This guide details how we prepared our Yamaha XT660R motorcycle for a RTW trip, but all of these modifications are transferable to preparing any adventure bike for travelling. Check out what changes we’ve made and get some ideas on how to get your bike ready to ride round the world too.
Contents
Round the World Yamaha XT660R
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers
Preparing our motorcycle for a round the world trip
Our Yamaha XT660R is no stranger to travel. The bike has been through sandstorms, swamps, crashed, completely submerged and set on fire… twice. Back in 2011, I rode it from the UK to Iraq and back. It was well prepared for that trip, or so I thought. Since then we’ve learnt a few things about motorcycle travel and what needs to be done to prepare one for travel. In this guide you’ll find a complete list of changes we made to the XT for our RTW adventure.
And nearly all of these modifications and alterations are transferrable to any adventure bike and every traveller preparing their motorcycle for a round the world trip as well. So, use this guide to check out what we’ve done and for ideas on how to get yours ready too.
READ MORE:
How does your adventure bike look?
The XT came in bright red and white colours with decals plastered all over it. I quickly swapped them out for plain black fairings and removed all the stickers. I like the battered and bruised look because it doesn’t attract as much attention. In rougher areas, expensive looking bikes attract more attention than raggedy looking bikes caked in mud and stops them from looking as appealing to thieves.
Also, riding through a poor village on a gleaming motorcycle that looks like it cost £20,000 isn’t nice for the people who live there.
Exhaust routing
Check how your exhaust runs. Does it run underneath your bike? Has it got heat protectors fitted to stop it from burning soft panniers? Have you got a heavy twin exhaust system that can be swapped into a single can? These are all considerations to make when prepping your bike. Here’s what happened in our case.
The XT originally ran two pipes and the headers were routed underneath the bike – perfect for smashing on rocks. Swapping the unit for a Metal Mule two-into one-system shaved 10kg off the total weight and now has the pipe running alongside the bike. I’m still undecided on the system, it sounds and looks great but it’s very close to the swingarm and can hit it. The exhaust has also snapped off (after six years) and had to get welded back on in Slovakia. I also grinded off the bolts for the carbon fibre plate and heat wrapped it to stop the bolt from melting my trousers.
READ MORE:
UPDATE: By the time we reached Cambodia after two years on the road, we had enough. We brought the original stock twin exhausts out from the UK (luckily we didn’t chuck them), fitted them back and beefed up the bashplate.
Motorcycle suspension
If your bike doesn’t come with adjustable suspension and you’re going to be riding off-road a lot and carrying luggage, an aftermarket rear shock is worth its weight in gold. It’s not a necessity, but if you enjoy off-roading and really want to get the most out of it, then having a custom shock to cater for all the additional weight is a great idea.
We swapped the standard rear shock on the XT out for a Nitron unit. I didn’t think I needed a replacement rear shock for the Iraq trip. But I had the original swapped out for a British made Nitron shock due to having a pillion and extra luggage – and I wish I had done it sooner. The Nitron shock has made all the difference in handling and confidence when on the rough stuff.
It originally came with a remote preload adjuster, which made flitting between preload settings smooth and easy (an unfortunate chain accident cut the cable and now it’s manually adjusted instead). Still, a fantastic bit of kit. The front forks have stayed the same, I did buy and fit a pair of gaiters from eBay for £15 to protect the seals from dust.
READ MORE: 6 Tips for Travelling with a Pillion
Adventure bike crash protection
The most important bit of crash protection for a round the world motorcycle is your bashplate or sumpguard. Some adventure bikes come with a standard plastic version that will rip off after a bit of rough off-roading. Shoving a rock through your sump is a quick way to end a trip. You don’t want to be wincing every time you go over jagged rocks in the middle of nowhere.
Next up is protecting your engine casings with crash bars, followed by foldable levers.
For more info on how to protect your adventure bike, check out our dedicated article:
READ MORE:
Here are the crash protection modifications we made to the XT.
- Bashplate from German company Off-the-Road
- Crash bars from SW-Motech
- Handguards from Bark Busters
- Collapsible gear lever from Off-the-Road and clutch casing protector
- An old piece of hose pipe protects the coolant pipe from stray stones
- Foldable mirrors off a KTM (stops them snapping when crashing) from eBay
Ergonomics
Going on a round the world motorcycle trip means you’re going to be in the saddle non-stop. The last thing you want is to be uncomfortable, so making your bike as comfortable as possible for those long days should be at the top of your list.
We have a dedicated guide on improving your bike’s ergonomics.
READ MORE: How to Ride Long Distance in Comfort
Here are the changes we made to our bike.
- Grippy footrests from SW-Motech with removable rubber. I decided I wouldn’t need the rubber and have since chucked them.
