It was night and day - on a twin shock if you got out of 2nd gear the seat would smack you in the back of the head. On a Pro-Link you could be in 5th gear using the full 300mm front and rear, a whole new world of off road speed opened up.
Enjoyed that clip seems like yesterday .No1 under the sun.The 500 feels like a heavy beast now days and with the blimmin kickstart compared to crf450r .Too big and heavy for me but ya not carrying them around on your shoulders are ya but riding them .As long as you can put both feet on the ground it's fine .The crf450 r range today only they are over squared ,lighter ,shorter stroked and higher maintenance but out perform the 500 older single thumpers .The other yamaha tt500 was another contender then .Honda just got better and betterer. .Thinking about it I don't see any xr 350's about .no doubt they are still out there .ive had a quite a few xrs' xlr and xls but never had the xr350 would have been a far better bike for me than the crf450r I now have.
strobo,
Sep 30, 8:02pm
Just a quick look around 84 xr 350 one in nelson $3000 the other has now been sold and not a lot of other but plenty of parts still available.So my guess rare!
gpg58,
Sep 30, 8:03pm
Bought one of the first of that model xr200's sold in auckland(blue seat yellow number panels -versus previous years white ones), was day versus night compared to the xt550 yamaha i traded in, sure the twin carb(1 slide and 1 cv for top end) xt could hit near 120mph(indicated), but handled like the whale it was, even with the longer yz forks and shock that were fitted, after an argument with a car(parked it a cortina wagons back seat, when idiot cut thru from off ramp on motorway, straight across to on ramp, and did not see him coming due to the truck beside me, which waved him thru!), and still 2 months later zero parts available for it (being a brand new model), was very lucky that day, as just stood up on pegs, let go with hands out and ended up doing a handstand on his roof, and landed on my feet some distance past him, but feel to my knees and got slight bruises.
sr2,
Sep 30, 10:20pm
The XR500 was legendary but sadly the XR350 was not. I'm not sure what the exact issue was but they were never popular. I had a 6 year old PE400 at the time and the XR500 was a whole new world!
I remember back in the day seeing them doing river crossings & all you could see was the mirrors & handlebar tips. That was on the gold field trails around Queenstown & Central, the perfect area for this & the perfect motorbike to do it with. We only had Honda's, XL & XR, 10~15 of us.
muzz67,
Oct 1, 6:59am
I still use an XL500 as my everyday bike, been all over the South Island fully loaded several times. So solid, so simple and almost on the cheap classic rego.
gusthe1,
Oct 1, 7:28am
Might have to call you out on that comment
gpg58,
Oct 1, 9:55am
Could be true. I crossed the waimak river back in the 70's on my blue/yellow SL 100(72?), in just such a manner, along with a mate on an silver SL125. We had clear plastic hose on carb intake, with an upside down janola bottle with base cut out and foam in it as an air cleaner, strapped round our necks.(yes we should have put engine breather in to it too, but were young and silly). Only did a couple of times one day, was priceless seeing a trout fisherman watch us gurgle past him with just our heads showing(and bottle). But last try mate found a hole and went under, so we spent the next 2 hours trying to retrieve bike with a rope. Teenager's will give anything a go, certainly not recommended though.
Have done similar on a number of Quads(unmodified), where your forward momentum creates a pocket of less depth water around top of bike, allowing air intake to remain above water level, even though surrounding water is well above that, but just do not stop or slow down. (never done deliberately, its been the old its getting deeper, too late better just keep moving and see what happens, on well known but currently flooded tracks)
bwg11,
Oct 1, 4:47pm
Hi Mals, yes, the first Pro-Link 500 was a revelation compared with what preceded it. I graduated to mine from a twin shock 250 with the big front wheel. Bought mine in March 1985,sold it circa1993. Check your numbers it could be my old pre-loved one. Here is my purchase receipt: https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1410906114.jpg
marte,
Oct 1, 6:35pm
Nah, had photos of it too. Can't remember exactly the name of the place but it was on a river that had a farmer built bridge made of just #8 wire & split logs. Quite high off the water & complex, before they built the bridge, about 1983?, we had to cross the river by rock hopping, as long as you were not under for more than 3 seconds you could get away with it. 4 strokes are good at this.
There's lots of trail rides around Queenstown & Central. Dad had a friend who was the engineer on the Earnshaw & he started it off from needing quicker access to Gold mining sites during his time off. Slippers canyon. Garstone-Bannocburn, Glenorchys Scheelite mines, Out past Macetown, Moke lake, Old man range & 'Back of the clock' Alexander, Lawrence, Paradise valley to name some.
bwg11,
Nov 12, 9:57am
I've done literally thousands of kms in Central Otago. Two memorable rides were Branches Station up the Shotover to Lake Lochnagar and to the trig station on the summit of Mt St Bathans. Still got a pic somewhere of two TL200's parked by the trig. Two hard rides - this was late 80's and I doubt if there are many bikes have been been to these two places some 30 years later. Central has some fantastic bike country.
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