I'm the guy who is going around the world on an XT660R, the guy who's been labeled above as an ill-prepared knob....

For starters, yes I was unaware the XT660R was never sold in the USA. If not knowing that makes me under-prepared then I would suggest you contact 54 Yamaha importers world-wide before you start a trip around the world to see if they sell your particular model and particular year. If not then contact all the importers to see if they will supply you with a spare part cross-reference list... I'd be interested to see how many importers actually reply, how long it will take to get those replies and of what use they will be. Also be aware that models made for the Australian market may be different from the ones sold somewhere else.

Your comment on Yamaha warranty being world-wide is simply not true, it is country specific! (Yamaha's words not mine) So although the XT being made in France, I actually had no warranty while in France. I personally think this is a pretty poor show from a worldwide operating manufacturer which also sell motorcycles intended for worldwide travel.

I did not take a chain and sprocket kit with me on purpose, as these things weigh a lot. My trip is over 100,000 km long, to be safe I would have needed to take 5 sets of chains and sprockets with me... Taking one set would have only helped me once... Weight is a killer and destroyer of many a rack and pannier set. Normally chains and sprockets are available everywhere, quite possibly cheaper than your home country and there is thus no need to carry them. The problem here is not the chains or the sprockets but Yamaha's decision to use a unique front sprocket for the XT660. Your comment about nothing imported into the USA having the same sprocket isn't true. It was fitted to the NX650 range which was imported in the USA in 1989 (and sold dismal i.e. no parts in stock).

You then suggest I could have easily gone online and sort it out. We were travelling and camping in far north Alaska and Canada, internet may be freely available in your home but when camping in state parks and national parks it simply isn't available, being from Australia you should know that. But even if we had internet then we wouldn't have had a physical address to send it to.
What I did instead is contacted Yamaha dealers along the way, after all they should be able to cross reference, but they couldn't care. I then contacted Yamaha Canada and USA, who cared even less. That, my friend, was the problem. We were on top of things but Yamaha wasn't willing to solve the issue.

And then it becomes really interesting as you call me a knob... I don't think we've met and you certainly don't know me so that's a rather unfriendly statement. But hey, I'm a knob because I think a clutch cable can be bought at a Yamaha dealer...? I guess if you go around the world you would take, a water pump rebuild kit, a clutch cable, two throttle cables, sprockets, chains, spare tyres, spokes, swing arm bearings, wheel bearings, cush drive rubbers, a complete gasket kit, fork seals, rear shocky, handlebars, levers, battery... and pull a trailer to carry it all. While I like to think that is why there are Yamaha dealers world wide, so you can get your spares there! To hammer the point home: Honda was far more helpful and did keep those items in stock... they simply handed me a bundle of clutch cables to see which one would fit. The difference was the attitude: Honda was customer focussed, Yamaha was not. Or as we were told several times by motorcyclists in the USA 'ever since Yamaha started selling jet skies, motorcycles became unimportant'.

Just to put the record straight on being prepared. We have the tools with us we need. My dad is with me on this trip, and a mechanic by trade who knows his stuff. He started working on dirt bikes when he was 12 years old and learned the trade from an experienced mechanic, he's 51 himself now. He keeps an eye on the bikes, checks wear of consumables continuously and plans where they would need to be replaced. He makes sure tyres are being ordered ahead, chains and sprockets are ready at dealers to be replaced when needed and where we do the servicing. Of course you can claim you take a filter and a clip link with you and are prepared. We take them too, but we don't call that being prepared, not even slightly. Proper maintenance has resulted in us never being stranded anywhere in the world. My XT has now over 85,000 hard kms on it, we will enter Kazakhstan in a couple of weeks. I guess it's like the famous quote: the credit lies not with the critic but with the man in the arena, the man who's actually out there doing it.