the DR650 thread

[996DL]

Originally Posted by Snowy

I got up, swore, looked at the bike and the large trail of oil running down hill, picked it up and threw it onto the other side.


Minus rear brake lever (ripped clean off) I then had to make my way down from Baldy Ridge Fire trail and get home the long way. Only half a load of oil...barely made the low edge of the sight glass.

I got home and ripped it apart to fix the frame and discovered that the fuel tank took enough of a hit to snap one spark plug. I didn't notice. The old girl ran like a Swiss watch.

Watching Snowy's adventures, allows me to never worry about longevity issues,
with my pampered DR roadie.

996DL

[Parx400]

Originally Posted by Mikey Boy

Ok so I think I have figured it out. In that schematic I posted above the Orange/White wire from the kill switch runs to the Orange/Black wire which runs down to the side stand relay. This is how the kill switch/starter gets power on this version. See below :


The older version (the used harness I bought) has this wire soldered to the straight orange power wire. Such as below:


So it appears all I need to do is connect the orange/white wire from the kill switch to the orange power wire (essentially making it like the old harness and bypassing that side-stand wire. Does that make sense to people?

Orange and Yellow to the Solid orange. The Orange and white is the same all years. don't touch this one. . The orange and yellow use to go to the solid orange to get power. The newer one it goes to the orange and black all the way to the side stand relay.

[YnotJP?]

OPIUM89...Brake lever, my son also has a DR650. He rode mine and liked it so much, he got one also. He didn't like
the brake lever, and I was in Seattle and went by TOURATECK and got one of their bolt on brake lever extensions. He likes that
it adds about 3/4 of an inch to the outside of the brake lever.

I believe it was for a BMW R 1200 GS. When I say, "I believe" that means I don't really know, and he doesn't I either.

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by eakins

the stalling just above idle is from too rich a pilot jet tuning.

awhile back people found the traditional ways of fine tuning the pilot screw resulted in it being turned out too far the creating a rich bog just off of idle. try using 1 turn out and see what happens. turning up the idle helps but then you deal w/ another DR issue, 1st gear clunk and the solution is to turn the idle down so there is a trade-off happy point in there somewhere for you.

as for surging it's an issue for some because of the open airbox and air the pulse waves coming into the carb. some have it some don't. some have found putting a better filter on the carb vent helps (small round thing tucked up in there). others have put mesh screen on top of air opening or put back in the backfire screen (which procycle found makes no difference either way in or out)

Yeah, tried the traditional solutions on mine and they didn't work. I read through all the BST tuning posts on here and started wondering if some of these guys had ever even seen a BST or were making "best guesses" about it.

There must be some different setups depending on region the DR is sold in. I know there are needle and jetting changes, but I suspect it goes deeper than that. I bought a second hand DR carb from the US and it had some major differences, which may just point to the seller not knowing what year model it came off. Buyer beware.

My trail version of the DR has the best idle, return to idle, and pick up of any DR I've seen. It took about 20 comprehensive test runs and fiddling to get it there. I only got there because I ignored "advice".

Not to say I don't appreciate the advice and contributions, they are generally well meant. But sometimes you need to rethink things and look outside the box.

The traditional stalling off idle is caused by too rich idle and fuel puddling in front of the butterfly. The stall occurs as you OPEN the throttle, not as it closes. I experimented extensively with this. Leaning makes it much worse. I fixed it on one DR accidentally, and now I'm struggling to replicate it.

The vacuum port filter is one of the usual suspects and something I'd forgotten completely about. I replaced it with a washable K&N filter on my trail version to eliminate it as a suspect very early on.

So with my 2nd DR I've probably chased the problem in a circle. I'll change the vacuum filter and see how it goes.


Thanks. Sometimes "radical" tuning needs a traditional conservative and systematic approach to problem solving. Sometimes you just forget a step, or jump too far ahead.

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by 996DL

Watching Snowy's adventures, allows me to never worry about longevity issues,
with my pampered DR roadie.

996DL

I run 10/70 full synthetic oil with heavy duty stabiliser and Molybdenum diSulphide. I was very anal about changing oil in the beginning, now I change it when I remember...or more specifically, when I can't remember the last time I changed it.

40,000kms on it. The last 20,000 has been pure trail riding.

Never adjusted the valves. Checked them twice. Now I just listen to it when cold....valve clearance noise...it's ok.

I haven't modified anything in the engine. It's never had any mechanical issue. Never touched the clutch, and I work the daylights out of it.


Every now and then a large rock lets some of the oil out. Change the oil and filters when you replace the cover. Off you go.



The ultimate trail bike.

[UberKul]

Originally Posted by opium89

Ahem.

32mm open end is right so that narrows it down to 46mm on the Honda and 38mm for the Kaw on the ring nut size. The Yam open end is 30mm so that leaves that out. I think the DR ring nut is around 42mm so the answer is not exactly.
Sorry for being a smart ass.

[opium89]

Originally Posted by UberKul

32mm open end is right so that narrows it down to 46mm on the Honda and 38mm for the Kaw on the ring nut size. The Yam open end is 30mm so that leaves that out. I think the DR ring nut is around 42mm so the answer is not exactly.
Sorry for being a smart ass.

Ha! Found it. Here is the one for Suzuki. 32mm/42mm. I took my caliper to it to verify the nut diameter.

http://www.motosport.com/dirtbike/HP...TEM-NUT-WRENCH

It's rather inexpensive too =)

[vnsfxr]

Originally Posted by wanderind

Thanks.. tell me about search areas...my search area is the entire U.S though I would be happier with a nearer one, ( I love a fly and ride every summer )

This link is pretty good for checking areas with 1 click http://www.bikefinds.com/suzuki-dr650-for-sale-in-south

Your right none in your state, the states are small back there though so?

