nice catch. $8 more but it's 160cca vrs 120 on the Deka. bike has to start really strong. deka is us produced vrs china for the motobatt, but the chinese can produce quality if instructed to. not as many reviews of the motobatt vrs the deka (aka big crank and a bunch of other relabels). i'm on 3yrs with my deka and it still starts strong. at these prices, when the battery gets questionable after 4yrs i just pop for a new one.
I have to pull the carb this weekend to check it out but it surges from the time I take off all the way through the gears and at highway speed. If it was right it wouldn't be a big deal but I don't have the time to tinker. the jet kit was installed by the p/o around 200 miles ago in August.
Mine crapped out and no amount of WD40, contact cleaner, etc seemed to help so I picked up a newer one off Ebay. WD is probably good preventive maintenance, thanks for reminding me. Heading to Monticello Canyon in NM Friday, somewhere around 30-40+ water crossings
Now that the weather is getting cooler, I have a question about the oil cooler. My commute to work is short, about 10 mins). Today it was around 45*F and the oil temp barely got to 110*F as per my vapor. That includes a 2 minute warm up prior to riding. Should I cover my oil cooler for these short rides so that the oil can get to a better operating temp?
If one were to pro-actively rebuild the Transmission, and wanted to make sure its as bulletproof as possible, would you use aftermarket parts or not? I realize our friends at Procycle [and maybe others?] have a super high-quality 3rd gear kit, but I'm wondering if the collective really KNOW FOR SURE what causes the 3rd gear to detonate the trans??? Its just really hard for me to fathom that Suzi would manufacture all the parts for the trans, and keep on manufacturing just one defective component... it does not pass sniff test. So if rebuilding with Race-proven Baja-capable parts is the ticket - is there any science on how many of them blowup for one reason or other? how many units have been tested, in-service, for long periods of time as have the Suzuki parts? its a rhetorical question.... you who have done the job, what did you use?
i think you're on the right path. TTalk has a lot more discussion of carb/rebuild/etc for DR and my own personal opinion after reading obsessively on the topic is that its not easy to actually IMPROVE overall perf... there are far more fails than successes.... way, way, way more. those who are really good wrenches can succeed beautifully and have a bike that goes 5mph faster and gets there a good deal quicker, if that's important to you.....
Here's some info I've posted in the past. Has anyone used the YTZ14S? 230 cca sounds interesting. If your supplier only references batteries by bike, tell them it's a 2003 Honda ST1300. When my Deka wears out in a few years, I'll probably try one myself. Edit: I just noticed that the link in my original post is now broken. I've saved a copy of the PDF so I have a copy the whole report if needed. It can also be accessed in the archives. http://web.archive.org/web/20110601105902/http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~westall/851/suzuki-battery.pdf
That's a lot of good information. You could put it in Krusty's DR Index. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14469062&postcount=32 While you're doing that, you could include your earlier info about the clear turn signal lenses with amber bulbs. One of the first mods I did to my DR was to replace the turn sigs with some that have clear lenses/amber bulbs. Problem is they're brittle, break easily, and are no longer available. Thanks for the good stuff.
My 2009 DR650SE purchased from a dealer in the U.S. also starts with "JS1" followed by two letters, then 2 digits, then a letter, then nine digits.
I'm in the process of having mine rebuilt right now. I was having some issues with it falling out of 2nd gear so I decided to just bite the bullet. From the reading I did prior to getting the work done, it seems in 06 or 07 suzuki released a new 3rd gear that replaced the old one. I'm assuming it was done in an effort to address the issues with the gear blowing up. I decided to go a head and replace my gear with the newest one instead of buying the billet unit. Hopefully I don't regret it, but I couldn't justify replacing a $50 dollar part with one that costs $500 when the stock one may or may not blow up at some point. Obviously, If I trash the engine in the bike due to a 3rd gear failure I'll be kicking myself. I may consider doing the nice 3rd gear when I put the 790 kit in the bike as a little bit of extra insurance
Totally stock '04 DR with just over 6000 miles. A bit rough cosmetically but will be the base for an ADV style bike. Let the farkeling begin!
Any mods planned in the near future for it? I didn't see anything looking broken on it, so at least you might not have to make your first farkles repairs.
Actually, the magneto cover has a repair where the shifter must have punched through, so case savers might be in order. I might work on the front forks, I had to do a panic stop on the way home and thought I was going to go over the bars! Plans are to put an Acerbis tank and an aftermarket seat or foam and cover. Might try to Spencerize the seat, he does a pretty good job. The seat seems wide enough, certainly much wider than the one on my DRZ. Lowered pegs, better handlebar and hand protection, maybe a Vapor bike computer....the list is endless. I often wonder what it would cost to get one of everything on the ProCycle website for a DR... Oh, the salesman said it was only ridden to church on Sundays by a little old lady!
i still don't think anyone knows for sure what is the cause of the 3rd gear blow-up - whether there is something specifically wrong w/the way the trans loads 3rd gear, or whether it's a mfr'ing defect w/the 3rd gearset, or something else. and, as there is no data on use of bikes w/the custom 3rd gears, no one yet knows whether this is a good "fix", or whether it will simply shift the (unknown) problem elsewhere and cause something else to grenade. these new 3rd gearsets are simply too new for there to be any "1st hand experience". i have not heard of anyone w/a dr650 having a complete custom racing gearbox done up for them. i guess if you have enough money to buy a 2nd new dr650, you could have a custom gearbox done for you - a 6sp box would sure be nice! there is also no info confirming that the "new" suzuki 3rd gear was anything more than a vendor change. there's no evidence of its being strengthened in any way, and there's plenty of "post-'06-'07" dr650's that have had 3rd gear grenade on them. that said, the "plenty" i am referencing is something on the order of 1 in a 1000, so i am really not sure it's a potential problem that is worth addressing. there is no way i would be paying $600 for a pair of matched third gears, when you can get a factory pair for a fraction of that price. especially since there is no data that it's even a fix for the problem. if i were into my engine for any sort of major refurb, i would have my stock 3rd gears professionally checked/magnaflux'd, to be sure they're ok and then have the entire gearset cryo'd, replacing the existing 3rd gearset w/factory parts if there were evidence of wear on them. (whatever you do, if you are replacing 3rd gear, be sure to buy the pair, not yust the one gear, if you go for replacement w/stock parts.) ymmv, doug s.