BergDonk's DR650s and the Odd Tangent

Not much on the DR front, been riding it. Although its not operational at the moment.

The Earth X battery is dodgy, since I took delivery in fact. Worked, but not to anywhere near capacity. A replacement is enroute from the US right now. After this experience, I doubt I'll be dealing with our local Earth X agent again. They seem switched on in the US though. (is this over anyone's head?)

This does give me the opportunity to revise my pannier frames a bit for the Steel pony panniers I acquired. They are a bit like Andy Strapz, and a fair bit bigger than the Wolfmans used to date. Weight down and forward is the objective.

I've also been busy helping a good mate out with a fork conversion. Managed to use a DR bit too. Its in the pic below, see if you can figure out which bit



More here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24863389&postcount=276

Interesting. I find the high beam OK, maybe its the different reflector, or maybe the qc on the bulbs is variable, or both.

Yep, like DRJoe said above, perhaps, KTM 990SM, I think.

No.

Because it didn't happen.

One of my favourite shops is Hare and Forbes:
http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Home

My grandfather first took me there in the mid 1960s. I remember being fascinated by all the interesting looking tools and stuff and wondering what it all did and how it worked.

They have a sale a few times a year, and they send me a cattledog (Oz slang term FYI) when its on.

I have a mate who lives nearby who has a couple of mills, and, I think, 7 lathes, and heaps of other fun stuff in a number of sheds. He let me mill the caliper adaptor I made for the XT660. Which got me thinking that maybe a new mill drill in my shed would be good.

And then a new Hare and Forbes specials cattledog arrives in the snail mail. The mill package on special caught my eye. I had to take the XT660 back to Sydney, so with Father's Day coming up, a mill/drill backload seemed to make sense. SWMBO shrugged her shoulders. She always ends up accepting, but I'm not always sure she understands. Maybe I'm not sure I do either, dunno? Want, need, shed.....

I went into Hare and Forbes yesterday after delivering the bike and reached a stage of decision paralysis. Too many choices after I thought more about it, which meant that my budget would be blown, along with the challenge of finding a spot in the shed for a big one.

Came down to:



http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/M155

Which would fit on my bench, just, or for less $s:



http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/D181 which I'd struggle to locate properly.

By the time I got some collets, bits, vice and clamps, $$$$.

Then I remembered that I can access my mate nearby most anytime for a few beers, and I came home empty handed. But SWMBO wasn't unhappy

We have to visit our daughter in Fiji, and my Dutch cousin in Tonga. Purely by coincidence, both are doing aid work in the same part of the world. I'll accumulate some brownie points, and look harder for space in the shed, and then perhaps ......

very nice fork swap on the yamaha

its good to have a neighbor with a mill, (mine thinks so too LOL) beers are a great equalizer of shed assets

good tooling is expensive yes its the bloody unwritten fine print that puts a spanner in the works on a lot of great ideas. brownie points are just as useful though

perhaps a good used very old very heavy mill will come up locally, my grandads old steinel has about the same travels as those but its near 200kgs and heavier wouldn't hurt for more accuracy.

FWIW used CNC mills are extraordinarily cheap compared to conventional ones .. I have seen them near 10K for a 4 ton mid 90s mill

love all the pics of bikes and stuff.. good work!

Stem Shaft ???

Keep guessing...

There appears to be a front axle and bar risers/clamps... There is so much less stuff on your bench than mine we will eventually get it. My bench you would be lucky to find it.

Inmate Cy over on the new tech battery thread, gives Earth X and Antigravity high marks for their truth in advertising about CCA ratings, etc. I'm sorry to hear your Earth X has problems. I guess they aren't ready for prime tisme yet. Especially for you guys with your survival at risk.
...
...
...

...
...

My BIL just moved 800 miles away. He had bought tooling at a bankruptcy sale, incredible array bits and other expensive things.

