Thanks for the reply. I cringe every time I hear a rock clunk off the bottom of my DR200. I've done countless internet searches looking for a skid plate for that bike, but no joy. I managed to find this thread on thumpertalk, but when I PM'd and emailed the guy who posted about the DR125 skid plate, he never answered. -------------------------- You mentioned you were in Baja during the 1000. Did you post any pics anywhere? If not, could you post a couple here? You can find some of my Baja pics on page 10 and 11 of this thread and also on dualsport-sd.com. Once again, thanks for the reply.
Can we see more pics of the RM 125 skid plate? from diff angles? I'm interested in one for my wife's dr200 also. I'm thiking about checking with a local fabrication outfit just to see if they could rig something up.
https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0200.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0201.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0202.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0203.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0205.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0206.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0207.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0208.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0209.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0210.jpg Works Connection Skid Plate for 2000 RM125. Cost was like $70. I went to the dealer and they could not help me so I just bought the one for the RM125 cause I read somewhere about a smaller suzuki would work on the DR. Others may work out better but this is what I had to work with. Plus that is what they had in stock when I was heading to Baja. Needed some protection down there and was not going to go with out something. This had to do. It works but does not align hole for oil drain plug. I will have to remove plate, when I do the oil change. That is fine with me. First time I installed it with out adding anything to it. I now have added a plastic hose. The diameter of the bottom portion of the frame was to small for the anchors.The hose was cut to fit around a cross member part of the frame. The skid plate's anchors hold on a lot better. I used a hard plastic hose from a sprinkler. I cut it down the middle put around the frame. Plastic is held in place by zip ties. I should of used a piece of a water hose but did not have one around. Did not want to cut up a perfectly good hose. So far I am still happy with the protection. I would later work on getting a little more protection a little higher up. That may well just require some fabrication. I need to geta hold of a buddy of mine who has a welder. Hopefully we can do a weekend projest and take care of it in the weeks to come, maybe after the holidays. I also included my fabricated wooden rack that I used on my Trip to Baja , During the Baja 1000. It is just a piece of pine 3 1/2" x 20 1/2" x 3/4". Used single bolt . I tied and bolted it in place by the grab bars and a flat part of the fender frame contact piont. he I drilled in between the two bolts that hold the fender. I put 2 pieces of Tar like tape about 1/8 " thick 1 1/2" wide. I think it is used to seal vents or fix roofs. Tape was sticky like tar. Put two pieces on top of each other. The tape was to lay flat against the flat section of the grab bar frame/fender area. It allowed me to keep the rack from moving. Then drilled a hole for zip ties that would hold onto the grab bars (one hole per grab bar). I used 2 zip ties for each side. Plus I shaved down a little of the wood so the Bolt and zip ties would be flush against the wood. Just in case I lay something flat on it . I then drilled 2 holes on each side for anchor spots. then Put 2 Long Bolts on each side for more places to hook on nets or bungee cords. The rack is firmly in place with no movement. All these parts I had lying around and really did not cost me much. I did take me a while to figure out how I was going to hold it in place. I will have to thank a buddy of mine who told me about the zip ties. I drove to his house with the motorcycle in the evening with my dilemma. Ever since then I have used zip ties on just about everything. I went on my trip with a sleeping bag,2person tent,2 inner tubes, 6 pack ice chest, 1 gallon gas tank plus a jacket gloves all tied to the rack. I would lay the bike down twice while on the baja course. Once on each side. Nothing fell off or broke. To my amazement. I drove on the race course and on the freeway. Never did I have a problem. I have since kept it on there. I will not take it off. It will come in handy for my next trip . This time for the Baja 250 in the months to come. https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0199.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0211.jpg here is the Bell Bicycle Handlebar bag. It comes with velcro to attach to bars. I also tied it down with zip ties just in case. I used the bag to store my tools, maps, lights and other stuff you see here on sec. link https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0212.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0195.jpg Here is bike loaded https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0096.jpg https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/c/carrerasbaja_DR200_IMGA0094.jpg
I got some pics of the my trip to see the Baja 1000. Lets see if this works. Click on the link or copy and paste. http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=381191198094108585/l=10900522/g=13287033/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=68191195527068483/l=10810676/g=13287033/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
I have a DR125SE, but thought I would ask some questions here since the 200 is almost identical. Is the stock jetting on the 200 as bad as this 125? I've been messing with the carb, but nothing I do seems to really help (yes, it's clean). The bike takes forever to warm up. Any throttle will kill it until it is fully warmed. I've tried opening the idle mix to 2, then 2 1/2 turns, shimmed the needle up with 2 washers, went one bigger on the main jet. I'm starting to think I may have gone too rich without modding the airbox. Stock jets are 40 pilot and 112.5 main. Also I sometimes get a howl/shudder as I let out the clutch. Doesn't slip though. I thought I read that there is a known clutch issue on the 200?
