XRT 600. First Ride.

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cavemanperiod
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XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Fri Nov 04, 2011 6:44 am

Hi guys,

This is Ted from Canada.
Some of you know I have imported 1989 XRT 600 to Canada. This is my very first contact with a Gilera.
I purchased this motorbike solely on the info i was able to find about it on the internet. I have never seen a Gilera before, forget about taking one for a test ride. I thought that this bike makes sense and I decided to take the plunge and give it a shot.
So I paid for the bike, then for the shipping ($2800) and a few days later the bike arrived at my house in Canada.

It took some time to buy the timing belt and then to get it changed. Finally a few days ago I took my XRT for the very first ride.

I own a few bikes, like a Honda, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, Laverda. Great bikes. But this Gilera... This is something else... I was just blown away by its performance, feel, almost everything. It feels like a sport bike. Very, very tall sport bike. Ha, ha. I barely touch the ground with my feet when sitting on it. The bike feels very modern to me. Certainly this is the most modern design of all bikes I own. And I need to say that most of my bikes were build about the same time as this Gilera. They did a super good job with this XRT600. I really like the riding position, the feel of the bike, fantastic gear shifting. This is the kind of bike that when going home on it,you tend to take the long way. I am impressed! I can keep yapping about it and this is only after one short ride or two. I can not wait to take it for a really long ride, for a week end trip, etc.
But for this I will have to wait another six months. Winter is already at the door in Alberta.

Since we are talking.. I wanted to change the coolant in this bike. My guess was that I need to remove a couple of small bolts (10mm wrench) on the lower front of the engine. The coolant shot out when I did this. But only about one litr of it came out. Is this all that there is in the system or there is some other way to drain it so all would come out? How much coolant does the system holds in this bike?

All the best.

Ted

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Joachim
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by Joachim » Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:09 am

cavemanperiod wrote: How much coolant does the system holds in this bike?
About 1,3 litre.
Refilling it, don' t forget to bleed the system.
You can find the little screw on the right side of the engine. Just on top of the black plastic part in beside the room for the spark plug.

much fun, Joachim
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cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:25 am

Joachim wrote:
cavemanperiod wrote: How much coolant does the system holds in this bike?
About 1,3 litre.
Refilling it, don' t forget to bleed the system.
You can find the little screw on the right side of the engine. Just on top of the black plastic part in beside the room for the spark plug.

much fun, Joachim
Hello ,
Thank you for the tip about the bleeding the system. I would have never known.
I tried to find that screw but I was not successful.
I wonder if there is a better way to describe its location. Or would you be able to show it on a photo?

Thanx.
Ted

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Joachim
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by Joachim » Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:13 pm

thanks HP for your support.
I would have to go out in my dark and cold garage to take a picture ;)

ciao joachim
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cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:21 pm

HP wrote:
P5280069.JPG
the little M6 screw (10 mm wrench) on the right side of the pic is the high vent of the engine. Take care of the copper seal underneath head. Take out the screw and fill in water slowly. When water comes out the opening stop filling and fasten the screw. Then fill in the rest of water up to the end of the cap. Don´t forget to remove the old fluid in the balance tank, fill in new fluid too.

Good luck
HP

- WOW!!! What a team. Thank you very much.

cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:26 pm

Joachim wrote:thanks HP for your support.
I would have to go out in my dark and cold garage to take a picture ;)

ciao joachim
- Hey Joachim,
Not to worry. You have already helped me lots before. Greatly appreciated.

Ted

cavemanperiod
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XRT 600 Starter problem?

Post by cavemanperiod » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:19 pm

Hi Guys,
My first Summer on my XRT 600 has been very satifying in the most part.
Great bike indeed. I really enjoyed this bike with its "explossive" engine, as someone was saying.
Today, however, I was unable to start the bike. When starter button was pressed the starter was turning over but I heared a severe scritching sound (I guess from the starter somewhere).
I tried to start the bike with the kick starter . It was a hard job and I did not manage to start the engine.