Good Luck

[neo1piv014]

So I was looking into doing a supermoto conversion, and sending my hubs to Procycle seemed like the cheapest way to do it (assuming I couldn't find the wheels second hand elsewhere). However, when I was looking at the tire sizes on the 17" Excel rims and converted that to metric, I could barely find any tires that would fit those rims. According to motorcycle-superstore, the only tires they have that fit a 3.5" wide 17" rim is a single Avon tire. I thought that half the point of going with supermoto tires is that it allows you to run regular street/sport bike tires. Am I looking at an incorrect tire size chart (using the WebBikeWorld one currently), or are the Excel rims not the right ones to get. Just looking at street tires that fit my stock DR650 rims seems to produce more options on almost every site I've checked. For anyone out there that's done the supermoto conversion, I'd love to know what rims you're using, what size they are, and what tires you run on there. Since I don't hardly do any real dirt riding with my 650, putting longer lasting and better handling road tires on it seems like a step in the right direction.

[Tech23]

Originally Posted by neo1piv014

So I was looking into doing a supermoto conversion, and sending my hubs to Procycle seemed like the cheapest way to do it (assuming I couldn't find the wheels second hand elsewhere). However, when I was looking at the tire sizes on the 17" Excel rims and converted that to metric, I could barely find any tires that would fit those rims. According to motorcycle-superstore, the only tires they have that fit a 3.5" wide 17" rim is a single Avon tire. I thought that half the point of going with supermoto tires is that it allows you to run regular street/sport bike tires. Am I looking at an incorrect tire size chart (using the WebBikeWorld one currently), or are the Excel rims not the right ones to get. Just looking at street tires that fit my stock DR650 rims seems to produce more options on almost every site I've checked. For anyone out there that's done the supermoto conversion, I'd love to know what rims you're using, what size they are, and what tires you run on there. Since I don't hardly do any real dirt riding with my 650, putting longer lasting and better handling road tires on it seems like a step in the right direction.

There's are a lot of tire choices for the 17" SM wheels. ProCycle has many of the most popular choices on their web site. They also do package deal pricing, so if you are going to have them lace 17" rims to your hubs you will likely save money buying the tires from them and have them do the mounting and balancing too. I'm not sure what Avon tire you were looking at but I'm real happy with the Continental Contiforce SM's mounted on the 4.25"x17 and 3.50"x17 Excel rims I bought from them. The Conti's just happen to be the least expensive option. You wont need to go any wider than a 150 in the rear.

Tech23

[ADV8]

Originally Posted by neo1piv014

According to motorcycle-superstore, the only tires they have that fit a 3.5" wide 17" rim is a single Avon tire.

Near every sport bike on the planet has a 17/3.5 inch front rim,the normal fitment is a 120/70/17 tyre/tire so there are scores of choices.
A 150/70/17 rear as Tech23 says is the usual tyre for a 4.25 inch rear rim.
I have been running Michelin pilot road 2's for some time which are a good all rounder,the new 3's may be even better.
They are also OK off road if it is dry.

[Tech23]

Originally Posted by ADV8

Near every sport bike on the planet has a 17/3.5 inch front rim,the normal fitment is a 120/70/17 tyre/tire so there are scores of choices.
A 150/70/17 rear as Tech23 says is the usual tyre for a 4.25 inch rear rim.
I have been running Michelin pilot road 2's for some time which are a good all rounder,the new 3's may be even better.
They are also OK off road if it is dry.

ADV8...is that your Motarded DR in this pic?

Tech23

[ADV8]

Yes,but before the RMZ450 forks so 2010 or earlier.
I liked the steering better with the shorter DR forks over the longer RMZ items.

There will be a few pics in here somewhere.... fwiw if anything.

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c345/manurewa/

[Snowy]

The disadvantage of MotoX forks is they are longer. Not much good for the vertically challenged. Makes the steering angle super slow.

On my trail DR I fixed this by cutting off the standard rear end and starting from scratch with a book on frame design and having measured up the donor bike (RMZ450).

So it sits high in the rear now, with about 340mm of rear travel...about 295mm front.

The first thing I noticed on my 2nd DR with an RM front end and the Racetech/DR rear end is that it steers like I'm riding a cruiser. Once under hard brakes it feels better. But I have it sprung for a load that isn't on it at the moment (I planned for a 30 litre tank, and tank bags etc). It does feel rock solid on the highway, where the trail version rides like a trail bike on the highway.

On the 2nd DR I dropped the triple clamps on the fork tubes by 20mm, and set the preload harder to lift the rear. It's very firm, I'm running the old Scorpions off my BMW (150/70-17 rear and a 90/90-21 front) and it sticks like shit to a blanket.

Having super firm suspension and sticky tyres is so much fun. I love it as an around town bike. I'm going to build a motard front and rear wheel for it, and run some motard brakes.

It'll shame the sports bikes around here easy then. Nothing upsets a sportsbike rider more than a DR going around them in the twisties. You can actually see the steam coming from their helmets.

[Tech23]

Originally Posted by ADV8

Yes,but before the RMZ450 forks so 2010 or earlier.
I liked the steering better with the shorter DR forks over the longer RMZ items.

There will be a few pics in here somewhere.... fwiw if anything.

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c345/manurewa/

Cool pics, are all those bikes yours...whats up with the eyeballs? I didn't know you had converted your DR into a Supermoto. I don't ride off road any more and a dual sport on the road is always fun but it doesn't take a lot to make a DR much better on the street. I love mine, I'm glad I made the decision to go SM. I just hope I don't get into any trouble with it in the twisties. Suzuki really should have offered two versions on the 650 IMO.



Tech23