the DR650 thread

I am looking forward to putting some miles on my new to me DR, my first DR. This weekend 2 or 300 miles is in the plans.

dunno if it's any good, but if it is, this one is better.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/280997806282

doug s.

But my one has free delivery??

the one i linked has free delivery; not the one you linked...

doug s.

http://shortwayround.co.uk/suzuki/

Pumper carb, exhaust mods, cut airbox.......sold still running strong with 75,000 miles on it. I'm gonna hazard a guess at "no"......

TrophyHunter's advice should be gospel with regards to the NSU fix debate on clutch removal. He helped me do my DR and I had never seen a clutch in my life, let alone my new bike dismembered before my eyes. Thanks again for the help and mechanical lesson. I still know what a banjo bolt is, lol. If I was to do it again, I'd be taking the clutch off because it's simple to do and the correct procedure.

Do you really have 75, 000 miles on your DR? Is that with the motor untouched or has the motor been reconditioned?

Probably, but the difference in performance that they can make if done properly, far outweighs the extra maintenance required- in my opinion.

hi all, anyone else out there done an engine rebuild or currently have an engine in pieces and can tell me which of the bearings inside the cases has a small split pin protruding from the outer race? i remember this was the only bearing that i couldnt buy off the shelf from a cheaper shop but i cant remember which one it was.

installed a new Trailtech Vapor and Dashboard last night - the previous owner had one installed but between the miles and broken or chafed wires I decided to make it all new. When I took possession of the bike, the Vapor was mounted, but there was no Dashboard. When exploring the wiring harness last night I found what I assume was his old hookup - the dashboard plugged right into it and after a fashion seemed to work. Left directional light works. Right directional light works. High-beam light works. Neutral light works. In my mind I think "Score!"

Here is where my little story goes sideways. When I put the bike in gear the high-beam indicator light on the dashboard goes out. In the Vapor wiring harness these two lights share a ground (I think). I know, I should have taken pictures last night. I'll try to get over to my buddy's garage and do that later today.

Additional information:
The bike has an aftermarket light/directional/horn control - my best guess is Procycle's Mini handlebar control switch, this was all done by the previous owner.


It has an interesting feature where is will kill the headlight if you wish. When the bike is in neutral, everything works as expected. With the bike in gear, the headlight kill does not work.

I'm no wiring guy, but my buddy is pretty good. As I see it, I have 3 possible areas to focus on to troubleshoot this. The Trailtech wiring harness. The Handlebar Control unit wiring. OR the neutral sensor switch (whatever t iis really called).

Has anyone dealt with anything like this before, or have ideas or thoughts on troubleshooting this?

Thanks in advance

After taking a rock to the case a month ago and having the DR totaled, I was on the fence about what to do for a replacement bike. (you can see it happen at minute 2:10 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13cR80h-QNo&feature=plcp the rock i hit was sticking up a few inches out of the dirt and was less than a foot long and kind of pointed. Just bad luck that i hit it and it punched the oil drain up into the case and also caused the rear clamp on the skid plate to knock a hole in the back. The insurance company was going to fix the engine, but the bent frame tube was enough to push the repair cost over 85% of the bikes value.)

I had visions of a KTM 690 Enduro R...or possibly an XR560. I was looking for the holy grail of dirt/road. I weighed all the options and came back to the trusty DR.

I love the versitility and reliability of the DR. My riding buddy Mark is on his 3rd DR...went looking for the better bike and keeps coming back to the DR as well. Now that we're older and slightly wiser...our focus has changed from looking for the max performance to looking for max reliability and comfort. With a few mods, the DR is the only bike that seems to fit. Our motto is 'riding, not wrenching'

It's difficult to get a feel for just how high up that launched you before you came down, but it obviously sucked.

Question for ya - did you have an upgraded suspension (stiffer springs) on that bike? It sort of looked like the stock springs, as I know mine are so weak that they'd 'disappear' underneath me if I tried anything like that. I'm just wondering if upgraded springs would have prevented some of the hurt (though it's tough to get away from the harm a poorly design skid plate will do).

The sound of the rock hitting the case was brutal. And seeing the pig bleeding out like that was very sad. It must have made the rest of the day pretty interesting. Was that in VA or WV? The reddish clay looked familiar but not the straight and open road.

I only WISH that was my site and over 5 years of adventure. I don't know if Adam ( JediMaster here ) had any engine work done in those miles. I kept up with most of his posts and don't remember any rebuilds but a read through would tell you I guess.

Don't want to overstep my boundaries here, but just an FYI that I have a stock wheelset for sale in the Flea Market:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=848083

this is the wiring harness that I talked about



The top one is the Trailtech connection. New part is to the right, old/existing half is to the left.

The Bottom connection is the left-hand light/directional/horn switch connection that the previous owner had installed.

this is the aforementioned control switch

Just saying HI on 12/12/12 @ 12:12

Best I can do:

That bike had the .80 fork springs and the 8.3 shock spring from Procycle. It was quite a bit stiffer than stock, but still not stiff enough. I didnt go very high, but the rock i landed on was about 20 feet from the water bar that i went over...I was doing about 30-35mph at the time. We've ridden that area a number of times and I've had a few incidents with rocks on the skid plate, but this one was just bad luck. Bottoming out on a flat landing with a rock right were the case would contact it.


Here's the rock:



Here's the damage (after i removed the skidplate that was also destroyed):