Is there a certain very specific procedure when starting this bike when using kick start? Or the kick start is only a styling excercise in this application.
Hope someone can tell me.
All the best.
Ted

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ruemschruemp
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by ruemschruemp » Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:07 pm

Hi,

this seems to be the very know issue to all 600 Gileras.
Sound like you have to replace the starting clutch (using KTM parts).
It has the KTM part number 584.40.026.000.

Best,
Georg

cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Wed Sep 26, 2012 2:05 am

ruemschruemp wrote:Hi,

this seems to be the very know issue to all 600 Gileras.
Sound like you have to replace the starting clutch (using KTM parts).
It has the KTM part number 584.40.026.000.

Best,
Georg
---------------------------
Thank you Georg.
All the best.
Ted

cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:56 am

ruemschruemp wrote:Hi,

this seems to be the very know issue to all 600 Gileras.
Sound like you have to replace the starting clutch (using KTM parts).
It has the KTM part number 584.40.026.000.

Best,
Georg
-----------------------
Did you send me a message to another account with a question for me?

Ted

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ruemschruemp
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by ruemschruemp » Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:37 am

Hi Ted,

yes i did.
Picked up my XRT on thursday.
First i changed the transmission belt , made a short tour and noticed that water temperature is way too high.Checked the coolant level, seemed ok.Opened the cooler and it was almost empty and then it was ok.
So i went on my back home ( 300km) and everything was fine.
Very nice ride but i will have to buy new signal lights in the back as the original melted away at 140 km/h because the exhaust was very close to it.
The handling is great, can´t wait to make a proper tour with it.

Best,
Georg

cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:58 pm

ruemschruemp wrote:Hi Ted,

Hi Georg,
Glad to know you too like XRT. Great bike indeed.
I made about 3000 km on a weekend ride during the Summer. The bike was superb in reliability and comfort.

I replied to your questions. But the emails came back. I tried to email you using REPLY button and typing your address . Both messages came back.If you had any ideas how to make it work, let me know and we will try again.
Ted
---------------------------------------------------
yes i did.
Picked up my XRT on thursday.
First i changed the transmission belt , made a short tour and noticed that water temperature is way too high.Checked the coolant level, seemed ok.Opened the cooler and it was almost empty and then it was ok.
So i went on my back home ( 300km) and everything was fine.
Very nice ride but i will have to buy new signal lights in the back as the original melted away at 140 km/h because the exhaust was very close to it.
The handling is great, can´t wait to make a proper tour with it.

Best,
Georg

Bmk
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Re: XRT 600 Starter problem?

Post by Bmk » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:05 am

cavemanperiod wrote:Hi Guys,
My first Summer on my XRT 600 has been very satifying in the most part.
Great bike indeed. I really enjoyed this bike with its "explossive" engine, as someone was saying.
Today, however, I was unable to start the bike. When starter button was pressed the starter was turning over but I heared a severe scritching sound (I guess from the starter somewhere).
I tried to start the bike with the kick starter . It was a hard job and I did not manage to start the engine.

Is there a certain very specific procedure when starting this bike when using kick start? Or the kick start is only a styling excercise in this application.
Hope someone can tell me.
All the best.
Ted

Bmk
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:57 am

Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by Bmk » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:10 am

I sweated for close to half an hour in the blazing sun the first time I had to kickstart my XRT. Fiddled with the on/off/reserve regulator. Turned it to "off". Worked like a charm. Has never disappointed since. Just remember to turn it to "on" after the engine runs.

cavemanperiod
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Re: XRT 600. First Ride.

Post by cavemanperiod » Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:20 am

Bmk wrote:I sweated for close to half an hour in the blazing sun the first time I had to kickstart my XRT. Fiddled with the on/off/reserve regulator. Turned it to "off". Worked like a charm. Has never disappointed since. Just remember to turn it to "on" after the engine runs.
------------------
OK. I will make sure I remember about this one also. Thank you.
But my issue with starting the bike was that the starter was not " grabbing" the engine to turn it over.
Ted

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