I own a '94 DR125se and I had the clutch howling issue. I think it started when I accidentally topped off the oil with some synthetic. So I had a mix of synthetic and standard Oil. Now, I'm not sure if this caused it but, when I realized the mistake I changed the oil and filter with standard 10w-40 oil and the howling went away. Again I don't know if the synthetic oil caused it or was it just dirty oil? But, changing the oil seemed to help.
Nice ride report in a photo album. Thanks. And many thanks for the pics of the skid and report on the installation.
Thanks for the info. Have any of you played with/rejetted the carb to get it running better? Anybody done the Kientech mods? I know those are for a 200 but I bet the muffler/airbox mods plus some jetting would help. Jesse said the carb is the same except for jetting. I know they come lean to meet EPA but this is the worst I've seen a bike. I almost wish I could fnd a non-CV carb for it, but I don't want to dump that much money into it. The clutch deal did get better when I changed the oil. It's always been fairly cold out when I've ridden the bike.
Hi, Can an owner of a Beta Alp 200 tag along to this thread? Rationale: Beta Alp 200 has a 199cc Suzuki motor, which I guess i the ame unit as in the DR200. Beta Alp here: http://www.betamotor.com/en/bikes/show/5?model=13 It's a great machine but I think it needs a little bit more go. Any tuning parts (big bore kits, camshafts etc.) available for the DR200 motor? Long shot I know, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks.
I saw the pics of the Beta and it has a Kickstarter. Wondering if you know if parts to add a kickstarter would fit into a 2002 DR200. I would like to add a kickstarter on mine just curious. I know the 1988 DR200 came with a kickstarter and I looked up the Parts Diagram from Bike Bandit and it looks like it will fit. Now since there is a Beta with similar motor but newer I thought maybe that would work even better. I saw a post of someone in France add a kickstarter to a Djebel 200 or something like that .
I've been researching the DRs, looking to buy. I'm a small guy, 5'2 & 160, and have been riding a BMW R1100R for a couple years. I love it, but I've dropped it to both sides (when 517 lbs starts to go, it's gone) and I can't justify the size, luxury, and complex technology when I was brought up on blasting up country gas lines on atvs. I really like the idea of the 200s, as I'm economically minded and I think these little bikes could change the world. Really. So it's still up in the air for me: I love love love the "Little Big" bike, but may go with the 650 for more safety and security on the roadways. Admittedly, my riding will be 90% road, but lots of gravel, dirt and chip & seal. & like others, I also REALLY dig the stealth camping thing. Thanks for the comprehensive info.
