the DR200 thread

[Caleb G]

Originally Posted by Pauls2ndblessing

Sounds like you have a sweet little setup man! Got some pics of that beaut?

Here's a couple pics. Not much in the outright looks department (would love to do new front and rear fenders some day), but you can see the FMF Turbine core2 (which I have am still in the testing phase with - if it blows out the packing too fast, it's coming off. I have about 4 rides on it, so far so good, but it's still early). Can also see the Tusk stand I got for it - love this thing (was fairly cheap on Amazon and well worth it, imo), as well as the moose trail pack on top of the rear fender. The pack holds a surprising amount of stuff (patch kit, 3 tire irons, various other tools, a hand pump, tire guage). When I get to my riding area I take the pack off and store it in some bushes and come back for it (obviously not a good idea if you're going to ride really far from where you store it at, but I don't).

[BigCanoe]

Originally Posted by Klay

Jesse had an original setup that called for a two inch hole in the airbox lid. The bike worked great with that setup. Then he tweaked the setup with different jets and the lid off completely. I went to the new setup and didn't like the intake noise. So I put the lid with the two inch hole back on and kept the latest jets. It runs perfectly and I've left it that way.

Thanks Klay! So just to clarify for my slow mind, you drilled one 2" hole in the center of the lid?

I have everything apart right now. I plan to buy some screws, the stock ones are kinda chewed up. I am also replacing the petcock while I have it all torn up.


Any idea what size screws I want? I will take them to the store and hope for the best I guess. Here are the manufacturers numbers:

SKU: 1209635
Mfg. Part Number: 02112-0412A

SKU: 26080
Mfg. Part Number: 02112-0408A

[Klay]

Yes, one two-inch hole in the center. I would replace the screws with allen head screws.

[BigCanoe]

Will do, and thanks again!

[BigCanoe]

Originally Posted by BigCanoe

Will do, and thanks again!

All done! New Allen head screws, new jets, new needle, new petcock with off, new hole in the air box. It's running great, and seemed to warm up much quicker. It might have a hair more power, not sure. Thanks!

[Pauls2ndblessing]

Originally Posted by Caleb G

Here's a couple pics. Not much in the outright looks department (would love to do new front and rear fenders some day), but you can see the FMF Turbine core2 (which I have am still in the testing phase with - if it blows out the packing too fast, it's coming off. I have about 4 rides on it, so far so good, but it's still early). Can also see the Tusk stand I got for it - love this thing (was fairly cheap on Amazon and well worth it, imo), as well as the moose trail pack on top of the rear fender. The pack holds a surprising amount of stuff (patch kit, 3 tire irons, various other tools, a hand pump, tire guage). When I get to my riding area I take the pack off and store it in some bushes and come back for it (obviously not a good idea if you're going to ride really far from where you store it at, but I don't).

Nice looking dr there! Looks like you keep her in shape and sounds like you put plenty of work into her as well. Thanks for the pics! I like that moose bag may have to put one on mine :)

[rv-rick]

Saw my first 2013 today. (Coleman's, Woodbridge, VA). Like the old saying; the more things change, the more they stay the same. Looked like all the rest. The only thing changed is the price.
BTW: Klay. I was spoofing you on the fuel injection. But I guess you already figured that out.

[JayGoldstein]

Originally Posted by rv-rick

Saw my first 2013 today. (Coleman's, Woodbridge, VA). Like the old saying; the more things change, the more they stay the same. Looked like all the rest. The only thing changed is the price.
BTW: Klay. I was spoofing you on the fuel injection. But I guess you already figured that out.

As someone has pointed out, the US Suzuki website says that fuel capacity of the 2013 DR200SE is 11L (2.9 US gal.). In other markets (e.g., Canada, Australia, S. Africa, and New Zealand) the fuel capacity still is 13L (3.4 US gal). Is the US model really different or is the info on the US website wrong?

