Honda XL600 seems slow and boring, wtf? Questions!

[BoyceLaForest]

First my bike:

1983 Honda XL600R, 9500 miles, stock, like new condition.

Where I live:

Burns, Oregon 5000ft elevation 60-85F summer.

Question:

This is my first Honda 600, I owned alot of bikes previous, anyway this bike has alot of torque it seems and will do about 85 topped out but takes awhile after 55mph to get to 80.

I had a 1997 Suzuki DR350 and the 600 has more torque but seems about that same speed if not a bit slower.

It is way way slower than a 2003 CRF450 I rode (but that was expected)

It is defintely faster than a 1992 Yamaha XT350 I had.

It will do wheelies in first gear if I sit back and nail the throttle... it wont pull up into a wheelie in 2nd unless a rock it hard and hit the throttle in mid-throttle range.

I thought these things where suppose to be faster than this, considering everything I have read it should be a wheelie monster!

It seems to run good, idle good, if I back off the throttle at 70mph it kind of surges harshly.. also going up a steep hill offroad in 1st gear under a load it kind of sounds like it is pinging? I am not sure, I havent checked anything on it, just bought it 2 days ago.

SO are they suppose to be like this or what??

45hp, 320lbs it should go pretty good right?

[BoyceLaForest]

I cleaned the airfilter, it was pretty dirty... It is abit better.. 1st gear full throttle from 5mph will barely lift the front tire off the ground (about a inch)

if I am in normal seating position, still doesnt feel fast... though the engine is just barely revving at 55mph, it gets kinda of buzzy at 75mph... maybe it is time for a gear change.

[rangerman]

If I hit my 87 full throttle, I won't even be close to being on the bike. I can easily do 2nd gear wheelies, I have not really been farther than a couple hundred feet (just got the bike) so I can't tell you when it tops out. Your bike seems screwed up. Run some seafoam through the carb and it should be good.

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[javatreker]

My riding partner as an xr600 - 97 and it rocks. This thing is crazy fast and tears up the mogul hills. I have a bored/stroked XR250 that has a pipe/carb and all the works, and I can't hold a candle to his 600. Just food for thought.

Has the jetting been set to your altitude?

I'm a high altitude rider, usually over 8000 feet. So I've set my bike up for going over passes at 13,500.

[Huffa 2]

A bike that old should have quite a few things checked on it, then see how it runs ?

1) inline gas tank fuel filter and screening in petcock filter bowl (if petcock has a bowl?)

2) compression checked

3) valve clearence checked

4) carb taken off and all jets/parts cleaned. Those jet orfices are so small that it's possible the bike is running on the lean side if they are clogged the slightest bit. You may want to try raising the needle jet one notch by lowering the clip on it, this in turn richens the mixture a bit from 1/4 to about 3/4 throttle I think

5) fresh spark plug

[Motosprtman]

A bike that old should have quite a few things checked on it, then see how it runs ?

1) inline gas tank fuel filter and screening in petcock filter bowl (if petcock has a bowl?)

2) compression checked

3) valve clearence checked

4) carb taken off and all jets/parts cleaned. Those jet orfices are so small that it's possible the bike is running on the lean side if they are clogged the slightest bit. You may want to try raising the needle jet one notch by lowering the clip on it, this in turn richens the mixture a bit from 1/4 to about 3/4 throttle I think

5) fresh spark plug

Agree. I had a new XL600R in 87 and it would easily loft the frond end by a blip of the gas, much like the XR650L does. Something is amiss on your bike as per the quote above.

As a sidebar note, the 650L is to me, smoother in power delivery than the

XL600R and the torque spread is larger, acceleration is nearly the same as the XL600R.

[Huffa 2]

Agree. I had a new XL600R in 87 and it would easily loft the frond end by a blip of the gas, much like the XR650L does. Something is amiss on your bike as per the quote above.

As a sidebar note, the 650L is to me, smoother in power delivery than the

XL600R and the torque spread is larger, acceleration is nearly the same as the XL600R.

I had a brand new 83 XL 600 and just got a 94 650. The 94 is totally stock yet. I only rode it a bit but if memory serves me correct, my 83 would walk all over this 94.