- Renthal handlebar
and SW-Motech bar risers - Renthal grips
- The old seat was fitted with memory foam padding for both rider and pillion, it was widened and shortened too and I had new material put on all for £150. The padding has proved excellent, but the new seat cover isn’t particularly tough. It would be a better idea to opt for foam inserts and keep your own seat cover.
- I used to have a tall screen, which was brilliant but I swapped it back for the small one because I liked the look better. In cold conditions I wish I hadn’t.
and SW-Motech bar risers
Luggage
- Top box and luggage plate from SW-Motech (see our ultimate luggage set-up guide)
- Rotopax petrol and water containers (6.6 litres each)
- Pannier rack from SW-Motech (to keep the soft bags away from the rear wheel and exhaust)
- A holdall shelf was welded onto the rack to take our camping bag. (Here’s our Camping Gear List)
- Tool box is an old army ammo tin, bought for £12 from eBay and bolted to the sumpguard and padlocked
- Pipe luggage is made out of cheap guttering and attached to the rack with cement glued screw on caps. It carries liquids and spare fuel.
- We started with two Lomo 40 Litre duffel bags and now use Lomo panniers.
READ MORE: Motorcycle Luggage Guides
Handy stuff
- The XT didn’t come with a centre stand, so I fitted an aftermarket one from SW-Motech (which as you can tell, has quickly become my go-to for XT parts)
- When fully loaded the rear compresses and the sidestand is too long. So, it was cut down and a stronger piece of tubing was inserted inside with three holes. Two nuts were welded onto the original sidestand and one hole drilled through. Now it has three changeable height settings. A wider footplate was also welded on to stop it sinking in soft ground.
- Tom Tom Sat-Nav and lockable RAM mount (since swapped out for our mobile phone instead)
READ MORE: The Best Motorcycle Sat Navs
Nifty stuff
- The brake pins have both got a piece of steel wire wrapped around them and the bike so they won’t get lost
- The airbox has been greased with silicone to capture any dust and the air filter was changed for a K and N unit.
- All electrical connections were greased up
- Scottoiler high capacity reservoir system with dual injectors is attached behind the number plate
- The original horn was swapped out for an extra loud one.
- The cush drive rubbers are notorious for wearing out quickly on XTs, so square pieces of inner tube were cut up and laid across the cush rubbers to pack it out.
Tools and spares
- Tools were all placed into the army ammo box up front.
- Spares are all kept in a Kriega bag which has been strapped onto the inside of the rear rack and rests on the gutter luggage.
Changes
Nearly three years after leaving home in the UK, our set-up has changed completely. We’ve returned the XT to stock suspension and exhausts, the Rotpax and pipe luggage has been ditched, same as the sat-nav and so has one full 40 litre duffel. We’re out of the cold (-20C) and don’t need half of the stuff we started with.
We now use one pair of Lomo panniers at the rear and a pair of Lomo crash bar bags up front. The tool box and top box has stayed the same.
Mad or Nomad is reader supported. We may receive a commission, at no cost to you, if you purchase products using affiliate links on our site. We’re not sponsored, are completely impartial and don’t run ads. So this helps us keep the site running and free. Thank you for your support.
Read more on preparing an adventure bike for a round the world trip
Thanks for checking out our How We Prepared Our Motorcycle for a Round the World Trip Guide. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more articles on adventure bike prep that we recommend you read next.
Liked that? Try these next…
Hello, all this preparation is very interesting, however I have a question: why did you put the original pots and the original shock absorber back on?
TRANSLATED FROM:
Bonjour, très intéressant toute cette préparation, cependant je me pose une question : pourquoi avoir remis les pots d’origines et l’amortisseur d’origine ?
Hi, thanks for your comment .
We mentioned in the article under the exhaust routing section that the exhaust just caused us continuous problems. It kept breaking and falling apart. We brought the originals back to Cambodia and we didn’t have a single problem again with them.
And the aftermarket shock absorber completely broke in Afghanistan and leaked all its oil. We shipped the original to Kyrgyzstan where we fitted it and rode all the way to Japan, through Southeast Asia, to Australia and didn’t have a single problem.
Now we try and keep things as original and stock as possible.
Thanks for reading,
Andy
Hello again, Andy. My XT(R) fit-out is almost there now (loads of ideas nicked from this site) and I’m looking at any necessary suspension mods. I see that you went back to the stock monoshock but did you keep the stock spring – even with a pillion etc? It would be helpful to know whether the stock spring worked for you even with your full load. I won’t be taking a pillion but I’m 95kg before lunch so I’m trying to work out whether a stronger spring is likely to be needed. Thanks for any info there.
