The bike was given to me the day before Christmas 2014 in a very sorry state. The engine had been dusted, the rear suspension was flogged out, and the poor little thing was suffering all the usual problems of a 30 year old trail bike. However, as the basics were ok, I invested about $1000 in repairing it and getting fit for rego. After riding it a few times, I remembered what a sweat little bike these twin cam XT's were.
Although I "retired" from racing in 2012 after busting myself up badly on the APC rally of that year, I entered the Rally (non-comp) class of the 1st rnd of this years SART at Marrabel (Gawler MCC) just to have a fun ride. The little XT put in a great performance. Its light weight and good steering made it a blast to ride in the tight comp sections, and the engine even had enough grunt to pull my considerable bulk (135kg ready to ride) up the hills. If there was/is a down side it is that the rear suspension just can handle my weight when pushing it on the fast sections. Overall, I had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed the day and would have loved to have ridden a 2nd lap of the course.
Having had such a good time at Marrabel, I entered for Class P (Pre-1990 comp) for rnd 2 in the Barrosa Valley (Keyneton MCC) as it was going to be a daylight only event. The Keyneton boys alway put on a great event and the paddock sections were brilliant. I had a ball on the first lap and the little XT handled it well. About half way into the first paddock section on the 2nd lap, I went down the low side in a fast RH bend, braking my front brake lever clean off. Not having a slare lever, I carried on and roade the rest of the lap, about 70km including 5 more special paddocks without a front brake. Surprisingly, when I looked at my section times afterwards, I was faster in some of the tight paddocks on the 2nd lap with no brakes that I was on the first lap. It just goes to show that if you pick good lines and ride smoothly, you real do go faster. About the only issue I had with the little XT, apart from the broken brake lever, was with the gearing. I was consistently either changing up into 2nd gear, only to have to change straight back down to 1st, or reving the tits off the poor little thing in 1st gear, in one paddock I looked down at the tacho and it was showing 9000+rpm. I ended up 3rd in Class P (4 entries including 1 sidecar) and somewhere near last overall, but I had a great time.
Riding the sand in the final paddock section of the course at rnd 2.
I didn't ride rnd 3 The Robertstown Two Day or rnd 4 the 24Hr as my masochistic tendencies have diminished a bit over the passed few years.
Having had a good ride in the Barrosa, I entered for rnd 5, the Gill Harris 6Hr at Mallala (Leveis MCC). As my finish time was scheduled to be well after dark, around 8pm, I fitted a 55/100 QH headlight globe and a LED aux light above the head light to show me the way after dark. I also fitted a 14T countershaft sprocket in place of the std 15T to trying make 2nd gear more usable in the tight scrub paddocks that Mallala is famous for. A fair bit of rain leading up to the event saw near perfect conditions on the day, with zero dust and only a couple of slippery patched in the first and 2nd paddock sections. I had a great ride, riding in company with the 2 other solo competitors in Class P. Again the little XT performed well above what you would expect from a basic trail bike. The change to the 14T countershaft made the gearing spot on for the tight scrub paddocks. After gating in 1st, it was straight up to 2nd most of the paddock sections (2 to 3km in length), in a few of the fast a bit I even managed to hook 3rd gear for a while. I ended up with 2nd place in Class, only because one of the other riders lost 600 points for not putting his foot on the ground at the stop sign as you left main control. Overall I was 83rd or 84th just a few places off of last, but I had finished and thats was good enough for me.
After the finish at Mallala
I have entered the River Murray RT, which is on Saturday down at Manum, the weather looks like it could be wet, but it is another daylight only event and hopefully it will be as much fun as my last two events. That will be the end of the season for me this year as I am COC for the 7th and final round at Clare.
So far the little XT has performed way better than I could ever have expected. Its light weight and small size makes it a fun thing to ride in the tight scrub paddocks, and it goes fast enough for me. Yes the suspension is a bit soft and there is not a lot of travel at the rear, but it is miles ahead of the old XT500 that I rode in 2008/2009/2010. I have been in contact with a friend who runs a bike shop and he has half a dozen old 1980's TT350's. I will be heading up to see him in a few weeks time to see if I can pickup good one and enough bits to build up a descent bike for next year. I will be a sad thing to pension off the 250, but it would just be cruel to keep abusing the poor little thing.
A final pic of the baby XT in action, taken while check riding the course for the 3rd round of the SAORC at Auburn in June.
Col
