Welcome Keith,
If you have any DR650 questions I may offer a few tips and tricks on the DR.
Be sure to check out the two good DR forums/threads:

www.DRRiders.com
the DR650 thread | Page 5981 | Adventure Rider

Good when on the road and need help, advice or tutorial.

Remember Pro Cycle is only one shipping day away from L.A. so any parts you need are easy/fast to get.

What spares are you taking? Tire changes? Flat repairs?

Good luck, you'll run into all sorts of riders in Baja, but most won't be going all the way to La Paz and even fewer will cross over to mainland Mexico.

Have a great trip, hope you can post pics and story here.

Hi Mollydog and thanks for your message.

It's funny but I had never considered a DR650 for this trip. The DR was never even on my radar and there's a story behind it.

A chance meeting last summer in a garage in West Cork in Ireland with Wheatwhacker led me to James Tucker in Claremont California who's a big DR fan and has done several builds for riders coming to the US to ride there and further afield.

So, Wheatwhacker and James Tucker essentially do the same thing. Wheatwhacker in Ireland and James in California and they provide a brilliant service. They take your brief for what bike you want, go shopping for said bike, check it out mechanically, negotiate the best price, buy the bike (with your money), farkle the bike to your specification, register the bike in your name and organize local insurance so all you need to do is fly in, jump on your bike and ride into the sunset and all this for an exceptionally reasonable fee. The real value is that they take all the hassle, risk and guesswork out of buying a bike abroad. The enthusiasm and the knowledge they impart is priceless.

I'm a KTM rider here and I had pictured myself riding a big bad KaTooM down through Baja, Mexico and CA but there were none jumping out off the pages of Craiglist or ADVrider at the time. James had a minty fresh '09 DR650 with tiny miles that was costing half my KaTooM budget. The rest of my budget was to bring the bike up to expedition readiness. So the deal was done and within a few days the bike was registered in my name and my inbox was filled with pictures of new DR650 farlkles. Here's what's being done in advance of my arrival:

New rear spring for my weight
Heavier front springs and new oil
Seat Concepts seat
Lower footpegs
Pelican top box
Acerbis 6.6 gallon tank
Fat bars
Bar risers
Heated grips
Bark busters
Bajaworx screen
High output stator
NSU removed
Tool tube packed with spaniards
Heavy duty tubes and spares
Mini compressor
Spotlights
Small indicators
250 tail light
FMF power bomb and mid pipe
Counter shaft seal install
Side stand switch mod
K&N filter
Oil and filter
Headlight shield
Magnetic sump plug drilled and wired
SW Motech bash plate


There must be more. My head is spinning. I've gone from never even considering a DR to jumping up and down like an excited schoolgirl at the prospect of getting on an expedition prepped one like the one waiting for me in James' garage. I'm pretty excited.

Tires. That's the only thing I can't decide on. I plan on doing as much off road as possible and I'm thinking Mitas but I'm open to suggestions.

I'm blown away by the enthusiasm of James and Martin (Wheatwhacker) and the help they're giving me for this trip. Anyone wanting their details please shoot me a PM.

Great stuff!
I know of Martin and his work while he lived here in San Fran. I'd love to get over to Ireland and buy one of his bikes some day. Good guy for sure.

I read Jame's thread on ADV Rider. I did not agree with some of his mods... plus he's a used care sales man ... which in this country has a very negative connotation.

But he's proved his worth, did well on DR's in S. America. IMO, they both traveled too heavy. I think he figured that out about 4 months in.

I like the list of mods on your bike ... save a few mistakes:
I would have left the NSU unit in place. Does James really understand what all the NSU does and how it interplays with the CDI unit? Can get complicated. But if all is well ... then

Most long time dirt riders are not K&N filter fans. K&N are junk. Ditch it, install a simple Twin-Air air filter. If you want to use a re-useable oil filter, go with a Scott's, not K&N.

How many "Spainards" did you manage to squeeze into your tool tube!

FMF power bomb is good ... ... but DO keep an eye on the FMF muffler. It WILL come apart. (well documented!) Be sure to remove and LOC TITE all the allen bolts on the muffler that you can get to ... so they never come out.

I assume you mean countershaft seal guard? (keeps it from coming out)
A good thing!

Sounds like a good start!