As you may have seen a set of three XCountry's were recently advertised for sale on here a few weeks back which I duly stated an interest in
To cut a long story short only two ended up being sold and not to me :-(
However the opportunity then came along to buy the two bikes , which I did , selling one on immediately to another forum member
One was a 2007 bike the other a later model 2008 bike with the steel subframe and lower suspension
I kept the 2007 bike for my youngest lad and the deal in selling the 2008 bike was I would swap the steel frame over to the 2007 bike and also keep the H&B pannier rails
The bikes had sat outside under a tarpaulin unused since 2016 and the first job was to see if they would run - which thankfully both of them did with relative ease
So then on with rescue mission on the 2007 bike.......
As expected there were lots of corroded fasteners and I lost count of the number of snapped bolts I had to drill out or weld nuts on to extract
The swinging arm removal was particularly challenging but I got the better of it eventually
Here are some before , during and after pictures - lots of new/good used parts and about 70 hours work all told
The bike was completely stripped down and cleaned/inspected and any parts not salvageable were replaced
It has had a full service , new tyres , brake discs , modified clutch cover , water pump cover , exhaust manifold , chain & sprockets , brake calipers rebuilt
New head bearings , swinging arm bearings and seals , wheel bearings and seals, fuel filter
I've added some OEM crash bars , hand guards and frame and rectifier covers plus an OEM rear rack
I'm quite pleased at how well it looks , especially as it's had no paintwork done on it , it's all original
Before :
During :
After :
To cut a long story short only two ended up being sold and not to me :-(
However the opportunity then came along to buy the two bikes , which I did , selling one on immediately to another forum member
One was a 2007 bike the other a later model 2008 bike with the steel subframe and lower suspension
I kept the 2007 bike for my youngest lad and the deal in selling the 2008 bike was I would swap the steel frame over to the 2007 bike and also keep the H&B pannier rails
The bikes had sat outside under a tarpaulin unused since 2016 and the first job was to see if they would run - which thankfully both of them did with relative ease
So then on with rescue mission on the 2007 bike.......
As expected there were lots of corroded fasteners and I lost count of the number of snapped bolts I had to drill out or weld nuts on to extract
The swinging arm removal was particularly challenging but I got the better of it eventually
Here are some before , during and after pictures - lots of new/good used parts and about 70 hours work all told
The bike was completely stripped down and cleaned/inspected and any parts not salvageable were replaced
It has had a full service , new tyres , brake discs , modified clutch cover , water pump cover , exhaust manifold , chain & sprockets , brake calipers rebuilt
New head bearings , swinging arm bearings and seals , wheel bearings and seals, fuel filter
I've added some OEM crash bars , hand guards and frame and rectifier covers plus an OEM rear rack
I'm quite pleased at how well it looks , especially as it's had no paintwork done on it , it's all original
Before :
During :
After :
ever made 
Looking good , well done . 
