Trail bikes always seemed a bit over the top. Long travel suspension gave an ultra high seat height. Knobbly tyres made riding in the wet dangerous. Lack of an electric start could be very tiresome. Especially on singles, both difficult to start and prone to conking out whilst idling at junctions. Performance usually limited by both a lack of power and aerodynamic finesse. In short, I viewed the breed with a great deal of suspicion.
But life goes on. Poor finances meant I had to sell the beloved ZZR600. A bike urgently needed for the ten mile commute through London. Arguably, a C90 would've done the trip faster than the large and wide Kawasaki. That would've been too much of a loss of face, too close to becoming a laughing stock amongst my mates. The thing with trailsters is that you can pretend purchase was made for weekend off-road sorties or to get in training for the Paris Dakar. Not having much time, it was down to what turned up in MCN's classifieds. A four year old XT350, 11000 miles under its wheels and no signs of off-road abuse, though the paint was a bit faded. £1450.
XT350's seem to have been around for aeons. Have high new prices but massive depreciation in the first couple of years. It makes much more sense to buy a one year old with less than five thou on the clock than to go after a new one. I didn't have time for that, had to take my chances with an older example. Two grand can buy a really immaculate one. As little as 500 notes one that's still running but needs loads of attention to the worn out, probably bent, chassis.
The air cooled DOHC single cylinder engine is relatively simple, as these things go. Only knocks out 30 horses but compensated for that by weighing just 265lbs. The engine feels alive rather than vibratory. The odd bit of buzzing higher up the rev range soon faded into the background with use. Heavy vibration on XT's a sign that the main bearings, piston rings or camshafts are on the way out. It's also worth looking for a slick gearbox. They vary quite a lot from model to model. A plethora of false neutrals a sign of a high miler. I knew none of this at the time of purchase but as far as the engine went I got lucky.
30 horses, 265lbs and gearing suited to climbing cliff faces added up to rapid acceleration to 80mph. Thereafter, it was a brick wall effect caused by the upright riding position and wide bars. 90mph just possible but not really enjoyable. I had noted that the chain and sprockets were shot. XT's notoriously heavy on the final drive from a combination of thumper power pulses and long travel suspension. I decided to buy sprockets that would give me 20 percent taller gearing. I'd already tested this out by moving off in third gear up a steep hill - no problems. I only weigh nine stones, though!
Taller gearing changed the nature of the engine. It brought out the best of its torque, a lot less buzzy. Any deficit in initial acceleration more than made up for by no longer needing to go all frenzied on the gearbox. Previously, far too easy to pull a wheelie when not paying attention. 80mph became a relaxed cruising speed, as far as the engine went. The speedo could be buzzed past the 100mph mark! I can't emphasize enough the improvement in feel generated by this simple trick. Economy also helped, going from 65 to 75mpg, despite faster road speeds. The Japanese factories have long geared their bikes not for the road but so that testers, in the glossies, achieve impressive acceleration times. And down the line we all suffer from such silliness. One other effect of such gearing is that usually the engine sprockets are far too small, leading to heavy chain wear.
The XT was almost ideal for charging through Central London. Its narrowness was a boon. Its tall seat meant I could see over the tops of most cages. Its lightness meant it could be hurled through gaps that most other bikers would balk at. The one area I wasn't keen on was the single front disc. Still running original pads, it lacked decisive power. Despite this it also made the long forks flop around. I could feel the front wheel trying to turn in towards the bike. Whacking the throttle shut, stamping on the rear brake and fighting the bars won the day!
Oddly, the front disc worked well in the wet, with plenty of feel and just the right amount of power. As might be expected on well worn original Jap knobblies, wet weather riding needed some verve. Both tyres would slide and drift on wet roads but the bike remained controllable for most of the time. It was actually possible to slide the thing around corners. The back wheel twitching a bit but bringing the bike through. This didn't amuse a couple of cops, who pulled me over. They were most disappointed to find that all was legal(ish).
In the wet the mudguards were useless, especially the front pigeon catcher. They were naff because they were so far from the wheels, set up for clearing great clods of mud. A replacement front mudguard was secured on the lower forks with a couple of Jubilee-clips and Araldite. The latter important because it stops the whole caboodle coming loose and falling on to the front wheel. It made riding in the wet about ten times more pleasant and stopped all the shit going over the engine.
Comfort on my ten mile commute was reasonable. The odd twinge assuaged by getting up on the pegs. Longer rides soon had the seat turning into a plank. An inexcusable design, there being no easy replacement because of the way it runs into the petrol tank. I ended up adding, for longer runs, an half inch layer of foam to the top of the seat. This further inflated the seat height but at least it meant I could do fifty miles without rushing to the doctor to complain about piles.
The tall seat height and wide bars caused neck pain if I tried to sustain more than 70mph for any length of time. The motor was willing to thrum along at up to 90mph! Fitting flat, narrow bars was my first offering. Made the bike even more agile in town and helped high speed acceleration. However, the pegs and bars were now well mismatched, thigh pains added to the need to purchase a neck brace! Moving the pegs would have been expensive or difficult, so it was back to the wide bars.
It didn't matter much. My fellow hoodlums were all race replica equipped and had no intention of waiting around for the XT. I stopped going on weekend runs, only using the Yamaha for the commuting sessions. In 8000 miles it was impressive in the small amount of money it needed and very capable of dealing with London's traffic. Even the chain still had some life left in it, probably a record for an XT350 - the new gearing putting less stress upon it.
Even the XT350 was unable to avoid the homicidal instincts of one black cab driver. The result was the front wheel bashing into the side of the taxi. Bent wheel and forks. The cabbie tried to punch my lights out but I still had my helmet on! He broke his wrist. Never heard one person swear so much in all my life.
Replacement bits from the breakers sorted the front end but it turned out the frame was also bent. May've been slightly out of line when I bought it, explaining the odd behaviour under use of the front brake. Time to move on, I swapped it plus £750 for an older but lower mileage XT600E. Even better!
Graham K.