High time I did my "review" of my new steed!
I collected my XT in Jan the Temp was minus 7 and I thought what hell am I doing this for? Bye Bye to the Gixer Thou and picking up a single cylinder "tractor"! mmmm I wondered if the right move had been made.
The weather meant no real run till Le Mans so off I went in a group of Ktms and another Yam.
I had already sussed I could throw the XT around alot more than the sports bike and was having far more fun. Road handling although bumpy was far more forgiving than my previous bike. The boots were fine on road what would happen later on the trip would expose the weakness!
We plodded across the French flatlands and I stayed right up the tailpipes of the bigger KTM's. Then we went off road. Initially the XT romped up the forest shingle/mud clay firetracks.Then came the wet stuff and the factory fit Tourances proved to be well short of suitable! So much to the amusement of the Orange boys I spent the nest few stages sideways! Even with this the bike still had to poke to do the job asked of it.
We came across a flint hill steep but with care "do able" down then mmmm up bloody tyres! Halfway up bumped in to a deep gulley and the new toy was on the floor. Hey ho my fault. Rolled back down , faster and more aggressive gets the job done!!! more firetracks and more road sections and the confidence was returning.
A couple of days at Le Mans then the return trip, the other Yam rider wussed out ( you know who you are! ) Due to a sleeping injury!!! This time it was belting down. Bloody tyres ( I thought again) The ride back was bloody hard and I struggled to cope then it happened , rain, puddles, deep gullies and grass. An "off" I was stuck under the bike with my ankle facing all sorts of wierd angles! Never mind it gave the others a giggle!
I learned a few things about the XTR change the boots, and get some hard luggage boxes to lower the weight. But my overall thoughts............ so Glad the Gixer went,, This bike is fun and I really enjoyed riding it.
A good move and a happy man!!!

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Silverback

Like you i dont miss sportbikes you can have so much fun off roading or playing in the twistes.

you go ages with no B-kings on rd then there everywhere,few days back seen one stripped right down with 4-1 system on the side of bike it looked pure hardcore

Hope the ankles better. Im sure though you where more comfortable on the XT than those on the KTMs, also you should be paying less as the KTM's need more servicing etc

Kiethblade,those pipes are sexy

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Plough on

....that'll be me then!! To put the record straight, it wasn't a case of wimping out on the way back and by the way.......I hear you went to hosiptal ya tossa

Bottom line is that although the Orange Riding, Psuedo Germanic numptys think they're hardcore they clearly aint. I mean one fell off on the flat in a straight line (ooooh, very greasy apparently), another tumbled into a ditch at zero miles per hour (must have something to do with an uneven load) and the other one nearly t-boned me without any provocation.

Tenere's.......the choice of hard men?

.......mind you, my arm don't half ache, d'ya think I should go to the hospital so i can get signed-off for three weeks?????

Just topping up the tan! Hush petal hush !!! but hey at least we both tried !!!!

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Silverback