I own a 97 dr200se that I've been riding three years now. It has just under 55000kms on it, and the engine made it over 51000 before the rebuild. I'm almost six feet tall and 200 pounds, and this machine has been an excellent performer for me. I did a four day 2000km, trouble-free, round trip ride on it through the BC interior wilderness with a 70 pound pack and rear panniers. Yes my butt hurt. But it was worth it. My last ride, and I still have it, is a KX250 done to the Wiseco max, so I'm well accustomed to power. Sure the dr200 is no match in power, but it is a far superior bush bike. As for modifying the 200, there is some potential. Mostly with the in and out of the air pump. The stock airbox is not very restrictive for such a little motor so there is little room for improvement with it. Thank God 'cause you can't even get a K&N for these things. I know, 'cause I've written K&N twice with no reply. Needless to say I did drill some one inch holes in the lid. Nice throaty sound. All the real improvement is in the carb, head, and mostly the exhaust. No, there are no actual-fit performance exhausts out there for the 200. Sucks. So I made my own from scratch. I'll post some pix of it later. I now have an inch and a half flow through exhaust with a removable, repackable baffle. My machine now sounds like a 450. Cool. The header pipe has a lot of restriction in it too. Right at the flange the pipe is reduced in size because of the welding technique. This is very common in alot of bikes. Grinding it down and smoothing it out gives you up to 2mm diameter back. The exhaust port has some room for porting, shaping and mostly matching. The intake port is actually quite nicely shaped, so little work there to be done. I installed an oversized piston, shaved the head .020" which increased my compression to about 10.4:1 and retarded the camshaft by about 2 degrees. This results in more torque throughout the range and more rpm/power on the top end. My engine is now a 202, and I calculate it to be about 24hp. Huge improvement over stock. With the carb, I increased the pilot jet one size, lifted the needle one notch and increased the main jet to a 162. I can now pull the front end up in second for log jumping without using the clutch. Oh yeah, I still have the stock size rear sprocket, but I went down one tooth on the front. The bike is still real torquey for the trails but has an excellent throttle response in the top end. Fifth gear at 60mph, crack the throttle and the bike lunges forward. Before the mods, my machine was a handful to maintain 60mph on the highway. Especially with wind. Now I can rip right up to just over 75mph. Oh, and the catwalks are great too. I'm no pansy-ass rider just 'cause I gots a little 200. Check out my avatar. My wheels are eight feet off the track. I'm always full throttle in the tight trails of Vancouver Island, BC, and my 200 has no problem staying ahead of the young guns on their 426's and 450's when it comes to the tight stuff and hill climbs. My friend had a new KTM 450sx and he couldn't catch me after 60mph. These things go everywhere and are one of the best machines ever built. Take it from me, I've been riding for 25 years and I'm a well seasoned performance mechanic. One more thing. As for Kenda 270's, I've got over 9000kms on them and they're only at 50% wear. But I'm seriously looking at getting their Trakmaster rear 90/10 because I can't keep my rear tire from spinning now in the trails. Anyway, that's my crap for now. Glad to be on-board and happy to offer tech to other dr200 enthusiasts.
I had a really helpful guy at the Betamotor distributor in CA do some research and he's pretty certain nothing can be done with the kickstart. DR350 won't fit, and apparently neither will the Beta alp. The only other option is getting in touch with an Australian dealer, where they still sell a dr200 variant called the Trojan, a "farm bike" with a kick start among other things. I'll let u know what I find out. There has to be a solution, the damn bike has a hole in the side labeled claerly for a kickstart... Cheers
You can look at the fische online at www.mrcycles.com and I don't see the dealbreaker for why a kicker cannot be installed, at least when comparing it to the sp200 engine.
Speakin of air filters, does ANYBODY make an aftermarket one? Mine is kinda ratty but I can't find anything. (I have a DR125 but the filter should be the same).
I've looked at many companies and still can't find one. If yours is ratty just get a new one. The stock one is more than large enough for a stock engine. Even with slight exhaust mods.
And for the skeptical ones out there, I bought this matched set of Kenda 270 tires at 47,100 kms almost three years ago. I now have over 56,300 kms without any flats. Except when I sheared the rear valve-stem off doing a catwalk on pavement. I've put 9200 kms of hard riding on them, and they still have life left in them.
