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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #46  
Old 25 Mar 2014
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Canmore, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 53
Hi Folks,

I've been lurking on this thread for a while now. Gipper and I are both friends and ride DR's here in Alberta.
Last year I rode my 2004 DR650 around the world with about 90lbs of luggage, a whining third gear and an XT600 for a companion. Our combined blog can be read at Round the World 2013 on motorbikes and you can see more information about the modifications i did to My Dr (Twiggy) at MotoExped - Home if you want.
To me, the most important thing was to get the suspension right. I ran a Safari tank on mine and needed to deal with all that weight over the front forks when the tank was full.
Keep it simple though.
..........and best wishes on ALL your travels! get out there and have fun!

Nevil
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  #47  
Old 25 Mar 2014
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My 3rd gear whines as well! (has done since about 20K miles, now over 55K miles)

90 lbs. of luggage! Wow! Did you do a lot of camping? Cooking your own food?
I totally understand your support of good suspension when carrying such a load!
Night and day with a heavily loaded bike!

I've whittled my load down to about 50 lbs. of junk ... but no camping gear. Lots of times I carry a rear tire.
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  #48  
Old 25 Mar 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Timo View Post
If you are really concerned about the potential 3rd gear problem, Procycle in the US is now selling a replacement 3rd Gear kit for about $600US:
Suzuki DR650 Parts, Accessories, & Performance - ProCycle
I'm not sure how involved it would be changing the gears, but if my old BMW G/S is anything to go on:confused1:, you might want to have a shop do that for you. At a minimum you would want a shop manual on hand.
And don't forget to add shop labor time to that figure. Then consider that NO ONE I know of has done this mod ... and there is Zero evidence that the new gears are even a "solution" at all. Even the Pro Cycle guy admits this. Shop labor would be at least 10 hours.

Excellent notes on doing the NSU fix!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Timo View Post
I find it hard to believe that it is caused by any specifically localized hard use, but I can't refute that either. There are lots of DR's in North America that are 'ridden hard and put away wet' as well. Racing? well, you got me there - I don't know of anyone racing a DR in my neck of the woods, but I'm sure it's been done.
If you follow the Aussie guys you can see they tend to use their DR's as race bikes more than North America, where most are used as commuters and weekend explorers. Lots of videos, posts and pics showing evidence of this. The Aussies also do a lot of Cross Country Out Back Adventure rides. That is some pretty tough riding ... based on some of the pics and videos I've seen. Extreme use, IMO.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Timo View Post
2) The stock light on the DR is, well, not that great (truthfully, most bikes have lousy lights, because one 55 watt bulb isn't enough - cars get two, so we should get 110 watts right?!).
Agreed, stock light is pathetic on a really dark road. I thought the DR output was around 200 Watts, not 225 watts? In any case .. it ain't much. My solution was an HID kit from DDM Tuning. It's a single bulb, 35 watt unit. So I pick up an extra 15 watts right away. It does help when running my Gerbing (77 Watts) and heated grips (about 30 watts on Hi)
The HID is at least 3 times brighter than stock light. Going on 4 years, no problems. Spare HID bulb just $12. Whole kit just $30!!


Stock 55 Watt, H-4 light

DDM Tuning 35 Watt, single bulb HID ... B R I G H T !!!
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  #49  
Old 20 Aug 2015
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Jaykay,

Any updates on your trip and how the DR650 is performing?
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Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca
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  #50  
Old 1 Mar 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post
How I dream this bike was available in the UK.

When they do come up for sale, they're either ragged or really overpriced.

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