I miss my XL500R greatly. I used to have permission to ride it on a tank gunnery range in Germany. Acres and acres of trails through the forest and fast sandy tracks everywhere.
I have owned many many bikes and am 65 years old. My 83 XL350R was fantastic. It can be seen on youtube on the Dennis Berg channel. He was my friend and passed away eight years ago, and rode a XL600R. I rode them both and the 350 was the victor, out-handled the 600 by miles.
That torque was no joke. My buddy had a 2 stroke Suzuki that he though would run rings around my 350xl, His Suzuki rapped out with high rpms, but on a very long steep inclined hill it just ended dogging out towards the top. My XL just kept that deep throated roar all the way up, never an issue.
I rode an 84 XR500, two different 84 XL350's, and a 2000 XR650L. I loved riding all of them, both on the road and in the dirt. Then I got old and now I ride a 2020 Grom.
