Building a DR650 Adventure...

[Ron Seida]

Good news about the Renazco guy's, thanx. I'll consider it after my Mexico trip, but i'll give the Corbin a chance. Anyways, it will be easy to sell again if i need to.
Just for clarity, i took some more photo's of the top clamp and how i got the key to fit.
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Basicly, i hogged out a few mm. with a bi-metal hole saw, quick and dirty. I also had to sand down the key tumbler a bit on the belt sander:
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I then drilled out the mounting holes in the tumbler and put it all together. Nice and slick!
Today i got the top clamp bolted on, along with the brakes and front fender. Say, any dual disk 640 riders out there who can provide me with a pic of how the brake lines are run?
I also got the new Pro-Tapers mounted on the bar riser that came with my clamp. Wrenched on the Bark Busters and installed the left grip heater and grip. I also installed the Dual Star mirrors that i'm gonna try out, i'm tired of replacing mirrors!
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Well, i think thats all for now until after the holidays. Talk to you guy's soon!
End of line...

[dirtydeeds]

Ron,

Where are you at now with the build?

Im back in ecuador. Going to buy a bike here - to avoid ecuadorian aduana. Found a Freewind for a decent price...

I'll let you know what happens with that later this week.

Jeff

[Ron Seida]

wow, that was quick! Las Colombianas chased you out already! So, we both know the deal about Ecuador and all that, so is it really a good idea to buy a bike there? PM me with the details
Yes, there has been much progress made. I just have to sit down and take the time to continue the thread. Patience Grasshopper....

[warnabrother]

nice..
looking forward to seeing the final product

[Ron Seida]

Okay,back to work you know, documenting this build almost takes as much time as building the damn bike! Okay, not quite, but you get what i mean, right? Yesterday, i somehow managed to kill my camera, so today i had to go shopping. The camera was only $275 for the body, a nice used Rebel. Problem is, i have been looking at the Sigma 10-20mm for a while now, and the guy gave me a bit of a deal, so off to the races and a $1000 poorer
I've decided to give the bike a new name. From this day forth, she will be regarded as the Kdr 650. It's got a bit of a ring to it, don't ya think
I called up my buddy "The Pirate" to get my bike towed to the shop. Turns out he don't live here any more a Drake has taken over his business, to a tune of $35 more than i used to pay Can you believe it was $97 to tow my bike some 4 km???
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First things first, remove the compliance decal. Apparently, this decal is VERY important for registering the bike in Canada.
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...well, this job didn't go so well. Good thing it's already inspected, huh?
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I got things all layed out and ready for welding.
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And removed some un-necessary metal from the frame:
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And tacked in on like this:
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Checked it out, gave everything a little test fit to make sure it was square to the frame...
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And finished things up with a nice hot pass with the MIG.
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At this point i realised that i could in fact use my steering lock, i just had to cut a small piece of 1/4" pipe and weld it into place.
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This all worked out pretty good!
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Things seem to line up pretty good.
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At this point i tried out the dash thats stock on the KTM. It all worked out okay, except that there is a huge amount of wasted space in the well. I was going to need room in there for ballasts, distribution block, relays and all the other crap i'll need to find a home for. Also, i needed a place for my IMO, and prefered it up high in my line of vision so i don't need to loose sight of the road whenever i check my speed. I also needed a few more attachment points for the mask. On the KTM, it bolts onto the tank, not an option here. Well, the Lord hates a coward, right???
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There, that was easy! Thanx to lots of beer and my trusty zip-cut, hey, what can go wrong??

[Ron Seida]

I continued to remove all the stuff i don't need from the frame, trying to keep things as light as possible.
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So now it's time to start looking at a new dash. I cut up some cardboard and made a nice fitting pattern. i then transferred this to a piece of aluminum checker plate that i found in the rack.
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As well equipped as the shop i'm borrowing is, there are a few things it is missing, like a TIG welder for aluminum, and a brake for bending sheet metal. In this situation i went with the poor-mans process:
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By this time, the beers were really kicking in, and i ended up bending the sheet backwards . I guess that in the end thats a good thing. Who wants to look at a piece of checker plate while driving down the road anyways?? In the end i made it fit... kinda
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i taped it up and proceeded to make it's spine:
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And i fitted the IMO trip computer:
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Not bad, huh? Thats it for now, but i'm pushing hard to complete this project, so more to come soon!
end of line....

[DRjoe]

that's real nice mate whats the reason for running the IMO.

[Mezo]

That dash would look nice with thick adhesive backed vinyl over it, matt black or carbon pattern.

Some nice detailed work Ron (rubber mounts) looks fantastic with the KTM front on it.



Mezo.

[Ron Seida]

Originally Posted by DRjoe

that's real nice mate whats the reason for running the IMO.

I bought the IMO from an Inmate about 5 years ago for my then BMW project, and it's been sitting in my closet ever since. I figured i would finally put it to good use.

[Ron Seida]

Originally Posted by Mezo

That dash would look nice with thick adhesive backed vinyl over it, matt black or carbon pattern.

Some nice detailed work Ron (rubber mounts) looks fantastic with the KTM front on it.



Mezo.

Hey Mezo, thanx! Actually, i really don't like the checker plate dash, and after sleeping on it i've decided to re-do it with a thinner lighter piece of aluminum and paint it black. The truth is, if i were to do it again, i would build the frame from scratch in a different design, think Touratech ralley. This one has been a real bitch to get strait as the frame appeared to be bent in the first place. I think it came from a crashed bike, tweaking it has been difficult. The dash isn't fitting very well and i can't bear to look at it for countless miles without going crazy

[Kawidad]

Originally Posted by Ron Seida

Not bad, huh? ...

Not bad, indeed. Looks fantastic to me. Keep it up!!!!

[dirtydeeds]

Originally Posted by Ron Seida

wow, that was quick! Las Colombianas chased you out already! So, we both know the deal about Ecuador and all that, so is it really a good idea to buy a bike there? PM me with the details
Yes, there has been much progress made. I just have to sit down and take the time to continue the thread. Patience Grasshopper....

Just wanted to spend the holidays with some friends in EC. I´ll be heading back to COL as soon as possible. I am meeting Micha in Cartegena end of January. He found transport for his bike for $200. Proly leaves from Colon. Not sure what surcharges they will put on that when it arrives...

If you are still fighting with your instuments, a friend of mine ripped out his on his 1150GS and simply mouneted his GPS in a custom dash. He kept his oil light, that is it. The rest he thought was not needed. I saw his point. You can here the engine and dont "need" a tach for touring, and who actually uses signal lights in these countries? He did mount a horn from truck (a BIG truck) though.

PM sent.

[Ron Seida]

Okay, moving on...
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I had to build a frame for the IMO, but without the ability to weld aluminum, steel will have to do. I found what looks like 16ga. in the rack. My trusty zip cut was up for the job!
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There! Now i have a place for all my stuff, with easy access and protection from the elements.
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And a little bit of paint...
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Okay, thats all for now. Time to go back to work.
end of line...

[Ron Seida]

Originally Posted by dirtydeeds

He found transport for his bike for $200. Proly leaves from Colon. Not sure what surcharges they will put on that when it arrives...


PM sent.

$200
¡Tu ganas que pagas! Remember that thread from GatoGato? Oh well, if he's made it this far...
Say hi for me .

[NC Rick]

Awesome work Ron! I really appreciate the workmanship, seeing you fabricate stuff like that with basic hand tools. I find that more impressive than someone doing all that with a sheet metal brake and all the other associated equipment.

Good on you!

Thanks for sharing.