on tracks that won't see another dirt bike until the wet season winds up in May this year. But 700 kays through the bush in two days is a long way in anyone's language so you can see we weren't just farting about.

HEY, THIS IS GOOD
The XR650L is not, as you might expect, a push-button XR650R. The R is a more aggressive machine with a stronger power delivery and more sports-oriented suspension, so don't confuse the two. The L-bike was designed for the hardcore cowboys who want a bulletproof machine that's simple to work on, reliable, easy to ride, and that'll cruise at 100-plus from corn flakes to casserole.

This is not the Ferrari of dirt bikes, it's the Cadillac. It's a big, strong, kick-back-and-enjoy-it dirt cruiser with an understressed, sohc air-cooled engine the former Dominator powerplant a suspension package that's softer than the XR650R's but that should soak up everything you're supposed to be hitting at 100km/h.

The rear rims are 18-inchers so that'll give you more choice in tyre selection. The dumpy bars are too low and have way too much sweep-back, but the seat is big, wide and comfy, the brakes have plenty of power and nice modulation and the instrument pack is a sensible analogue deal, not your 900 buck, fidgety-digital fingerometer that can't be reset if you're doing anything more than 5km/h on a sheet of stainless steel.

The L-bike is a big bugger too (147kg dry) but it's easy to ride, and by that we mean easy for anyone to ride. It feels very stable and sure-footed on fast gravel roads, it handles corrugations well and exhibits no more headshake than any other big bike we've ridden in the past 10 years. It's also surprisingly agile, in fact some of the guys reckon it changes direction more easily than the XR650R. The thing we noticed most was how much better the bike felt with a few hours on it. The literally brand new engine was really tight for the first 500 kays, as you'd expect, but with 1000 kilometres on the odo she started to loosen up, rev more freely, and was a much more enjoyable thing to ride.

The five-speed box is sweet enough, all Honda boxes are, but sprocketing is critical on the big bike if you want to get the most from the lazy engine and tall standard gearing. The XR comes with 15-45 sprockets but that's way too high and produces very doughy acceleration. (Check out our setup tips yarn for more info on the gearing thing.)

The XR650L comes with a 10.6 litre (steel) tank. Not that this is unusual, mind you, it's a familiar story. Few of the big bore four-strokes come with a large enough fuel capacity for long-distance touring. That's how come aftermarket suppliers make a tidy profit in long range tanks. No-one likes running out of fuel and no-one wants to push an XR650. If you want longer range from yours, ring Ballards (02 4731 1210) and ask them about the Clarke 17.8 litre tank. It retails for about $430.

The XR-L is not designed for threading through the trees like a CR125 but it feels okay on single-line stuff once you get used to it. With a tallish seat height (940mm 70mm taller than an XR250) it suits big blokes better than it suits short ones, although the problem of short legs trying to kickstart the beast is overcome by the very welcome electric start.

The conditions we encountered on this ride threw up every type of terrain with the exception of polar landscapes and we thought the Honda handled it pretty well. On our way back along the famous CREB Track the weather turned nasty and it fair pizzled down. Our goggles were fogged to buggery so we had to discard them and ride blind, or bloody close to it. (Funny thing was, the rain up there is warm so you don't feel the cold. If we'd been in Victoria we'd all have been wearing garbage bags ‹ and what a good look that is.) But riding a big bike along the CREB in the middle of a tropical storm isn't as bad as it sounds. Being clay, when the CREB is slightly wet it's a bloody nightmare but when it's full-on flooded it's not that bad. All you have to do is pick your lines carefully and try to get a bit of clutch and throttle control happening, and not too much brake, so you don't slide on your arse down the track with your bike behind you.

We reckon this bike will do good business for Honda. For starters, it's good value for money at $9990 when you compare it with the opposition. The cheapest bike in this class is the Kawasaki KLR650 at $8100, followed by the Suzuki DR650 at $8800. The European bikes are more competition-oriented than the XR, and for that reason some will object to our making the comparison, but bike buyers do that so why shouldn't we? The 2001 Husqvarna TE610E sold for $10,400 and Husky dealers expect the '02 model to be around the same price, while KTM's big 640E Adventurer should go for about $12,300. These prices may change during 2002.

On top of its attractive purchase price, the XR650L has an engine already proven in the Dominator model, it has electric start, it's comfortable and it's cruisy. Stay Upright is about to buy four more XR650Ls, and what does that tell you? What it tells us is that if it can survive the abuse it'll cop from all the Bjorn Backpackers who need two clutches to change gear, it can survive anything.