An absolute steal of a deal at $3,000, this 1984 Honda XL600R is big. Really big. Not as in a V12 or a Gold Wing or some crazy 700-pound motorcycle big, but as in powerful. It can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Kaukauna, WI, and they’re asking $3,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!Â
I’m generally a 125 to a 250 guy as far as on/off-road motorcycles go; I’m not into bikes with so much power that they can actually be scary to ride. One wrong twist of the throttle and you’re on your back on the trail, or worse yet, on the road. I’ve mentioned too many times that my brother bought an XL600R new, and it was an absolute beast. Technology has certainly come a long way from the early 1980s, but something like this could still provide almost anything a person would need for getting to the trails and then conquering those trails.
Honda made this model from 1983 through 1987, and the ’84 models were all red and black as shown here. Honda’s philosophy, at least in marketing literature, is that more power = good, less power = bad. “The power game is simple. If you have the power, you rule. If you don’t, you follow.” That makes sense, at least on paper. I’d rather live by another philosophy: “It’s more fun to ride a slow motorcycle fast, than to ride a fast motorcycle slow,” to paraphrase that saying.
There appears to be some fading, and there are probably a few nicks and dings or scratches on this example, but Hagerty is at $3,500 for a #3 good-condition example and $6,600 for a #2 excellent XL600R. At $3,000, this appears to be a good deal if not a great deal. With 18,726 miles on the odometer, someone rode this one a lot, even if that’s just 446 miles a year on average.
The engine is Honda’s 589-cc SOHC four-stroke single with 43 horsepower and 36 lb-ft of torque when new. It has so much compression that there’s a compression release lever on the handlebars to kick start it. Power is sent through a 5-speed manual to the rear wheel, and the seller says it runs and rides great. What’s your ideal on/off-road motorcycle?
Suggestion to the new owner:
Get very, very familiar with the kick start process-the compression release will be your best friend and save your knees from hurting as much..
Good pick. These were great ADV bikes for their time (as were the XT/TT 500/600, etc). More than a few cut a new trail on faded tracks to an old mining camp or ghost town years ago.
Wow, somebody rode this 18,000 miles. I hope they didn’t dump it very often. Back in the day I would have done a lot of damage with something like this. I got my TS-185J Suzuki in 1973, hurt myself a bunch in the good ‘ol days. I’m still paying for that at 73.
My bike is restored, but now I ride it around the ‘hood” to get a thrill and annoy the neighbors with the 2 stroke turning 7000 RPM.
Now we’re talkin’, in fact, almost too much. I know, but there comes a point where on a dirt bike, more is not necessarily better. What happened here, is bike makers tried to bridge the gap between dirt and street, knowing full well how inept smaller bikes were on the road.( 5th gear up to 100??? on this??) My Suzuki DRZ 400 had almost 40 HP( as much as a VW!) and I can say without reservation, for off road, it simply didn’t need any more power. What is nice here, is it’s simplicity. Air cooled, a freakin’ kick starter, and a speedometer that doesn’t need a computer whiz to figure out. I seem to remember these being hard to start hot, like any big thumper, but on the dirt, if this thing hooks up, it will straighten your arms out, just be ready for that.
Ideal on/off road? That’d be the BMW, no question.
Cool bike. Too bad, I’m $1400 short and I have the trailer and a tankful of gas.
This is something I’d love to have, but at almost 74 years old I better stay away. Back in the Day I helped my 12 year old Son buy his first CR500. That thing had so much power it would rip lugs off new rear tires. It’s nice to see something like this on here.
Love the big thumpers . . Just enough twist to be a fun ride for anybody.
Listing update: this one is marked as sold. Someone got a good deal here.