Andy here....
Well, it was great. Gabriel (thoroughly good egg) turned up on time and the 3 of us set off to explore the myriad of green lanes in the South Hams area of South Devon.
The XT is a heavy beast and, since some previous owner put braided lines on, there is little or no feel to the back brake. It's either on or off. This is slightly disconcerting to say the least.
I had no problems other than trying to understand lots of torque and no revs compared to my TTR250 which has to be buzzed up a bit more.
Richard (my son) was riding the TTR but we swapped over and he liked the XT. At lunch Richard had to leave us and I sent him home on the XT as the TTR had all the tools strapped to it's rear carrier.
Gabriel and I reached home at 15.50 and after he'd loaded his bike onto his trailer he showed me the Mefo Tyres, the Enduristan Monsoon Panniers and the Rigid Industries LED Spot Lights.
These are all bits that I want to take with me on next years voyage. The Mefo Explorer tyres are absolutely the dogs dangly bits. The middle tread area is well spaced but has enough rubber to allow for fast tarmac cruising but good 'off-road' grip, whilst the outer edges are more closely spaced for good tarmac cornering. They wouldn't be so good in thick mud but most of the places we're going have good trails so I think the Explorers will be OK. They also have a good mileage life with Gabriel getting 7K+ out of them.
The Enduristan Monsoon Panniers are just so brilliantly thought out that they are definitely my first choice for soft panniers. Gabriel has already been around the world and we discussed "Hard v Soft" luggage. He is in agreement with me..hard luggage for mega tarmac miles as long as you stay on tarmac but soft luggage for off-road trips.
The Rigid Industries LED lights are another matter. They are very bright - see www.zenoverland.com - but they are 15w per light and this is a lot when I only have 200w to play with. I'll be fitting a 35w HiD headlight which is as bright as the LED lights so I'll wait and see if I need any more light! Watch this space.
This morning I washed and checked the bikes over and all is good. The squeak from the rear suspension on the XT has gone.....over to the rear suspension of the TTR! I've now greased the TTR's rear suspension so hopefully it'll be OK now.
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