Hi everyone,

It's only four months to go before I go on my Africa trip and it's in the red hot preparation phase right now. In the last couple of months I learned a lot about maintaining / servicing/ repairing the DR650 and which parts would be a good idea to take along on an overland trip. What I'm not sure about is the clutch. When we start the trip my DR650 will have around 12000km on its clock and on the original clutch, 75% of it on tar road (incl. city stop n' go traffic), 25% trailriding.

My question to you more experienced long distance travellers - would you recommend changing the clutch plates before the start of the trip? Or would you take a set along? Or could I expect the orininal plates to last for another 25-30k km in Africa? If I take spare plates with me, are these things easy to replace without special Suzuki-tools? Or might there be Suzuki parts available in Central and Westafrica?

Cheers,
Marco

__________________
no risk - no fun

Hey Marco-

I can't tell you much about clutch repair on the DR, but here's a data point for you:

I probably do about the same as you far as dirt vs asphalt (25/75). I started my trip to Central Asia with 15,000 miles (24,000 km) and now have 35,000 miles (56,000 km) and have had no clutch issues at all.

I did take a spare clutch cable with me, already routed and ziptied to the original.

I recently found that the old cable had two of its wires worn through at the bottom fitting so I took it off and hooked up the spare.


hope this helps.................shu

Hey,

I'd take a spare set of friction plates and springs at least. They weigh next to nothing and slip down the sides in the panniers so you'll hardly notice them.
Clutch plates are one of those things you'll not know until they're on their way out, they could last for years but if it were me, I'd change them personally (ie, not a shop) at home prior to the trip then you'll know a) it's done and they're new and b) how to do it if you need to open them up again in the future.
If you do take a spare set, remember the gasket too!

Hope it helps

__________________
Geoffshing

'Security is a product of one's own imagination, it does not exist in nature as a rule, life is either a daring adventure or nothing.'

The DR 650 clutch along with the rest of the DR is virtually indestructable...I abused my DR for 37,000km thru the outback of your wonderfull continent and then all the way back to the UK, where i had a look at the clutch plates and they were still good enough to carry on down to Africa for some more abuse.....the bikes got 140,000km on it and it NEVER broken down...sure things wear out and the odd seal fails... You have the daddy of all overland motorcycles so have some faith and travel light....coz if you take all these just in case parts the trip wont be as much fun and youll be making the bike work harder than it needs....what ever parts you take it will be the part you left at home that youll need.

Make sure your local bike shop can get bits out to you if you need them which you wont...i meet many DR riders all over the world and we always asked each other if we had any problems...eventually you didnt bother asking coz you knew the answer.

Carry front and real wheel bearings as they 'only' last about 50-60,000kms and maybe a fork oil seal....but really thats your lot, even the standard tool kit is about all you need. Oh yea if youve got a safari tank the aluminium tank strap is pants so make a steel one up.....

if you want to see a great setup go to Short Way Round and have a look at Adam Lewis's bike

Have fun travel light

I can add another vote of confidence for the DR clutch. Mine has done 60,000km of overlanding trips including Africa with plenty of challenging offroad use. It's still going strong. In my opinion, it is not worth taking a spare or replacing. If you want some piece of mind, measure the thickness and compare it to the service manual specs.

To add to the bearing comment, definitely also take 1 or 2 spare rear sprocket bearings, a steering bearing, and possibly a drive shaft seal. In our experience these will be far more useful than a clutch.

Thanks guys, your info is heaps helpful. That's some amazing numbers you got out of your DRs, very impressed! And also thanks for your advise about the other seals to consider taking along!

It will be my first ever overland trip on a motorcycle and info like this helps a lot. There is so much information out there and advise of whats a 'must' to take along that I thought I need to hire a truck to get it all transported

For now I narrowed the list down to what I picked up as 'essential' spare parts: 15teeth front sprocket, 14teeth front sprocket, spare clutch lever, spare front brake lever, spare clutch cable, spare gear shift lever, light bulbs, fuses, spark plug, seals for the shocks, spare cross brace for Safari Tank (I heard that before, that they're designed to break to protect the tank in a fall).

I guess it shouldn't be a problem to replace a worn out 525-chain in Africa!?

Not sure about wheel bearings yet, they usually give you some warning and you still have a couple of km before you NEED to replace them, right? So I could wait for the next major city?

__________________
no risk - no fun

I'd replace the friction discs and springs before you go. If nothing else, you'll know what it entails and what tools you need. I'd replace ANY of the wear items before you go, and keep still-serviceable items as spares that will buy you some time to source new parts.

Have you done all the "fixes" on the DR yet? Swapped upper chain roller with a loctited setscrew, loctited the primary nut, loctited the NSU screws, replaced the carb screws with stainless SHCS, checked the wiring harness for chafing by the steering stem, and checked the bearings for grease?