[Klay]

Originally Posted by JayGoldstein

As someone has pointed out, the US Suzuki website says that fuel capacity of the 2013 DR200SE is 11L (2.9 US gal.). In other markets (e.g., Canada, Australia, S. Africa, and New Zealand) the fuel capacity still is 13L (3.4 US gal). Is the US model really different or is the info on the US website wrong?

The site has contradictory information, so I am assuming the figure cited in the 'specifications' section is in error. Under 'features', they discuss a 3.4 gallon tank.

[Caleb G]

I thought I'd throw some info I've learned about the DR200se suspension up here for general interest.

First the front end - obviously very softly sprung. After putting in the BBR fork springs I'm now putting in some Maxima 15wt oil as well since the forks are still bottoming too easily on stuff it shouldn't be. I'm running .062 inch preload spacers to maintain the sag I want to achieve. It worth noting that these spacers are a lot shorter than the stock spacers, since the BBR springs themselves are longer than the stock springs. My goal was to stiffen up the front, not whack-out the steering geometry which is already a little more biased to the rear than I would like…which brings me to my final change - the fork tubes are slid up in the triple clamps by 5mm (this has the effect of lowering the front end, which puts more weight on it, which helps the bike steer better).

Now the rear. It's a tough go out back. Obviosly there's not a lot of options stock - dial in more preload, or take some away. Well, after researching and some fiddling there's a little more to report but nothing great to do about it, unfortunately:

1. The rear of the DR200SE has much higher leverage ratio than almost any motorcycle you can find (especially post-80's). This means that the rear wheel is traveling further for any given inch than the actual shock body is moving than on most motorcycles. I was informed of this in a long conversation with someone at Works Performance. This fact can be confirmed by noting just how short the overall shock lenght is on the DR200 relative almost any other non-80'cc motorcycle. (this link http://www.worksperformance.com/pdf/.../dirtbikes.pdf whick (among other things) shows shock lengths for many, many dirtbikes)

The ramifications of the DR's high leverage ratio are quite a few - one of which you may be surprised to find; the DR200's stock shock spring is necessarily super stiff compared to what you would find on most other similar motorcycles. This means forget ever taking the spring off of something else and putting on the DR200 - the DR200's spring is probably stiffer already! (Works said stock spring is #410)

More ramifications
1. Trying to achieve satisfactory compression and rebound characteristics from a high leverage ratio shock is tougher than on one with a lower leverage ratio. The compression and rebound valving is being asked to handle an awful lot in such a short space of actual shock travel.
2. The average recommended sag settings one finds all over the internet, at least in my trial and error testing has no place with the DR200. When I got the rear sag to the recommended '33% of travel' the rear kicked wildly over jumps and whoops due to way-too-fast rebound. As such I run my DR with more like 40% sag and it behaves as well as it's going to in stock form. (note: the rear sitting so low is why I lowered the front end by raising the fork tubes in the triple clamps - again this is done in order to maintain nice tight steering characteristic).

That's pretty much it - I'd love to see how a Works Performance shock works out back and may yet still take that plunge, but for now just putting up with the stocker and wishing it was better. :)

EDIT: Btw, I'm fairly light at 150lbs, but I ride more aggressively than most. Obviously one's own weight and riding style needs to be taken into account in regard to the observations above.

[rv-rick]

Originally Posted by Klay

The site has contradictory information, so I am assuming the figure cited in the 'specifications' section is in error. Under 'features', they discuss a 3.4 gallon tank.

The fellow I talked to at the dealer said that as far as he knew, there was no change. Of course they don't have gas in the showroom models so I guess one of us would have to buy one and test it.

[Conman]

Thanks from the info. Interesting info on the rear shock but have not noticed as the front end limits me right now. The BBR fork springs, just verifying you are using the CRF150 springs? They are longer than the DR200 OEM? Did you do anything to match the ride height? Where did you get the shorter preload spacers? I'm looking to keep the same ride height I have now.

Thanks,
Con

Originally Posted by Caleb G

I thought I'd throw some info I've learned about the DR200se suspension up here for general interest.

