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Buying A Suzuki Drz400sm In South Africa And Convert It To Dirt Bike
Im thinking of buying a suzuki drz400sm version and convert it to the -S- dirt bike , because the -SM- are cheaper and much newer from the regular suzuki 400S model dirt bike.
what will i have to change in order to fit it? the rims , tires and sprockets ..any thing else? |
Depending on what new rims you get you may need to change the brake disc. I would invest in some hand guards. Apart from that its pretty solid as is!
Good luck! |
Will it be possible to leave the existing rims and just put a dirt tire on them?
will it fit? because i dont want to invest to much money on them i am selling the bike at the end of my trip. |
SM tryes are usually quite robust on dirt due to the nature of it being a supermoto bike; otherwise you need to have a look at your tyre size on the tyre wall and see if you can get some dirt tyres.
The size guide will look like this: xxx/xx - xx - MC - xxx The first three crosses will be tyre width, the next two will be the gradient of the tyre wall, the next two crosses will be the rim size. It imperative that these numbers on your current tyre match your new tyre. (MC= motorcycle, and the last crosses represent the speed rating) A good website to use is here: Motorcycle Tyres - Cheap Motorbike Tyres | Blackcircles.com |
My guess would be at least the rims... also perhaps the swingarm and front forks, should they be shorter? Regardless it will cost a lot of money I think....
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i prefer the sm version because i can get a newer bike.. the drz sm still manufacture but the drz s 400 the newest one i saw was 2009 and cost more then the sm. :0 |
Get onto ThumperTalk NOW !!!
Theres a specific DRZ400 forum there full of great info about conversions. To do it properly you will need new forks, fork clamps/ head race, wheels, front brake line, headlamp fork brace to name a few. |
If the question's what will you have to change, then the answer is not much. If you want to run dirt tyres, you can mess about trying to fit two rear tyres, but for the sake of a pair of secondhand S or E model wheels, you're up and running with proper dirt wheels. There is a reason dirt bikes have 21 inch front wheels after all.
If you want the original speedo to read correctly, you then also want an S-model speedo drive. Again, secondhand is just fine. After that it's up to you. Personally, for my current bike, the idea of down-grading the forks in order to fit a smaller front disc was laughable, and I run the SM forks, and both SM discs - MUCH better braking on tarmac, particularly noticeable when laden. If your trip is going to be all off-road with practically no luggage, then fine - but even so, the chances of damaging the SM front rotor are pretty low when travelling (as opposed to ragging round some woods in an enduro event or what have you) - you can slow down and take a careful route through any given obstacle. Remember the DRZ S-model suspension is generally figured to be a bit on the soft side, add a bit of luggage and that'll only get worse. The SM kit I think will work just fine. Gearing wise, the SM sprockets of 15-41 feel a bit tall with an 18 inch rear, I am currently running (S model standard gearing) 15-44. I did loads of stuff to my bike, but that's just me, and just cos I wanted to. I'm really pleased with it after its 5k miles of travel so far, anyway. |
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The front is fine though.. With your luggage on, my front end feels light.. MY K60 front tyre has 16,000 miles on it and still has LOADS of tread left :cool4: Standard S gearing is 15/45... I changed down to 15/43 which still had me reving high at 60mph and left behind on the highway.. I then changed to 16/45 which I heard was a good mod but It was WAY too long. The engine just didn't have the grunt to pull a loaded bike up hills... Nightmare !!! I think the perfect "road biast" trip would be a 15/41 (sm standard) and 15/45 for an offroad biast trip.. IMO...... :scooter: |
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