This bike has been a long time coming. For the last two years, an almost endless supply of rumors floated regarding what was supposed to replace the venerable XR600. Since the big XR has been around with minimal changes since 1982 (it was a 500 cc bike back then), the change was long over due.

Enormous pressure was put on Honda when the new Yamaha four stroke came out. But the folks at Research and Development would not be rushed. Many different prototypes were sent to the US for testing, and all of them were sent back. Bruce Ogilvie, a long time Baja racer, knew exactly what was needed, and the stuff they were sending him from Japan, wasn't it.

Finally, the new Honda XR 650 arrived.

And it arrived with a flourish!

Johnny Campbell took a lightly modified 650 and opened a can of whip-ass on everybody else at the Baja 1000. And what finished right behind Johnny? Why, another XR 650!

So it was with a great deal of interest that the staff of ORC met with Honda, and tested the bike where it seems to work best: right here in Baja.

FIRST OFF, THE BAD NEWS

If you buy a brand new water-cooled XR 650R, chances are you are going to be mightily disappointed if you ride the thing stock. Bruce Ogilvie brought one of the "pure stock" bikes with him, exactly the way it will sell off the showroom floor.

The ORC testers were the first to ever sling a leg over this bike. In all the magazine tests you read in the very near future, the testers DID NOT RIDE THIS BIKE!

All of them rode the "modified" version of the XR650R only.

The stock bike is strangled, on purpose. In order to meet strict emission requirements, the bike has a horribly restrictive air inlet, a tiny opening in the muffler/spark arrestor and a reducer in the carb manifold that's half the size it should be.

It's amazing that the bike would even get out of its own way with this much crap going on. Ridden like this, the XR650R is so quiet you can hear the chain slap on the sprockets and even hear normal engine noise from chains and the valve train.

The engine puts out 43 horsepower at 6750 rpm with all the emissions junk installed. With the restrictions removed (and properly jetted), the bike comes alive and pumps out 27 percent more horsepower, all the way up to 55 strong ponies, about the same as Campbell's race bike from the 1998 Baja 1000.

Let's be blunt: riding the stock bike is not very exciting. The power is good, with lots of low rpm grunt, and the mid-range will easily pull the upper gears early in the rpm range. But, in our opinion, Last year's stock XR600 was faster and more impressive through the gears.

We're sure there are some riders who will leave the XR650R in stock trim. These same riders would probably be just as happy riding a five year old Suzuki DR 350.

But if you have any hair on your chest at all, you will absolutely fall in love with the power of the "cleaned up/jetted" XR650.

This thing rips! Power starts right at idle, churns into a monster mid-range, and even revs out like a road racer. If you want more power than this bike delivers, there are very few places on the face of this planet where you are going to be able to use it.