Hi Todd,

Nice to see you back. Was wondering what happend to you.




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John

I've got a DRZ/S from last August and am very satisfied ..I hate to admit (since a long time a proud XT owner, I'm still "bleeding in blue" :-) ) that is the real heir of XT original concept - a simple, light & compact bike able to perform offroad and on road , concept lost when XT'S and Tenerés fattened and well represented by XT660 ...

The DRZ is capable and a good choice also for long-distance driving, mine has less of 5000 kms , but were made in just 3 weekend rides. A Friend of mine has reached the 40.000 kms - with lots of hard enduro in it w/o problems

The pros are : performance, offroad position & handling , practically the same of a specialized Enduro bike like KTM or WRF, good lighting for serious night drive,
the cons are : lack of low-end "grunt" (Still a peculiar landmark of XT) more thirsty in fuel than a XT, inferior quality of assembly (respect Jap Yamaha)

Need a reinforced rear frame to load it , i've made my own with alu bars

I thought I'd revive this thread as I'm considering a DRZ400S as an overlander and have a few questions.

1. Fuel Tank: two options are the Aqualine (available at http://www.coreracing.co.uk/) or the Acerbis. Do these tanks fit the 'Dual Sport' DRZ? Does the Acerbis tank come in yellow? Is a pump required for either and if so what does fitting it involve?

2. Rear shock absorber: Any known bugs with this?

3. Battery. I recall that on a friend's DR350, the battery is mounted behind one of the rear side panels i.e. quite close to the rear wheel. Is it the same on the DRZ? Of concern as to me it seems vulnerable in this position, and my favoured means of luggage is throwover panniers without a rack (I travel very light).

4. Wheels. What make are the rims? I'd consider replacing the spokes for heavy duty items but in my experience DID rims are adequate.

5. All day cruising. Whilst I guess one advantage a 400 (over a 600/640/650) is the lack of weight and consequent ease of handling off sealed roads. The flipside to this is of course long days on the tarmac can be tiring on a smaller bike. What sort of cruising speeds are tolerable on the DRZ (for both the motor and rider)?

6. Economy: Any figures available for on/off tarmac, (lightly) loaded up fuel consumption? If possible please say so if you reply in miles per US gallon (as opposed to Imperial allon).

7. Seat. I'm considering either the Corbin or the Suzuki gel seat. Do they work with the Acerbis tank?

8. Any other known bugs?

Thanks.

I've also been looking at the DRZ as an overlander to replace my ageing XR600. On paper it sounds good - cheap(ish), loads of bits available, modern (although after the XR most things are!), light(ish) etc.
I've been poking around DRZ's at my local dealers and trawling the web to see what owners report and a few reliability / preparation issues (on sites like thumpertalk) seem to come up frequently:

Loose primary drive nuts
Leaking water pump (DIY fixable with sealant)
Cam chain tensioner problems
Final drive nut needs industial grade thread lock
Fragile engine side cases

None of these would put me off and good preparation would sort them all, but any of them could strand you on some remote piste.
I was also a bit concerned with the DRZ having a small battery and being electric start only although you can retro fit a kickstart (about $250 from the states if you fit it yourself).

The seat does seem to be particularly unsuited to overlanding. I thought the XR seat was hard until I sat on a DRZ.
Aquiline tanks would prob be my first choice. I e mailed Alec at coreracing about the 28L before Xmas and got a very helpful reply. Expensive (about £350) but a lot cheaper than the 40L on my XR.

On the good side they do seem to have a strong sub frame and I've not come across any reports of cycle part problems like the engine ones above.

I'd still like to get some feedback what they're like on a long road run - the atlantic route through Morocco / Western Sahara is a lot of tarmac before you reach the dirt - before I make a final decision but given that the other bikes on my short list include a CRM 250 Honda and a 604 CCM it's probably the front runner.

Thanks backofbeyond.

You raise a few points:

1. Loose primary drive nuts

I guess you mean the nut that retains the drive sprocket. A mate had problems with the drive sprocket coming off his Beta Alp 200 (which I believe has a Suzuki motor). I believe he ended up lock wiring it or something. I'll check up and report back.

2. Leaking water pump (DIY fixable with sealant)

Worrying. I do carry some instant gasket in my spares kit.

3. Final drive nut needs industial grade thread lock

OK.

4. Fragile engine side cases

Decent wraparound bash plate.

5.Cam chain tensioner problems

Isn't this fixed:

6. The tank: IMHO and experience an off the shelf tank designed for the bike in question is the optimum solution. Personally I don't like to carry fuel cans and hopefully, a 400 won't be too thirsty so hopefully the 28L should be enough for my purposes.

Isn't the 'Atlantic route' all sealed now (apart from a section at the Western Sahara/RIM border?)



[This message has been edited by Ian (edited 25 January 2006).]