The long bolt in the pic is a DR650 swingarm pivot bolt. 17 mm, hollow, and makes a great axle for jobs like this. Used one on DR2's RM forks few pages back. I do mention it in the link to the fork conversion if you got that far

Used equipment can be a good thing too. Looking at some of Bushies recent projects, maybe I'll have to hang in for a CNC job.

http://husaberg.org/mechanical/17998-bushmechanic-mongrel-628-trailbike.html

http://husaberg.org/electrical/17806-sem-kokusan-conversion.html

In the meantime, jobs to do, and some riding of other members of my fleet while I wait for the new battery to arrive.

After the distractions of a broken frame and the XT660 forks, Doug decided it was time to come down for the weekend and get his FCR and exhaust fitted up.

So a quick sanity check before he got here revealed that the FCR wasn't quite ready.






For an unknown reason it had no overflow for the float bowel. So I got some brass tube from the hobby shop, drilled a hole at the right angle and epoxied the tube in.

The Staintune I'd set up had nominally been for Doug, but because I like it so much, I decided to keep it on DR1 and fit a new FMF PB header to Doug's bike, along with the 040 muffler and Keintech midpipe that came with DR2. DR2 will get the 041 setup previously fitted to DR1. DR2's future is now clearer, but that is a story for another day.

The FMF PB header needed some work to get it to fit properly. Ended up grinding and filiing about 1.5 mm off the bottom of the flange to get the end of it up about 20 mm to line up with the midpipe. The 3rd I've fitted, and second that needed work to make it fit properly. This also meant a fair chunk of the B&B bash plate had to be removed too.

I also made up a similar rubber mount for the muffler to that of the 041 after beefing up its hanger.

The Keintech muffler bracket didn't line up either, so made up another one too.

So with my 5 l test tank fitted, coughed on the first crank, then fired and blubbered a bit.

A bash plate full of fuel . Off with the carb, pull the needle and seat, flush and blow ut, nothing evident. So back together and starts and idles straight away, no overflow. Good thing I spotted the missing overflow, and sorted that. Not sure what would have happened otherwise.

I set the carb up a bit richer than my FCR, and after a few test runs, its now more or less the same and runs great. The 1 mm AP stroke seems spot on, and the adjustable PAJ is probably about a #75.

Compared to its previously completely stock setup its now smoother, gruntier, with snap on rollon, and revs faster. And it barely any noiser even with the opened up air box. I did fit the FMF spark arrestor to the muffler too. Doug is happy

It seems that the new battery for DR1 arrived in Sydney yesterday, so maye Weds? According to the tracking, it took 5 days to get from Denver to SF.

Battery arrived today as anticipated. 13.25 V out of the box, and bike fired right up, like it should. Could well be 13.3 too, and 13.25 rounds up to 13.3. Got a blue plastic case instead of the black on the original had. The blue sorta matches the other blue bling

One interesting thing that I learnt; "the battery should have been 13.3V at a minimum to begin with and even at 13.1V, that would mean the battery is at about 80% drained."

Best I had was about 12.8 V out of the first one, and a bit over 9 V when it came out of the box.

Got to do some more destruction testing of the fairing for Joe now.

Hi Bergdonk , I had a motobatt battery in my 640A do you reckon a motobatt for the DR would be ok ? If not what battery are you using ?

In my limited exposure to Motobatts, they seem OK. Should be fine in the DR.

As discussed above, I'm using a Lithium Earth X <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]-->12V-ETX18B in my DR. Because its lighter and smaller than stock, and I've mounted it on the bash plate.

But early days to see whether its really suited to my application. Unknowns that may cause issues over and above normal stuff for me are vibes from my mounting system, heat from engine proximity and/or retention from case design, and immersion from water crossings. And if it gets a whack from a stick or rock or log. Not that I'd crash it of course

I'm thinking DR2 might get the smaller battery mounted in more or less the original spot, TBC.

Had a bit of a shed tidy and found some LED blinkers lying about. Dunno where I got them, or why. I decided to add them to DR1 as running lights.



Not overly bright, but WTH.

One of the things I hadn't determined was what to do with the battery when I remove the bash plate. One of those things I'd sort when it became necessary.

