Fairing projects are all the rage and a handful of companies such as Baja Worx and Highway Dirt Bikes are making it easier to convert dual-sports into road warriors or rally bikes with their kits. For this project bike we chose a one-off fairing kit made by Texan Ken Ingham who goes by the handle “Kenaroo” on ADVRider.

Kenaroo originally hand-built a small batch of this custom fairing and navigation tower for the iconic Honda XR650R, but as word spread of our build, Ken’s inbox began to fill with requests. We procured an immaculate XRR, a second-hand “Kenaroo” fairing kit, and then dumped everything on an engineer’s front porch. The three men who brought this project to life had a lot of help, and this is their story.

Sand Dunes are no problem for the BRP, especially with the Dunlop 909 Rally tire. 

Renazco, the premiere craftsman seat builder from Santa Rosa, CA, gave us just 48 hours to accept an obscene offer to buy his near-new “R,” street-plated and loaded with $5,000 of extra bling. After a 17-hour road trip, we held title to the carcass of this build.

John Graves runs Race for the Wounded, the organization responsible for putting injured U.S. veterans into off-road races at SCORE, NORRA and BITD. The generous Graves, a BAJA RALLY official himself, donated the “Kenaroo” fairing and tower to this project.

Enter “Atomic” Tom Nolan, champion desert racer and career aircraft engineer. The retired U.S. vet keeps active by repairing race bikes from his shop in San Diego. However, he knew nothing about rally bikes and had never even seen a roadbook reader until we dropped off the bike, instruments and fairing kit at his shop. “The whole key to getting this done right was the electronics and wiring,” Nolan explains. “You have all of these gadgets and a potential rat’s nest of wires, so it was tedious and time consuming, but we got it done.”

Atomic Tom Nolan and his Baja Rally Pig.

The bike was previously tuned and geared tall to achieve 100 mph, similar to the champion steeds of the Baja California desert. Johnny Campbell, 11-time consecutive BAJA 1000 winner and off-road Hall of Fame inductee, once described the XR650R as “purpose built to win the Baja 1000.” During its development in the late ’90s, Bruce Ogilvie and Johnny Campbell took the reigns from Japanese engineers and re-sculpted the first and only liquid-cooled XR ever. Production lasted only eight years and the model remained unchanged from its debut in 2000. Needless to say, the 650R is an iconic machine, especially in Baja California.

“The 650R could crush rocks and not deflect,” Campbell recalls. “All in all it was easier on my body in the broader spectrum, a battleship that could just plow things.”

Essentials for Success

PDM AltRider.com
AltRider’s contribution of the PDM (Power Distribution Module) was critical to Atomic Tom’s task of keeping the navigation gear powered and street legal. Stock XR650Rs have no battery, so dual-sport kits and extra lighting rely on a re-wound stator and regulator rectifier. An Earth-X lithium-ion battery came creatively mounted on Renazco’s 650, charged by the Ricky Stator.

Atomic Tom wired and mounted the PDM to the battery. Six wires from the PDM feed power to various components (ICOs, roadbook reader, TrailTech Voyager, USB charger, etc.). Each wire, or circuit, can be pre-programmed via the PDM’s USB for voltage limits and shut-off time. In English: you can plug the PDM into your computer and set each gadget to continue drawing from the battery for a specified amount of time after the engine shuts off. This is important on a rally bike and we chose our shut-off times wisely. AltRider’s tech support team was extremely helpful for Atomic Tom to perfect his hardest task.

The Dunlop 909 Rally Tire is twice as expensice for a reason.

Earth X Lithium Iron Battery: EarthXMotorsports.com

This is an incredibly lightweight and long-lasting battery, without which the BRP would not exist. Highway Dirt Bikes’ machined bar-perch/button console, turn signal switch and hand-guards make a great addition to this project. And, HBD is coming out with some notable innovations and refinements to components and parts.

Cyclops Adventure Sports’ LED Bulb: CyclopsAdventureSports.com
Darryl Vannieuwenhuise has turned the lights up with this powerful plug-and-play bulb replacement that puts out far more light than stock high-beams.

Acerbis 6.8 Gallon Fuel Tank: MX1West.com | Also available at Revzilla.com
Kenaroo’s original fairing build was based on the Acerbis tank and MX1 West was kind enough to throw one of theirs onto the BRP.

Renazco Racing Custom Rally Seat Renazco.com
James Renazco puts his hands on every seat build in his modest shop in Santa Rosa, CA. A rider’s rider, Renazco has a penchant for quality and his workmanship reflects his passion for building rally bikes.

This is the view from your workstation at the Baja Rally.

Flexx Handlebars by Fasstco: FasstCo.com 

Controls are a big deal in rally because of long liaison stages, varying terrain and overall endurance. Rally racers skew older in age (and income) so building the ultimate BAJA RALLY bike meant installing the right bars and grips to minimize fatigue. The slightly extra weight of the Flexx bars was offset by keeping the stock, plastic skid plate below, a secret we learned from Johnny Campbell’s XRs. Foam rally grips (Pro-Grip) are the standard in FIM rallies for their comfort and are highly recommended for the BAJA RALLY.

Pivot-Pegz BrapOffRoad.com | Also available at Revzilla.com
Pivot Pegz has become a favorite choice in performance controls. Their larger size and range of motion when pivoting allows racers’ boot soles to lean forward and back without losing surface area contact with the pegs. This matters to rally racing when riders stand, leaning forward in fast sections.

Giant Loop Zig-Zag Handlebar Bag GiantLoopMoto.com | Also available at Revzilla.com
Innovators of soft and versatile luggage systems, GL has a place in BAJA RALLY as a supplier of the Mojavi Saddlebags that the “moto-medics” use to carry EMT gear onto the rally stage. The discrete and functional “Zig-Zag” handlebar bag carries the racer’s essential back-up power source, Scotch tape and other lightweight essentials.

Pro Grip's foam Rally Grips with F2R Billet thumbswitch. The decomp lever is repositioned to make space.

SPOT Trace FindMeSpot.com | Also available at Amazon.com

Globalstar’s SPOT Tracker has made thoughtful additions to their product line over the last decade including sat phones, app-based texting and the incredibly useful SPOT Trace. The BRP has no ignition switch or key lock to protect against a quick theft. The SPOT Trace is similar to a Lo-Jack for a fraction of the cost. The small unit is hidden out of sight but within satellite reach and sends a signal via satellite to your cell phone or email whenever the bike is moved. It’s virtually impossible for a thief to outsmart this device.

Rally Navigation Kit RallyManagementServices.com
F2R Roadbook reader, billet thumb switch and ICO Rally Max all come from rally veteran Dave Peckham and his distributorship Rally Management Services.

Wrap Up

This bike is the ideal machine to conquer the BAJA RALLY—embodying the speed, endurance and comfort needed to tackle the four to six days of racing. It’s the bike I would ride if I were allowed to enter, but I’m disqualified as a course designer. So I’ll use this BRP after the next rally to vacation in Baja California while scouting stages for next year’s race. The BRP is also my ultimate rig for ADV camping on this epic peninsula so many riders crave. I can take this bike so much further and deeper into the bush than an F800 or 990. With a few mods and specially equipped Giant Loop luggage combo, I’ll be taking the BRP into the wild to find inspiration for my next ADVMoto feature.

This beast leaves a dust storm in its wake.

Scotty Breauxman is a moto-journalist and retired off-road racer focused on the Mexican state of Baja California. As the creator and general director of Mexico’s first Dakar-style rally raid, the BAJA RALLY, Breauxman splits his time evenly between Del Mar, CA, and his second home south of Ensenada.