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Honda XR650R: The biggest, baddest dirt bike on the planet
Baja California. It’s dusty. It’s hot. It’s rocky. In fact, the Baja Peninsula is one of the most hostile off-road environments in the world. It’s eaten up thousands of bikes and thousands of the world’s toughest riders. But when it comes to taking on Baja, one machine never sweats it. And that’s Honda’s incredible XR™650R.
Proof? The XR650R has won every Baja 1000 it’s ever entered. More proof: It’s won every Baja 500 and San Felipe 250 it’s entered. Still not convinced? It readily whipped the field during the once-in-a-lifetime Baja 2000. No doubt about it: The XR650R clearly stands alone as the world’s premier open-class four-stroke dirt bike. We’ve applied technology from our entire motorcycle line to craft this off-road winner. Consider, for example, the aluminum frame. We built the first production aluminum-framed motocross bikes back in 1997. The XR650R’s frame combines the swingarm pivot and the rear engine mount into one unified structure for the basis of handling precision you have to experience to believe.
And the XR650R’s engine is nothing short of a revolution. Liquidcooled, it’s a true dry-sump design. By separating the engine oil from the spinning crank and generator rotor, we eliminate windage losses, and also increase the XR’s ground clearance to a whopping 12 inches. A dry sump means the engine revs quicker too. As for the liquid cooling, twin radiators tuck up out of harm’s way, and the stable coolant temperature means you can count on the XR650R to keep producing power all day long, even when it’s hot enough to send a cactus looking for water. Two compression releases (one automatic and one manual) make starting a breeze, while spot-on carburetion and Honda’s legendary manufacturing tolerances eliminate hot-start frustrations. A gear-driven counterbalancer makes the XR650R incredibly smooth, even flat out in fifth. The slick-shifting five-speed transmission makes going through the gears almost effortless.
Even though it displaces 649cc, it’s easy to start. Primary kickstarting allows quick startup in any gear. The long kickstart lever lets you use a slow, strong kick to spin the engine quickly for predictable, no-anxiety starts. And with exciting new Honda Racing inspired colors and graphics on every XR in our lineup, the XR650R looks better than ever. If you’re looking for the bike that keeps making history in Baja—or for the most awesome open-classer the off-road world has ever seen—just look for a blur of red at the finish line. It’ll be the Honda XR650R. And you can bet it’ll be there first.