Thanks for the approval. I have just bought a 1994 xt225 and found heaps of info available here a great help. I am based on the Mornington peninsular in Victoria, Aust.
I ride an MT09 and find many gravel roads I have trouble navigating hence the reason for a light smaller cc bike.

Welcome!

Welcome! I recently purchased a couple of XT225’s and have found this site to be full of helpful info as well.

Welcome to the site as a new USER. Enjoy and ride safely. Gravel roads can be a bit tricky. The XT is a little "squirrelly" on gravel especially with knobby tires. With some practice you'll get used to the bike dancing back and forth under you. Use caution around bends and with front braking. If your front washes out, you're pretty much down at that point. The worst crash I had was on gravel coming around a bend too fast. Poor judgement on my part. Went off the road, down the bank and landed in a clump of manzanita bushes luckily upright. Another lucky break was a rider behind me came along and it took three of us to get the bike back on the road. Lesson learned.

Welcome to the group. Nice to have another Aussie riding with us! Looks like you're in a very pretty area there on the Mornington peninsula. Pleasant weather, beautiful beaches, lots to do and see - plus Melbourne's not far away. Nice!!!

We woke up this morning here in Arizona's high country after two days of fresh snowfall with a good 12 to 15 inches outside our front door and 10 inches of new powder covering everything as far as the eye can see. Makes Mornington peninsula's weather in Australia sound particularly inviting at the moment!

Enjoy your XT and the site, ride safely, and keep us posted as you find time!..

Welcome!

Welcome. My first XT225 was a 1994 model, I bought it cheap back during the great recession of 2008. In the U.S. it was the white, green and yellow model. It only had 1800 miles on it. That is still my bike, though it has been modified so much it is unrecognizable. It has parts on it from a 2001 model, and a ton of aftermarket parts. Unfortunately, due to some fairly serious orthopedic issues, I am currently unable to ride it out in the Arizona desert by myself with reasonable safety. A complete (and successful) right knee replacement might change that, but I'm in no hurry to go down that road, so I am currently limited to riding my Vespa GT200 Scooter and Honda Rebel 250 motorcycle. I have put over 22,000 miles on the XT, most of it off pavement. Not going to say "off road", because a lot of that was on dirt roads and fairly smooth dirt trails.

Before the XT225 I had a 2001 Kawasaki KLR 650, which I bought new. But even back then, when I was in much better condition, the seat was so high on that bike that I had trouble touching the ground. It was too heavy to throw around off road, and too slow (and uncomfortable) for long distance highway riding. Enjoy your XT225. They are great bikes. If you need more range, you can get a 4 gallon aftermarket tank from Clarke.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. Since the bike is over 25years old I was able to get it on club permit (45 or 90 days use per year) the cost of registration is heaps less than standard registration, only AUD102 for 45 days. I found the bike struggling to maintain 100kph (60mph) on hills in top gear. I have removed snorkle & added a 25mm hole to side of airbox. Our muffler is fully welded so I opened up the rear & drilled 2 holes 14mm & 12mm. I then had to change the main jet to 130, it was 122.5. Also 2.5 turns out on mixture screw with 40 pilot. The sprockets are 16/45 with 120/90 18 shinko E805 rear. What an improvement. Hope this helps other aussie guys in the future.
Cheers Sam

Thanks for the heads up Muniac, I have noticed the squirrelly behavior. I was running the Dunlop D606 front & D604 rear. Have changed due to old tyres to Shinko E804 90/90 & E805 120/90 combination. Yet to try on gravel.

No problems. Just want to see people stay safe and avoid crashing. You may go through several tire choices before finding the best ones. Otherwise known as kissing a few toads before the prince. Stay safe.