Hence my moniker on this site Johnboy. I rode a “thumper” also and loved the 600. I actually landed a Honda contract to race the XL185 when it was introduced in 1979. The Elsinore was very successful in those days (mostly moto-cross), but they wanted to have a 4-stroke entry. The XR185 was the moto-cross version and the XL was the enduro version. Honda wanted the 4-stroke entry to run the “under 200cc” enduro class and wanted the exposure for their new bike. It was a huge success and led to the introduction of the XL250 2-3 years later and then the XL600 a few years after that. I acquired the nickname Thumper and many of my old friends from my racing days still call me Thumper to this day. I still have a pile of old trophies stored away in the garage. Fun days, for sure.

Honda wanted me to TRY to break the bike so they could find any weak points. I could not break it! Luckily, if I did, I had a lifetime warranty as long as I was racing for them. The ONLY failure I ever had was during the 1979 (or '80?) Barstow to Las Vegas race (150 miles). I was running flat-out across a dry lake and broke the oil slinger ... it pretty much disintegrated. There were no cell phones then, so I flagged down another racer and asked him to notify my pit crew at the next pit stop to give them my location. (he was limping in to the next stop with some sort of engine issue) Darkness started to set in as I waited and somehow I managed to lay across the bike with my legs on the handlebar crossbar and my head resting against the taillight, all the while, still propped on the kickstand. I was close to dozing when I started hearing a "sniffing" noise. I opened my eyes and was face-to-face with a coyote! I guess he was hoping I was dead. I'm not sure which of us jumped the highest when we realized what was happening!

I was finally rescued and the crew took me on into Vegas. Honda took the bike in and replaced the slinger, but I don't remember if the failure instigated any production changes or not.