First the front end - obviously very softly sprung. After putting in the BBR fork springs I'm now putting in some Maxima 15wt oil as well since the forks are still bottoming too easily on stuff it shouldn't be. I'm running .062 inch preload spacers to maintain the sag I want to achieve. It worth noting that these spacers are a lot shorter than the stock spacers, since the BBR springs themselves are longer than the stock springs. My goal was to stiffen up the front, not whack-out the steering geometry which is already a little more biased to the rear than I would like…which brings me to my final change - the fork tubes are slid up in the triple clamps by 5mm (this has the effect of lowering the front end, which puts more weight on it, which helps the bike steer better).

Now the rear. It's a tough go out back. Obviosly there's not a lot of options stock - dial in more preload, or take some away. Well, after researching and some fiddling there's a little more to report but nothing great to do about it, unfortunately:

1. The rear of the DR200SE has much higher leverage ratio than almost any motorcycle you can find (especially post-80's). This means that the rear wheel is traveling further for any given inch than the actual shock body is moving than on most motorcycles. I was informed of this in a long conversation with someone at Works Performance. This fact can be confirmed by noting just how short the overall shock lenght is on the DR200 relative almost any other non-80'cc motorcycle. (this link http://www.worksperformance.com/pdf/.../dirtbikes.pdf whick (among other things) shows shock lengths for many, many dirtbikes)

The ramifications of the DR's high leverage ratio are quite a few - one of which you may be surprised to find; the DR200's stock shock spring is necessarily super stiff compared to what you would find on most other similar motorcycles. This means forget ever taking the spring off of something else and putting on the DR200 - the DR200's spring is probably stiffer already! (Works said stock spring is #410)

More ramifications
1. Trying to achieve satisfactory compression and rebound characteristics from a high leverage ratio shock is tougher than on one with a lower leverage ratio. The compression and rebound valving is being asked to handle an awful lot in such a short space of actual shock travel.
2. The average recommended sag settings one finds all over the internet, at least in my trial and error testing has no place with the DR200. When I got the rear sag to the recommended '33% of travel' the rear kicked wildly over jumps and whoops due to way-too-fast rebound. As such I run my DR with more like 40% sag and it behaves as well as it's going to in stock form. (note: the rear sitting so low is why I lowered the front end by raising the fork tubes in the triple clamps - again this is done in order to maintain nice tight steering characteristic).

That's pretty much it - I'd love to see how a Works Performance shock works out back and may yet still take that plunge, but for now just putting up with the stocker and wishing it was better. :)

EDIT: Btw, I'm fairly light at 150lbs, but I ride more aggressively than most. Obviously one's own weight and riding style needs to be taken into account in regard to the observations above.

[Caleb G]

Originally Posted by Conman

Thanks from the info. Interesting info on the rear shock but have not noticed as the front end limits me right now. The BBR fork springs, just verifying you are using the CRF150 springs? They are longer than the DR200 OEM? Did you do anything to match the ride height? Where did you get the shorter preload spacers? I'm looking to keep the same ride height I have now.

That's correct - the CRF150F BBR fork springs. They are longer than the DR200's stock springs by a good bit (BBR springs 23.125" length, stock springs 22.5" length). Stock preload spacers are 1-7/8" length, 1" circumference - I matched the stock ride height by using some PVC cut down to .625" in length.

[poppawheelie]

Originally Posted by Klay

Jesse had an original setup that called for a two inch hole in the airbox lid. The bike worked great with that setup. Then he tweaked the setup with different jets and the lid off completely. I went to the new setup and didn't like the intake noise. So I put the lid with the two inch hole back on and kept the latest jets. It runs perfectly and I've left it that way.

I did the same thing for the same reason.

[blaster11]

I recently had a discussion with Cogent Dynamics who was doing the forks on my DRZ about upgrading my wife's DR200 forks and they said they could get custom springs in any range I wanted for about $140.00. So when the time comes I will be working with them to improve her forks.