Getting a Dr650se for the big trip; 1998 models, mileage and ergonomy

[GreenRider]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and relatively new to the motorcycle-fever that it originates from (but I have a bad case of it none the less).

Me and my wife are planning our first long trip for 2011 and a 5 week shakedown trip in eastern europe in 2010. A significant part of these trips will be off-road (or actually really bad unpaved "roads" and tracks). We won't go looking for the worst terrain ever, but don't want to be hampered by any we come across.

I am a big guy (1.93m most of which is leg...) and my wife is rather small (1.65m), but we want the same bike. Obviously finding a bike to fit both of us (be it with modifications) is a challenge.

One of the bikes we are concidering is the Suzuki DR650SE (others are DRZ400, Yamaha xt600, honda dominator and Honda VTX600 but at present the DR650 is king of the hill) and I have a few questions about the DR650.

I read elsewhere in this forum that the DR650 is highly geared and has a small flywheel and is thus unable to ride slowly in a comfortable way. This concerns me. I am not a MX hero and certainly don't like flying over bumps and rocks at high speed. I prefer the slow and determined approach! Can this be solved by having a smaller front sprocket (and/or) a larger rear sprocket without messing up handling and fuel-economy at say 80-100 km/h?

We are looking for DRs that are in the order of 10 years old. Newer DRs are hard to come by in Europe and we have a limited budget. Elsewhere I read that 1998 dr650s have a "solid starter idler gear", whatever that is, and that it can "break through the left case half, causing significant damage and leaving the bike not drivable" it was discontinued in 1999. Should I avoid 1998 DRs even if they have lower mileage then a 1997 DR?

DRs with 8k-18k kms on the clock are available. I ride about 12k km a year so when starting our big trip the bikes will already have ridden 30-35k kms... What kind of (more or less trouble free) high mileage can I expect from a DR if I do proper maintenance?

What is the footpeg - top of saddle distance? I have rather long legs (even for my hight) and the angle between my shins and upper legs is important for riding comfort. Can the footpegs be easily lowered? (I am riding a honda XLV650 now and lowiring the pegs on that would mean a significant amount of fabrication, a severe headace and X-leggs)

I hope you can help me with these questions (and the hundreds that will follow) and look forward to seeing you on the road, somewhere!




PS

Consider a trip from the Netherlands to Singapore and back by plane... You can ride your motorcycle twice around the world and you would still not have emitted the same amout of Green House Gasses... If you take that into account, we are all GreenRiders!