Suzuki DRZ400S

[scruffysteve]

I am planning a trip to Morrocco from the UK on my fairly stock bike. I have an 18 litre IMS tank on but cannot see how the fuel forward of, and lower than, the fuel tap is going to reach the carb! Anyone have any experience of this problem?

Is it worthwhile fitting a lower front mudguard to increase the radiator area exposed for increased cooling?

And finally.....gearing. Is it worth lowering the gearing a little? I think not, to help with fuel economy, but wiser heads than mine may know differently.

Thanks in anticipation of your suggestions.

Regards, Steve.

[Pearcy]

I run a DRZ400S with a Clarke 14.7 litre tank and that always leaves a drop on the other side of the down tube that doesn't flow across. Have to lay the bike on it's side. Best not to run that low.
I get 200 or more miles out of my tank, so you should have no trouble with range.
You can always carry 2 or 3 liters in a can.

I ran in 110 degrees F in Arizona without any problems with a aluminium rad guard.

Good luck on your trip.

[backofbeyond]

I have a similar situation with the 23L tank on my CCM - the last 3 litres are below the level of the carb inlet. In practice I've found that if I'm just using the bike for short trips - round town etc - those 3 litres are unusable. The bike just splutters and stops with fuel still sloshing around in the tank, but if I'm on the open road it somehow manages to suck more of it up and it will run the tank down to about 1L left. I can use a bit of the (round town) residual fuel once the bike has stopped by using a bit of a complicated workaround so it becomes a last ditch reserve. The tank has twin taps - one either side - so I shut down one of them and tilt the bike to get all of the fuel into the other side. You then have to open the float chamber drain screw and blow down the tank cap vent pipe to pressurise the tank and get fuel flowing into the carb. Shut the drain screw and fire up the engine. Good for about 15 miles and about half of the fuel.

Re higher or lower gearing for fuel economy, both my 600 singles have given their best fuel mileage with lower gearing. Sounds counter intuitive and the engine revving its head off on the open road doesn't make for a peaceful ride but that's what I've found.