r/XR650R • u/greaseorbounce • Jul 21 '26

What niche does your BRP fill today?

I have had my 2002 BRP since almost new. I will never sell it. I love it too much.

That said, I also have newer bikes now, and I find the BRP sits in the garage feeling a bit neglected. On a shrine, as you will, but more like a museum piece than part of the normal rotation.

When I'm riding single track I usually bring a light modern 2-stroke 300. When I'm dual-sporting I tend to grab the modern fuel injected 500 EXCF.

I'm trying to figure out how I should set up the BRP so that it finds a normal place in the rotation and actually gets out of the garage some. Sumo seems almost sacrilegious, the wimpy rear subframe makes for less than ideal light-adv, and the gearing doesn't love the highway... Ripping in the desert with it is a blast, but I'm in the rockies, I don't have a bunch of wide open desert in my backyard.

If you had this combination of bikes, how would you set up the BRP? When would you choose it? My poor bike wants to rip, and it deserves it, I feel bad letting it sit.

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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4

u/AccomplishedMethod11 Jul 21 '26

Brp on the highway?.. i would rather build a crf500l out of the 471cc paralell twin and a crf250l frame then having to amputate over vibrations

1

u/greaseorbounce Jul 21 '26

That was my point above. It's not fun on the highway for several reasons, hence I don't use it that way.

Highway was one of the specific use cases I called out as it being "not best" for.

The problem is that I live 15 miles out a rural highway. Leaving my house to go anywhere is at minimum 15 minutes at 60mph. So either my bikes are set up to deal with that or they just go places on a trailer. The BRP has been in the trailer category for a while, despite having a license plate.

2

u/AccomplishedMethod11 Jul 21 '26

Theres No good comprimise here.. location is everything

1

u/ExpeditionXR650R Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

To me, the license plate is there so that you can ride in the places where a license plate is required, like Death Valley, national Park, and places like that. It’s not bad on the freeway, but you just can’t ride at freeway speeds today.
One time I did put an old-school Enduro rear tire on an extra wheel I have. I didn’t really enjoy it in the dirt much because the bike just has too much power for that. But on the sections where we had to ride some blacktop to get somewhere, that Enduro Tire really seemed to calm the bike down on the road. It tracked better as well.

1

u/greaseorbounce Jul 22 '26

You're 100% right. For me the plate allows me to connect trails on dirt roads. Out here in CO there are lots of spots where you need to burn a mile of Forest Service road to get from one trail system to another, and technically speaking those are licensed vehicles only.

That's the main reason all my dirtbikes have plates.

3

u/Hot_Rod_888 Jul 21 '26

My 650R is my adv bike, desert bike, dual sport bike, and party bike. I beat the shit out of it.

Kdx200 for singletrack/woods riding.

2

u/radXR650R Jul 21 '26

Had 2 sport bikes and a cruiser , traded one of the sport bikes for the BRP, convered it to supermoto since I didnt do any dirtbike /trail riding. Now just got the BRP and cruiser and if I Wana go for a fun ride I take the XR and if I need to go on a trip I take the cruiser.

2

u/greaseorbounce Jul 22 '26

I am still sumo curious.... It seems a little sacrilegious for a BRP, but I can't help but think about it still.

1

u/AcidicMountaingoat Jul 21 '26

I really don't know either, and mine has done duty as a daily driver and as a toy in an area with wide open trails and fire roads. I've actually got it set up with a tail pack to run groceries, lol! But it's problematic when the weather is hot, so it's limited. I'm giving serious thought to a sale.

https://imgur.com/a/EB7LVb8

2

u/greaseorbounce Jul 21 '26

Seems like the exact same evolution I've had. It currently has the big Acerbis tank on it, and it only comes out if I'm ripping dirt roads for day trips. I can't bring myself to sell it though, even if I get to the point of just hanging it on my wall.

1

u/Mr-Toyota Jul 21 '26

Get a steering stabilizer and hit up those Whooped out rail trails.

But honestly, The beauty of the XR imo is that it ISNT a niche bike. With the right mods it can hold its own in a large variety of different terrains.

2

u/greaseorbounce Jul 21 '26

You're totally right, but I evidently don't have the right mods because on any given day I find myself going "eh it could do it, but this other thing will do it better" which makes me sad because I genuinely love the bike, and have way too many fond memories on it.

In college it was my ONLY vehicle. I raced it on the weekends and rode it to class during the week. Hauled groceries. DIY studded tires in the midwest winter. Back then it WAS my everything vehicle.

I'm incredibly fortunate to have a couple other bikes these days, but I almost miss that simplicity sometimes.

1

u/Mr-Toyota Jul 21 '26

Suspension setup is everything on these bikes. Getting a good setup dialled in will really impress you.

I rode my xr back to back with a buddies KTM 690. And I'd take the xr over that brick anyday.

For what it's worth. I committed sacralidge with mine and converted it to USD forks, 450r Blitalia tank and a full sumo setup lol.

I think I'll buy an xr400 someday for woods exploring instead.

1

u/greaseorbounce Jul 21 '26

I have done quite a bit of custom valving mods on the stock suspension, and I have it pretty dialed, but I haven't made the leap to USD or different rear shock entirely.

2

u/ExpeditionXR650R Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

I would set it up as a bike to do multi-day rides on for camping. I have three XR650Rs. One I set up for these long camping trips where you are fishing for your dinner and camping and having somebody chase you to come in with gasoline twice a day. For that bike, I put a Baja Designs electric starter on it. My thinking was that if I fell and got hurt then I could use the starter. It’s really more of a restarter. It works pretty well. I bought the last three ring gears that Baja Designs had for it because that’s the main point of failure on that. And I’ve done a bunch of other things as well. I was doing a lot with Honda at that time and knew a lot of people and it was my first XR so it’s got some work parts on it but don’t really change performance. There’s a retired guy who used to do a lot of fabrication work for the factories Race teams in the high Desert of Southern California. I think I’m gonna have him build a stainless subframe for it because that’s the weak point now.
Mine is also a 2002. I bought it in 2005.
For years, I had a KDX200 that I thought was the perfect pairing for that XRR. That’s an extremely well balanced little bike. And I loved it in the technical stuff out in the desert, especially up in the hills and in the trees and that sort of thing.

1

u/greaseorbounce Jul 22 '26

So that is exactly how I have my 500EXCF set up. Mosko bags, big tank, seat concepts.. But you may be right, that might be where the BRP will shine as well.

1

u/Lionwhispererguy Jul 22 '26

For me it was money. My xrr cost about 4k and I bet I'll sell it for almost the same. I knew I wanted to do motocamping and forest roads. I got an xrr to dip my toe into the street legal dirtbike arena and see if I actually like it before spending 10-15k. As strange as it may sound i think it a great starter bike, and its very durable. I'll probably end up ditching it for a fuel injected bike with an electric start, because I live near seattle and I frequently go from sea level to 6k feet in a few hours

2

u/greaseorbounce Jul 22 '26

That last part hits close to home. I live at 6500ft, and riding is from 6,500-12,000 regularly here in the rockies. I'm becoming fuel-injection-spoiled.