XR400 - do bolt on mods hurt the bike??

[woodsy]

Hi All - I have friend who is buying an 2002 XR400. We were discussing the broad spectrum of aftermarket soup up parts available for his new bike.. He mentioned to me that he thought he may like to purchase a few of these items just to get a few extra ponies to play with. I told him that I had read online some where that "the XR400 loses reliability with mod work".
He is speaking about doing the basics - either cutting the flange on the stock pipe or purchasing a white brothers, rejetting/possibly a pumper carb, removing the snorkle from the air box.. I told him that I would inquire with you folks about the reliability issue and general outcome of satisfaction that any of you have experienced with any mod work done on the XR400.
If you could, please be precise about the type of mod work done, amount of and type of performance results, and most importantly - any problems you realized as a result of the work..
Thanks a gazillion!!!
Woodsy

 

[kciH]

Bike mods do not add to the value, they often detract from it. Your friend will not get his money back out of the bike. If you buy something like a KTM or whatever, it will cost you less than the other bike with mods and have resale value. The XR4 is a nice bike, but no amount of modification would ever put it on par with a KTM400EXC or other comparable bike. AND the KTM is quiet with stock exhaust and will outperform the XR.

 

[parish8]

Hi woodsy, thanks for the wr/yzf info, it helped me get a bettter deal on a used wrf localy.

to answer your question... this is for a xr250 but it all aplies to the 400 also, i have the white brothers pipe, cleaned out the header, K&N airfilter, kevlar clutch and heaver clutch springs also a 277kit. it doesn't cost all that much to mod these things and i got good results from everything, espesialy the clutch. only the big bore kit will effect reliability, instead of 20years on a piston i might only get 5:)

yes a ktm 400 would be better but their are downsides to the ktm, even with a new xr400 and the mods i have and bars the bike could be had for right at 5k, the ktm would be $1500 more at least. The ktm is proving to be reliable but i see 20+ year old xr's out on the trail so you know the xr is reliable. i don't think you can buy a bad bike these days, they are all so good.

 

[James]

I think my XR will do 70-80 on top even though I added 3 teeth on the rear sprocket. The only mod I did was remove the snorkle and replace the exhaust baffle (2001) with one from a 96. Also use Uni Filter and rejetted. I did respring the suspension both ends so I can jump it. The exhaust/intake/jetting changes make a very noticeable improvement.

I can't imagine needing much more power for trails, woods, and even casual MXing. I also can't see where these minor changes would affect reliability at all. Thing will pull wheelies in the first 3 gears and climb any hill I care to attempt. Power comes on real smooth and steady...if it starts to slow on an uphill..just twist the throttle...no clutch (usually no rear brake either - engine braking).

 

[Rodzilla]

Woodsy

Here is my opinion, I'm no expert but I put thousands of trail miles on my XR4. I don't think the bolt on mods hurt reliability. Pipe, carb etc.. are fine.

Even a quality overbore is not so bad.

But I think that once you start messing with high compression, radical valve timing and the like is where you start to see more issues.

 

[ThumpinTahoe]

my formula

Here is my formula for cheap power. Put an after market pipe on right off the bat. Honda makes a more open baffle for it but a Pro Circuit or FMF are much lighter and sound real nice. Buy a UNI air filter with the less restrictive cage. Pull your air box snorkel and rejet to 160-60. My California bike came jetted with a 138 main.which is Super lean with the new pipe and no snorkel. For $200 this totally uncorkes it. You will have a tiny hesitation if you really pop the throttle off the bottom but I never notice it. It does 3rd gear wheelies and pops over logs or rocks with ease. I spent my extra dollars on a baja street legal kit. It added only 6lbs. Now if I get lost I can pop on any road and find my way home. This is so nice for riding up in Tahoe. There is a lot of Green Police out here in the summer. By uncorking your bike with these simple bolt on mods you will notice a huge performance difference and is probably more healthy for your bike then running it all plugged up and lean.

Happy Trails!

 

[arcburn]

Buy the SRC fork brace, I really enjoy riding my XR4 be safe and have fun.