The start to preping a XR650R for alaska.

Hi my name is Ryan I purchased my bike when I was 19. It wasn't running when I got it but i spent the next several months setting everything right and eventually it sprang to life after too many electrical issues. three months of great rides ended in a seized connecting rod bearing  . i debated scrapping the whole thing until i realized that id never have another street-legal 650r. so again I began working on my bike another three months and it was back on the road but this was my first motor build and i made mistakes, so soon I'll be doing a slow thoughtful Full rebuild. Now I'm 20 and have eight months to build my bike. Any advice is appreciated.

if your planning on a full rebuild, make sure to replace all the major shaft bearings, i.e- the ones supporting the shafts at each end, next -replace the oil pump rotors, the std type camchain is fine, just make sure you do install a new one, if its a 2000 model, replace the clutch basket bush[ they changed it in 2001] thoroughly check the bigend assembly, if any doubts , replace it with a falicon rod kit from xr's only, hi comp pistons up to 11.5:1 are ok , stage 1 cams seem like they should be in there std, if your mtrs ov/heated, carefully check the rockers, valvesprings, if the rockers have no sign of wear or ov/heat they can be reused, the black diamond s/steel valves are recommended , last better than the std valves, plus they come in ov/sizes [ only recommended if having the ports professionally ported], light valve to port clean up is recommended togeather with a good valve /seat cut, if you have the std exhaust headers- get rid of them as they restrict the mtrs performance[ any aftermarket system will give more power due to the removal of the restrictors

Thanks I start compiling parts soon and after I have everything ready i'll start the rebuild. it runs good now but im just not as confident as I want to be.

I'm doing a bit of a rebuild myself right now, although I only had a few hours on the bike, not a few months!...

Personally I've chosen to rebuild it stock, not going with oversize pistons or cams etc.. A few reasons, many of them long-term reliability. If I want more power I'll take out my KTM Super Enduro

Read this entire thread here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409774&page=1214

It'll take a while but you can skip "the early years"...