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Which Bike? Comments and Questions on what is the best bike for YOU, for YOUR trip. Note that we believe that ANY bike will do, so please remember that it's all down to PERSONAL OPINION. Technical Questions for all brands go in their own forum.
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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  #1  
Old 31 Jul 2001
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Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Posts: 6
DR 800 Big

DR 800 BIG, Is a good bike ? Long trips?
Mecanichal problems?
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  #2  
Old 12 Aug 2001
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Location: BC Canada
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The DR is not a popular bike for long trips, Suzuki missed the boat a bit here.

Bike is very tall, with good suspension, which is partly why it's tall, nice big gas tank, but a terrible seat.

Electrics are problematic, and the balancer shaft is a frequent source of trouble. There weren't many made, so they are cheap.

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  #3  
Old 22 Oct 2001
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I had a DR800S a few years ago, did over 80.000 km on it (all year).
I never had any electric problems, the seat is not that bad (Africa twin is MUCH wors).

The reason for the balancershaft problem (i think) is that some dealers are not aware that the balancerchain has to be adjusted every 6000 km, i found that out on my DR600 and i never had problems on my 800.

The only thing realy bad about the bike is the quality of the exhaust and the paint on the frame (corrosion).
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  #4  
Old 12 Nov 2001
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any info on the DR 650 would be apreciated
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  #5  
Old 16 Nov 2001
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For dr800 information check http://www.geocities.com/Baja/3421/
a finnish rider round the world
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  #6  
Old 20 Jan 2002
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Met a German guy going overland to Oz on this bike. He's having an absolute nightmare. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong. He's not happy and regrets his choice.
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