the DR650 thread

I weigh about 180 soaking wet and a 0.47 front and 7.6 rear are almost perfect.

How about this instead?



Showed up for sale in a Kijiji ad today.

That's is tasty as is the flat tracker, nice job! The DR is good for a lot of things but the chopper thing , I did see a bobber and what bothered me was the hardtail

It's not mine. I just saw an ad for it this morning.

It looks a little cheap to me, and the purple frame sticks out like a sore thumb. But to each his own.

Yeah looks cheap and cheesey to me too. But as long as the owner likes it that's all that matters, might not be the easiest to sell though.

I can get side covers aplenty and pretty cheap for my DR 350 and DRZ 400 but can find only expensive side covers for my DR 650.
Anyone have a connection for side covers moderately priced?
I'm thinking of buying some aluminum sheeting and tinsnipping some out before I pay over$100.

No kidding. $3500 for a 1998 with 33,000 kms on it. Bling sure is expensive.

EBAY is all I can think of,cripes they're just plastic panels,I agree Suzuki wants too much.

Im 185 lbs and could bottom the stock forks just using the ft brake hard.
No way to set the rear sag with stock spring at 1/3 the travel as the spring was way too soft and could not be pre-loaded enough to set sag.

That is the definition of springs that are too soft. A bike with proper spring wt rides smoother as you ride most of the time then in the softer part of the valving at the first 1/2 of travel or so.

The stock shock valving has next to no rebound damping and that goes away from over working the shock and heat.

Hah! That's funny and so true.
Will it be time to cover IMS tanks and the carb vacume line again soon?
Then the upper chain roller scenario one more time.

Hello all, I be a resident noob looking for mechanical advice.

So I've been putting this off, I know I need new back brakes, so I've just sort of been relying on the front ones solely for a couple months now. Now the front disc (over which I believe the brakes actually apply pressure to to stop) has started rubbing against the brakes (I believe) when not actually braking.

I don't really feel any difference in the riding or coasting, but it makes an annoying light screech sound so I thought: hey, why not just put some chain lube up in that bitch? Turns out that was stupid, the noise went away but now the brakes are weaker for it, and the front disc is still real hot to the touch after a couple minutes riding. Am I doomed to replace my brakes at this juncture (about 10k miles), or can I loosen that front component to widen the gap in the brakes a bit?

Show me the error of my ways, for I am young and inexperienced in the zen of maintenance.

You need new pads. Don't oil the brakes. Youtube pad replacement. Its easy.

do it soon. you will trash your rotors. (the circular part)

+1 May be learning an expensive lesson. Got new front and rear pads asap, like today. Any use now is just doing more harm. Hopefully you'll be able to take the old calipers off, spread the pads apart (open the master) fit the new pads, and reinstall. Should also get a new bottle of DOT fluid and flush the system. If you want to spend $$ get a stainless front brake line. If you are cheap (nothing wrong with that ) then think about the money you can save by doing it yourself and hopefully not having to buy rotors.

I'm not trying to pick on you but, if you oiled your brakes...you don't need to own wrenches. Take it to someone who knows what they are doing. Brakes are important- life saving devices.

If you really want to start working on your stuff I suggest starting with some community college classes in auto repair. Get the basics down then start tinkering.

There are hundreds of post about lighting here and in the Index. For me, given the very low elec. output of the DR650 ... there is only one choice.
HID.

You can spend a lot or a little. I spent about $25 for my DDM Tuning HID
35W single bulb kit. Plug and play, no extra wire runs to battery or other none sense which will bite you later.

The HID bulb uses only 35 watts ... so you get back 20 watts and get about 3 times the light output over stock 55 Watt H-4 bulb.
Win Win.

Good advice above. Learning how things work will pay off big dividends down the road.

Here is a few very basic things to start with:
Remove brake pads, throw away.
Clean area around caliper pistons. Make sure they are moving freely.
Clean ALL oil off everything ... needs to be spotless.
Clean brake rotor (disc) with Brake Clean or other spirit. Go over it with
steel wool.
Install new brake pads (get help with this part)
Flush all old brake fluid OUT of system, adding new fluid from unopened
container, do not let any air into system. Break in new brakes lightly for first 50 miles. Do NOT over heat your new brakes.

Repeat this procedure on rear brake. Good luck.

I'm soooo sorry... but I can't stop laughing... (tears streaming down my cheeks).... we all gotta start somewhere I guess.

glad the kid didn't get himself killed...

Thanks all, will do the above. Rotors look ok, no grooves or anything in em. Off to get new pads on now.

HID headlight saves approximately 20W and is really freakin' bright. 1157 reflector LED unit from www.superbrightleds.com, that flashes 3x before going solid, makes your DR more noticeable and saves some more wattage. You can also replace your license illumination bulb, your neutral dash indicator bulb, and your high-beam dash indicator bulb with LED units, to save even a bit more wattage. See Mx Rob's writeup link from the DR650 wiki page.

For even more light, several LED driving lights are now on the market. They typically use much less wattage than incandescent/halogen driving lights.

Something to consider when trying to save watts: The bulbs that are actually ON all the time are what matters most. Headlight and taillight. The others don't matter so much because they are on for such a tiny amount of time.