Ian

Primary drive nut - this is inside the clutch cover and retains the gear on the end of the crankshaft that meshes with the clutch basket. Thumpertalk posters report some either coming loose or being loose from new. Not hard to fix / prevent (loctite) before you go but could be serious on the road.
I meant the engine sprocket nut when I said final drive nut. Again loctite and a big spanner is the fix but changing sprockets when you hit the dirt becomes more difficult than it is on my current XR (2 6mm bolts)

The problem with the side cases seems to be the gear / brake pedals punching a hole through the case when you fall off although Alec from coreracing mentioned they had a stone that missed the skid plate break one. The protectors seem to be "glued" over the top the existing cases.

re fuel tanks, I don't know where you're planning to go If its somewhere really out of the way then you may need all 28L but the 40L Acerbis I used on the XR was overkill for UK to Gambia. With the bike loaded up and the tank full the XR was virtually unridable - on the road nevermind the dirt. I only filled it up twice. It was so top heavy that when kickstarting it was luck whether I could hold it up. The extra weight meant that the stand was too long and it balanced close to the topple point. Stopping at roadblocks was amusing - trying to find somewhere to stop where it would stay on the stand.

The Atlantic route may well be sealed all the way by now - it was two years ago when I was there and the route from Nouhadibou was under construction. To get as far as the Mauri border any bike would do - French registered campervans were two a penny as far as Dahkla but I don't remember any after the dirt started at the border. It's only at that point that the DRZ would come into it's own. I'm looking at going down there again next winter and one of the remaining concerns I have about the DRZ is that it's a long way to get to the dirt on a 400cc bike.

Thanks for the info.

A bit off topic, but judging how much fuel to take is always a problem (at least to me). When I went down the Atlantic route I carried fuel in cans inside my panniers and between Nouadhibou and Nouackchott, by my calculations, I used exactly the capacity of my bike's fuel tank - so were the cans redundant? They wouldn't have been had I got lost.

Next trip I had some rally side tanks fitted and on the piste I thought I wouldn't need them, I did need them (one station had fuel but no electricity to pump it with, another just didn't have fuel) and on the piste where I thought I would need them I didn't, but that was only because the fuel tanker arrived the day after we did. But the spare fuel came in handy anyway as I had to give some to my riding buddy somewhere near Arlit.

My next trip will probably be to Iceland, and my next big trip will probably be trans-Africa, should the 'Hoggar/Lake Chad/Eastern DRC' route become feasible again. In both cases I reckon at least the 28L will be required.

That Aqualine tank doesn't look like it'll make the bike too top heavy though.

Interesting DRZ thread here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115345

Let us know if go for the DRZ.

Cheers.

...Why take a DRZ400 to travel on sealed roads? I guess it is possible but IMHO the more unsealed the better.

Patrick.

Larger fuel tanks and aftermarket seats have been mentioned above.

Having sold my DRz, I have for sale an Acerbis tank (in blue)and fittings. I think it's 18 litres.
A new Corbin seat, blue/silver.

As has been mentioned, this bike is excellent for places like Africa. I put in many long days and thoroughly enjoyed it. Plenty fast enough, good fuel consumption and not too heavy. It would have been even better if I'd had the Corbin, so I bought one, then promptly sold the bike!

Thought I'd join in here as I bought a cosmetically challenged DRZ400S at Xmas. It came with an Ascerbis 16 litre tank in Yellow. Note that the rad fan needs removing to run the Ascerbis tank although I've this is not the case with Clarke or IMS tanks?

Not started spannering on it yet but have bought the following, mnostly via Ebay:

Renthal O'ring chain & sprockets.
Stainless brake lines front & rear.
Stainless wheel spacers F&R.
Stainless spacer for the gearbox countershaft. Sit's behind the front sprocket. Standard item rusts, chews up the oil seal & lets oil out - don't forget the O'ring.
New wheel bearings & EBC pads all round.
Used headlight, mine is cracked.
Spare air & oil filters plus plugs.
Will buy a Case Saver soon.
Waiting on the new battery, unusual size apparently?

Looking forward to working on it & riding it soon.

Steve

Oldbaldrick,

Do you still have the seat for sale? If not where did you get it. Thanks
simon



[This message has been edited by notxxtz (edited 18 February 2006).]

I have heard that the IMS tank does not fit on with the fan on. I read that AFTER I put my IMS tank on mine WITH the fan in place. Also know of two others that got theirs on with fan in place. It is a little tight, but can be done. I have had mine since 2003 with no problems. Enjoy your new ride.

I don't know for certain that the tank is Acerbis, but it does fit the S model with the cooling fan. Maybe it's Clarke or IMS then.
I still have both the tank & seat for sale. If anyone's interested, they can e-mail me, oldbaldrick'at'aol.com

I have heard that the IMS tank does not fit on with the fan on. I read that AFTER I put my IMS tank on mine WITH the fan in place. Also know of two others that got theirs on with fan in place. It is a little tight, but can be done. I have had mine since 2003 with no problems. Enjoy your new ride.

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When I get round to working on mine, I may try refitting the fan ust to see what the issue is? Will let you know.

Aussie Jase
 

G'day, I just joined the site as I'm researching the market for a dual purpose Bike. The biggest question is what to compromise on.
I think you guys would probably enjoy reading this thread from Thumpertalk
http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/sho...7&page=1&pp=10

I'd really like a twin cylinder machine, having owned several big singles over the years, but there's nothing on the market light enough to handle OK in the rough stuff, and all those big, wide expensive fairings are definately going to get trashed sooner or later.
Thinking of a KLR650 and beefing up the suspension & front brake.
Or a DRZ400 with a better seat and larger tank.
Do you know of anyone who's put a small frame mounted fairing on a DRZ400 and maybe a lower, fork mounted, front fender.