They do 'punch above thier weight', I covered nearly 9000 miles with them, fully loaded (nearly 3 times the limit) over every kind of terrain the bike will take. Yes they developed a stress fracture, but 900 miles and nearly 15KG on rough roads, I'd say that was OK. In any case (no punn intended) Yamaha did replace on warrenty, although I might not have told them about the overloading, or the fall.....

I was dissapointed when I got them, but like I say they are very sturdy, all they really lack is a rear support bar.

On balance, I'd say that if you are a weekend road warrior, with the odd bit of camping then they are fine. Also if you are using them for taking your files to the office then they are good and suit the bikes looks. If Africa is your destination, then you need something a little more 'batter back into shape-able' and rugged.

Ive purchased my bike with a lowering kit already mounted. As in shorter back links and 1inch front fork dropped. I think thats why the bike feels so stiff when riding bad terrain with a 200kg load (me 90Kg, gf 75kg, luggage 30kg). Maybe if i loose the links and get the fork at original settings, things will be better? Thanks!

Stege - I took mine in stock form fully loaded over your wonderfull roads last year (nearly a year to the date) and it was very well planted and behaved perfectly (made the run from Hungary, through Arad, south for an overnight at the Serbia border and then through Craiova and into Bulgaria.

The mountain road was little more than a rocky track in most places!!

Lovely country by the way, I'll be back there before I quit riding :eusa_clap:

Two up on XT660Z
 

Hey guys, the XT660Z has finally made it to oz, has anyone had any experience with two up riding on them, how do they rate?

They're good.

I did 4500km 2 up, from Ireland to Italy and back.

It's not the most confortable bike, a modified seat or a sheepskin should arrange that, but it's good.

http://www.irishbikerforum.com/forum...&showentry=228

Hi John

would you recommend the XTZ for overland trips. Cairo to Cape Town for example?

regards

Marius

In a word....:smilies0948:

Hey dont forget that the Yamaha lowered suspension kit also means that the side stand will have been shortened, or at least that was the case with my previous XT660X. So if you put the bike back to standard suspension you will need to replace the side stand.