I'm sure with a few mods, all this will change!

I have a feeling though the 83 and your 87 of course are better wheelie machines because of having less travel and a (guessing here) shorter swingarm?

They weighed a good 25-30 lbs less too, didn't they?

Looks wise though, my 94 just TROMPS the older ones !!! ?

BoyceLaForest .......Post a pic or two of that baby! ?

[BoyceLaForest]

I will take some more pics today. I am also going to remove carbs today, clean them. (it has 2 carbs) and there is no grooves on the needle to adjust anything. Anyone with a 83xl600 that could post there mainjet size and info? I have a clymers manual I am going to use. Yeah this thing must defintely be slower than it should. Sux0r, strange thing is that it seems to run good maybe the 2nd carb main jet is completely plugged? ?

[BoyceLaForest]

Okay got carbs out.

Main jet primary 125

Main jet second 112

(these are stock settings, they seem clean, but I am cleaning everything in carbs.)

If anything the elevation I am at 5000ft the would need slightly smaller jets to compensate for the slightly less air... so that means it is running slightly rich, maybe. 5000ft is not that high to require changing the jets?

[Motosprtman]

Okay got carbs out.

Main jet primary 125

Main jet second 112

(these are stock settings, they seem clean, but I am cleaning everything in carbs.)

If anything the elevation I am at 5000ft the would need slightly smaller jets to compensate for the slightly less air... so that means it is running slightly rich, maybe. 5000ft is not that high to require changing the jets?

Ya know I would make sure the secondary carb is kicking in when it should. I had the fuel line that feeds the 2 carbs break one time and although the main carb got enough gas to keep it running it ran like crap - HUGE loss of power as one may expect. I reset the tube into the carbs and positioned into the boots and wa-la ran like a raped ape.

[BoyceLaForest]

Okay, carbs looked new inside, I blew some air, checked float levels etc and reinstalled, I removed the snorkel from the airbox while I was at it, made sure 2nd carb was getting gas, adjusted linkage to spec so second carb opens a bit earlier...

put back together and it is quite abit faster but now bogs when you hammer it, probally because of carb linkage adjustment...

My theory:

Carbs are jetted for sea level, thus it runs rich at 5k elevation which is causing a loss of power, not a major loss though, probally 20%... 8hp? Anyway running rich is good, and I will take it to sea level when I visit my folks, so I am going to leave it running rich and stock, otherwise I would have to change jets to avoid lean condition at sea level everytime I drove to visit...

Here is some more pics:

[Motosprtman]

Now that is a fine lookin XL! you may be right about the jetting. What is the plug color look like? lean would white with some gray on it, normal is light tan and rich is black.

[Huffa 2]

That is nice ! ?

Check the compression and valves though. With out them in spec, you can screw with carb all you want, you'll never get it to run at a 100% of how it's suppose to run.

With your milage I would think all is well but you still should check.

[BoyceLaForest]

Thanks! ?

The valves are within spec and the plug is a dark brown color. I took it on a 50 mile ride today roundtrip in the mountains, it seems to run great and idle good, bogs when you snap the throttle still, but it starts easily 1 or 2 kicks when cold and 1 when hot. (though I havent tipped it over or flooded it yet).

[Huffa 2]

XL 600 TEST !!!!!! ( Specs on page 3 ) take special note to perfomance of machine

http://www.4strokes.com/articles/honda/cwxl600test/

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BTW, forgot to mention my 83 would push a 100 (like in test) and that was about the limit.

Give or take probably a few mph speedometer error.

Yours should go right up to 85-90 with out much effort at all.

[crmc33]

If youre saying that the engine pulls harder if you close the throttle a little from wide open then that is a typical symptom of running too lean.

The blocked jet would cause this (and the poor acceleration)

It would also tend to run hot

[rangerman]

No offense or anything, but maybe it was not made to go from idle to full throttle. Maybe it is not warm when you are hammering the throttle.

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[BoyceLaForest]

No offense or anything, but maybe it was not made to go from idle to full throttle. Maybe it is not warm when you are hammering the throttle.

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No problem, it actually bogs less when it is cold. but also does it after 30 miles of riding... etc.