Hello from The Netherlands
 

Hi there xt660 brothers and sisters,

I�m the proud owner of a xt660x from 2004 with 40k km on it.
I bought this beauty 2 years ago as my first bike.

Two weeks later I decided to do a day-trip to get a feeling for the bike. After 400km and almost back home I started to get confident. I was driving on a long straight road with nobody else as far as I could see.
Being a yound and stupid newbie I just had to open the gas to see how fast it could go. At 170 km/h I started to lose control. The bike acted as a wild horse and tried to trow me off. I ****ted my pants and saw my life flashing by. �This is it� I thought, �I�m dead.� But an angel on my shoulder said: �No! Just try to get it off the road into the grass and put it on its side.� So I did. I slided about 50m (I think) with the bike on my right leg and had nothing serious! Just pain and a bike that wouldn�t start.

The bike had 3 error codes and I didn�t know what they ment so I brought the bike to a Yamaha dealer. �It�s not worth to fix the bike� they said. He advised me to look for a new one. But I used all my money to buy this bike so buying a new one was not an option. I set the bike in my garage, bought a scooter and kinda forgot about the bike for almost 2 years.

A few months ago I stumbled upon a thread on this forum that explained how to read the error codes and what they ment. So I did and the error codes were:
30- bike went down
41- tilt sensor error
43- battery voltage error
So I bought a new battery and guess what, the bike started. Did nothing but replacing the battery.
Really? Are you @&?!- serious? That�s it?
I was happy and mad at the same time. Why didn�t I find this forum earlier? And why did the Yamaha dealer tell me that my baby was beyond repairing?

So I brought my baby to a friend of a friend who is a mechanic and owned a xt660x in the past. Just to be sure. He examined the bike and took the engine apart. The crankshaft had to be replaced along with a lot of less important things I could do myself. So he fixed the crankshaft and I did the rest.

But this bike though, all these engine noises. It makes me paranoid. Everybody says it�s normal, but still..

Anyway, thank you JMC for the diag mode post! You don�t know how happy you made me! And ofcourse everybody else who helped me by posting information on this forum.

Dippie

http://i66.tinypic.com/vi3di0.png Before crash

http://i63.tinypic.com/1zdxqf.png After crash

http://i67.tinypic.com/2aj1353.png Now

Welcome to the forum..a cautionary tail indeed..Pleased you both survived.

Young/old we all sometimes press the 'go' button and tbh I do till about 80mph then find myself thinking..why?..slow down and 'enjoy the ride old man' runs through my head. So I do.

56 soon and I'd like a few more years riding!

Dont know why yours became unstable though. Mine feels like its on rails. I am obsessive about tyre pressures though..AND new/decent tyres help.

Enjoy the forum and ride safe.

+1 on the taking it easy and enjoying the view. I've thoroughly enjoyed Tuonos, KTM SMs and the likes but over the last 4 years of Tenere ownership I've morphed into a calmer rider and the desire for fast has long gone, especially as I'm getting 66mpg but I know thats not for everyone. Anyways, welcome and enjoy.

The back tyre needed to be replaced. It wasn�t just old, but also the wrong size..
I think that�s why she started to wobble a bit and I just made it worse by releasing the throttle, pulling the front brake and gripping the handlebars tight.

Welcome to the forum! , bike riding /ownership /love of bikes is all a big learning curve !, enjoy your bike. Steve

Was it a wider rear tyre than standard?

Yes it was.
It was 180/60 or 160/80. I’m not sure what they stand for.

:hello: and :welcome: to :660: