Built to compete against the Yamaha Tenere 600, Honda’s 600 XLM is nearly impossible to find in the US – it may not look like much but this is one of the rarest bikes I’ve featured in a long time.
As you might expect from the Paris-Dakar on the tank, this Honda was a proto-adventure-bike of sorts. 10.8 inches of ground clearance, 33.8 inch seat height, 9″/8″ front/rear wheel travel – this thing was designed to go wherever the rider wanted. And with a 7.4 gallon tank, you wouldn’t have to stop for fuel very often, either. The main advantage that the XL had over the Tenere was an electric starter, though the latter was much more of a commercial success.
This example is offered by a seller who acquired it after it had been raced “in a few GP Endurance races here in Oregon”, and it was fairly beat up. So he went about bringing it back to life by sourcing hard to find parts and making some harder to find parts (like the dual headlight cover. The seller also repainted it himself – this is not for a purist, but it is the first one I’ve seen for sale in the US so there’s probably someone who’s willing to start with it and either use it as Honda intended or maybe try to restore it.
Find this rare Honda for sale near Bend, Oregon for $4,000 here on ADVRider (registration required). It’s also on Craigslist for a little bit more ($4,200) and in a confusing location, so I’d stick with ADVRider if I was you.
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Frank S!