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That's fucking cool.
Was watching Harry's Garage recent videos on Sandraiders and dreaming of a new bike / trip next year.
Soul-
I haven't gotten around to finishing watching this years Sand Raiders vid he's done but I really really want to do Sand Raiders next year or the year after!
I'd probably want to do it on an XTZ600 or XL600 (or even something smaller) rather than the XTZ750... after my brief taste of Moroccan fesh fesh I'm truly in awe of how Peterhansel and the like were bombing dunes on XTZ850s and Africa Twins! Especially after seeing all of the 450 rally bikes at Rally Du Maroc... big bikes must have been murder in the desert!
Nahguavkire
Deposit paid on this over the weekend!
Good bits:
1991 Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténéré
Engine swap from a 1996 TRX850
Arrow Dakar exhaust
The 850 engine swap basically makes this a fairly true-ish replica of an actual Dakar spec factory XTZ and it sounds absolutely incredible through the Arrow Dakar exhaust!
Aesthetically it's far less clean than it appears in the photo so I'll have a fairly lengthy to-do list of small jobs on it but none of it is so heinous that it will stop me from riding it as is until I've accumulated parts etc.
Bad bits:
-Full new set of fairings, the ones that are on it are all very badly cracked and damaged beyond repair.
-New tank or repair the one that's on it, someone at some stage overtightened too long a bolt into one of the fairing mounts and punctured the tank and had the bright idea of welding a bolt into it as a repair so that'll need rectifying.
-Engine was painted when the swap was done but it's a very scruffy finish so I'll eventually get around to redoing that, same goes for a lot of small nuts, bolts and parts on the bike that are suffering from age-related surface rust and tattiness.
-I'll rebuild the wheels with some Excel rims eventually too, the existing ones have been painted or powder-coated but it's a bit flaky.
The price was right though and most of the to-do list is small jobs that can be easily spread over time so I'm very excited to collect it (XTZ seller is going on a Nordkapp trip in the next few weeks and gone for a month so might not get to collect it until July)
I've also just discovered that the local motorcycle mechanic near my folks is a French chap who was a factory mechanic for Yamaha Dakar team in the 90s which may well prove to be a handy fellow to know!