Hi Nigel,
Good to hear from you – great that your XT is almost ready!
Yes, I went back to the fully standard stock rear shock – even with a pillion.
We dumped all our gear in Tajikistan and rode into Afghanistan two-up on a light bike with minimal gear. The road was terrible, but we made it through. By the time we got back to Tajikistan the shock had blown.
I had to ride to Kyrgyzstan like that (luckily we met some friends and one of them took Alissa on the back). The ride with no shock caused my rear sub frame to snap.
In Kyrgyzstan I decided I had had enough of the aftermarket shock letting us down.
Luckily, I didn’t chuck my original shock and left it in my garage at home. I had my brother post it to me and fitted that. From Kyrgyzstan to the end of Australia, over 4 more years and way, way worse roads through Mongolia, Southeast Asia, etc that standard shock carried me, my pillion and all our gear without a single problem.
So, that doesn’t mean I don’t like aftermarket shocks. We currently use K-Tech shocks on our Honda CRF300Ls. We’ve been riding these round the world for four years and they are the absolute best. I tried leaving with standard – nope, awful. Then I tried upgrading to a stiffer K-Tech spring – and it wasn’t enough. Changed the rear and front to K-Tech suspension and it’s transformed the bike. Just brilliant.
It depends on the bike and the unit you get, your luggage load and the roads you take. If it were me, for the Honda yes 100% change the whole thing. For the XT I was fine with standard. However, if i was to ride around the world again on the XT and without a pillion, I would be riding the bike harder off-road and want more feel from the bike and for the rear to be stiffer to cope with a harder ride, so I would upgrade the spring but keep the OEM shock. K-Tech will do a stiffer spring, it will be a relatively inexpensive mod.
Hope this helps
Andy
Brilliant advice, Andy. Thank you. Yes, the standard shock with an upgraded spring seems to be the way to go for the XT. Its about £100 so a good affordable option. I’ll look for a link to a supplier on your website, which will hopefully help a bit.
Hi Nigel, no problem at all – happy to help.
And that’s kind of you, thank you, but we don’t earn any commissions on that, so don’t worry about looking for a link.
I recommend contacting K-Tech. UK based and exceptionally good. When I had a stiffer spring fitted, I just called up, discussed what I needed and they made their recommendations based on that, took the shock to them and they changed the spring in no time.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on.
Cheers
Andy
Lots of excellent advice here. Thank you. I am fitting up an XT660R for a trip through Africa so this is all very helpful. I don’t see any mention of radiator protection. Did you find that the stock radiator protection (plastic grill) was adequate to deal with wet mud and crashes, or should I consider more crash bars, radiator brace etc?
Hi Nigel, great to hear you’re kitting out an XT for Africa! Fantastic, we’re in Africa at the moment and loving it. I’m sure you’re going to have a great time.
I didn’t fit a radiator guard, but I did fit crash bars to the XT. And that was more than enough protection.
I rode my XT from the UK to Iraq back in 2011 and then rode it from the UK to Australia two-up with my wife for 5 years. The bike was dropped a lot during that time and we rode everything – from deserts, to mountains to mud to – just everything and didn’t have any issues with protection.
So, I would say not to worry about the grill. However, you could ask someone else who had a stone break the rad after a 5 minute ride – sometimes it’s just luck.
Personally, I would fit crash bars if possible (100% fit a sump guard) and leave the radiator as is.
Hope this helps,
Andy
Super. Many thanks!
Great. Thanks. From what I can make out in the photos, you have the SW-Motec engine bars (or similar) that protect the lower part of the engine only. Coincidentally, that is exactly what I have fitted. So it sounds like you haven’t fitted “high level” crash bars in addition and your radiator has survived?
Yes, that’s right, I fitted engine bars. I also welded a higher bar on so that I could strap my crash bar bags. But that was somewhere in Kazakhstan and after a lot of drops already.
So yes, I did have higher ones, eventually, but they were just very cheap extension bars fitted by a Kazakh welder for about £5. I don’t know how protective they would have been.
But either way, the lower bars did a good enough job.
My rad and bike has survived a lot of drops. I was never worried about damaging it.
But if you are taking on a big trip and you ride hard off-road and are worried about your radiator and want more protection. A hundred quid might be worth the peace of mind for you.
Hope this helps,
Cheers
Andy
Thanks again. Upper bars are very pricey (£200+ with import taxes etc) and probably incompatible with the ones already fitted (and more weight, of course) – so I really want to be sure that they are necessary before going down that route. Sounds like they’re not so very important on the XTR – so that’s good news. If I find a welder that could knock something simple up just for the rad for under £100, I’ll probably go for that. Peace of mind is indeed important.