It was oil and filter change time and I prefer to take the plate off for that, although not necessary, it means no oil in the bash plate. It comes off real easy too, 4 bolts.

But with my new battery location, not so simple, especially if I wanted to ride it with the plate off to warm it up for the oil dump.

I had some thoughts of making up a temporary bracket, and the time arrived this week. I worked out that a strap hooked onto the tank brace, and over the tank to the oil cooler frame works fine and takes no effort to organise. I rode up the road for 8 kms and back and around the yard a bit and all it does is swing in the breeze a bit with no issues. Sorted









But, a bit more fuzz on the magnetic sump plug than I consider normal. Not much more, and not the best pic, but more. Maybe 3rd gear is on the way?

Ah well, fresh tyre and a ride this weekend and we'll see what happens.

Crikey Bergdonk...not related to using Delo 400? :huh

I use it in my diesels and it has been great and was just considering adding the bikes to the list.

FWIW I noticed on the weekend that your bike was beginning to smell a bit like a KLR - seemed to be burning a little bit of oil - no smoke, but that distinct smell you associate with older bikes (and KLRs)

Its started to burn a little oil in the last 10,000 kms and I've had to add some oil between changes, which are 3-4000 kms intervals. Might have lasted without topup, but I like to keep it near full.

No sign of consumption in the 500 kms we did over the weekend. It was fresh just before we left.

One of my performance indicators for oil is that fresh oil shouldn't change the gear change or clutch action. If it goes over 4000 kms, which it has once or twice, I note improvement, which tells me the oil has started to break down. If I keep it well under 4000 kms then I notice no change in operation with fresh oil.

As noted elsewhere, I've been using the Delo 400 in the DR and my Bergs, and the rest of my fleet for years. Its use has demonstrably and dramatically increased the service life of the cam follower bearings in my old FE501 by a factor of over 3, and counting, compared to the Mobil 1 R4T used previously. My Bergs are going great, and have exceeded what many consider rebuild time for them. Almost 34,000 kms on my 501 and over 10,000 kms on the 650. All hard bush use, with a few races too.

My DR hasn't had an easy life, and with almost 80,000 kms on it now, its still got some life. I'll keep an eye on the fuzz and if its the same again next oil change, at maybe 2000 kms, then maybe its time for some engine work.

I'm reasonably confident that the oil consumption can be fixed with a set of rings, and the existing situation can go for a while yet. I was thinking I'd like it to get to a nice round 100,000 kms, but we'll see. The fuzz isn't rings. It wasn't bad, I have seen much worse on other engines, its just that it was more than what has been normal for my DR.

How are liking the DR Joe fairing? Does it improve the high speed handling/steering responsivity? I want to do something similar to mine, but wonder if it wouldn't be just as good to run a small windscreen on the existing cowl. Of course if DR Joe started selling them my decision would be much easier....

[Jumping in because I'm sitting at my keyboard, and bored]

The fairing looks great, and has a lot of very nice little engineering touches

My impression from Steve is that it works a lot better on the road than the windscreen, and that the removal of weight from the bars improves handling considerably - Steve will verify or correct that

It also seems to be very sturdy

Yep, really like the DRJoe Fairing. Definitely improves the steering responsiveness, with less bar input needed, and more tyre feedback when pushing. All the weight off the bars is the go for sure.

I should have weighed it all for comparison, but it won't be much different in weight because of the Al bracketry and plastic headlight, vs the stock steel and glass stuff, and its all off the bars now.

And for me, the air is calmer. The SFB screen was great, but this is greater.

In fact I like it so much, there is another on the way for DR2. Can't make a better recommendation than that.

A few other things on DR1 are now due after having a bit of a post ride look after last weekend. The cush bearing is developing some play, the last of the 3205s @ <> 10,000 kms, and the chain has started to go too, <> 20,000 kms for a 520 DID VM.

So some shed time for DR1 due again real soon, but in the meantime the S10 beckons

Great info, thanks. That helps me stay the course on building a fairing.