I rode a Venture Royale back in the 90's. It was a nice riding bike and it didn't drag parts in the corners like a Goldwing.
Thanks Kelly, there's probably only a handful here in Oz, but it's an impressive looking thing, so will be an interesting ride, for sure. Goldwings don't fit me or Spotty, we're both tall, (I'm 6'2" or so, and he's way taller than me) so not having a bank of cylinders blocking legroom on each side should be way more comfy.
Yesterday was great. My youngest boy said he'd come over around 3, so I sneaked over to the storage unit and rolled the XT660X out into the sunlight. I installed the charged battery and it fired up right away. A previous owner has done some crappy mods that I need to rectify. It had two different hand grips which were loose and looked like sh1t, so I swapped them out. Both bar end thingies (I'd call them "weights", but they're not, they're just bling) were scratched up, so I left them off, and I'll machine up a much nicer set today. The rear fender has been deleted, which looks fine, but he used an alloy bracket thingy to hang the rear number plate from, and as it didn't have anywhere to mount the blinkers he just made a really crappy bracket from paper thin tin to mount them, and the whole assembly feels loose, and vibrates horribly with the engine running.
I tightened it up some, but it will need some alloy standoffs and better fasteners. No biggie, I like fabbing stuff up. Anyhoo, it was running sweetly and I checked the charging system, and it was fine, so I thought I'd take it for a quick lap. Another problem (that I actually noticed on the ride home from the auction place, but thought maybe it was being caused by the flat battery) is, is that the speedo is fcuked. It is at least 100% optimistic, so at around 100 KPH (60 MPH) it's reading 199 KPH (which I guess is as far as the speedo goes, because going faster doesn't change the reading) so I just ran at the same speed as the traffic around me, and hoped that they weren't all speeding, not that I had a valid number plate on it, so if I went past a speed camera they couldn't trace it back to me.
It's a lovely thing to ride, I like the upright riding position (although you certainly notice the wind) it handles really well, the suspension actually absorbs the bumps and potholes with ease, and the Brembo brakes are magnificent. I rode up to the hills in Eden Park, and snapped a couple of pics, while I checked it for any leaks etc, but there weren't, so I was happy that I hadn't bought a lemon.
XT660X Sunday 15 March 2026. by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I had intended just to do a quick 50 miles, but it was going so well that I continued on to Wandong, Kilmore, Wallan, and then home again, probably 80+ miles. Surprisingly being a big single, there's hardly any vibration, the mirrors (which I continually scanned for cops) were clear, and I didn't notice any bad "surging" that these bikes are known for, I suppose the only gripe I had was that I had to make sure I was in the right gear for a particular speed, as it doesn't like putting around town in top gear like my K0 or VMax. I've also read complaints about the seat, but didn't notice anything untoward.
My new Delkevic exhaust system arrived today, along with a service kit (air filter, oil filter and iridium plug) but I can't install the louder exhaust until it's registered, so I'll give it a service, and fix a few little things (I ordered a new speedo assembly from Ali Express, which may or may not work, but it was cheap, like me) before I take it over for a Roadworthy inspection later in the week. Anyway, 20 rides down, and 6 to go.
XT660X Sunday 15 March 2026. 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
