Hi everyone!
I'm a 28 year old guy from Germany that likes traveling with a bike - just like you guys. I bought my first motorcycle when I was 20 years old. It was a Honda CB 500 S, so a street bike. While riding that bike and having a lot of fun with it I realized, that riding offroad was even more fun for me. But my Honda CB 500 S was absolutely not made for riding offroad.
That's when I started looking for DR350S on ebay and I was lucky and got one for 800 € with 30000 km on the clock. The plastics were painted bad (paint was coming off), the seat cover was ripped and a lot of the wearing parts had to be replaced. But I got lucky with the engine, it has now about 47000 km on the clock without rebuilding the engine yet. It's still not even burning a lot of engine oil.

And two years ago I bought also a proper 2 stroke enduro bike: Beta RR200. The Beta is just: FUN FUN FUN! But of course not usable for long adventure trips. So I got three motorcycles right now.

I did already some short 1-week-"adventures" in several countries in Europe.

The adventure I'm planning to do next (if corona allows it) is to ride to Senegal/Gambia and back in 5 weeks starting in November 2021.
Therefore I'm rebuilding my DR350S completely right now (except for the engine - that has to wait until next year after the trip). After 5 years of riding that bike, I do know pretty good what's good and what's not so good on my DR350.
So I've already replaced a lot of parts but am not finished yet. Some stuff I'm replacing just because they are worn out, but I'm also upgrading some parts (better suspension front and rear, big 22 liter tank, other carburetor, ...).
Maybe I'll open another thread for my planned trip to get some tips from you guys - or maybe even team up for a couple of days and ride together.

See you off the road!

Hi Lingerprince and welcome,
The DR350 is a good bike for the job and with a few mods the CB500 is not bad either, enjoy your travels on them.

Hi Mark, thank you!

The DR350 is really an awesome dual sport bike.

The CB 500 S is also a good und very reliable bike - on the street. But it really is not meant to be taken offroad. Maybe you mean the newer CB500 models? Like the CB500X? That one at least looks "adventurous"
Mine is a CB 500 S from 2000 with half fairing.

I am almost the double of your age and the DR350 was a good bike in my youth.
This was 30 years ago!

If you want to travel with this oldtimer and you want to have a relieble bike,
there is more to to isntead of changings tank & plastics. Believe me or not.

You have no experience with fixing this kind of bike and will have to do this on your journey in africa. Supported by "bush-mecanics" in Senegal/Gambia. Have fun every evening!

Engine Valves, Clutch, pistons, wheel bearings, caburator-repair, rod bearings, dripping sealings and "simmerings" (all plastics are finished in this engine), landing gear, bearings overall (stearing) and so on .... is ancient!

"Good place for cheap repair" an spending tons of annoy, money & time is: africa.


My advice:
- Overhaul the bike in a proper way if you want to travel with an oldtimer. You get to know your motorcycle in this way.
- START: 2022
- Change your advisor. (father/grandfather)

better advisor, contact: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/members/fern

She is an expert in older SUZUKI DR and travelled the world (2012 UK - India) with this bike:
https://fernsforays.wordpress.com/


In the past: She cames from UK with DR 400 and I helped her to get the bike into a suzuki-garage in germany. That was on the beginning of her trip, on german HU Meeting. Great woman & tough!


Wish you all the best & success!

Not one of your assumptions regarding my experience with working on such a bike or regarding the current state of the bike is right.

What makes you think this: "You have no experience with fixing this kind of bike"?
Just because the bike is older than me? It's easier to fix a carburetor that got some dirt inside because of bad fuel than fixing the fuel injection of an EFI bike. It's easier to change a throttle cable than trying to fix ride-by-wire or any other electrical stuff. I have no clue about how to repair that kind of stuff.


I also didn't say, that I'm only changing plastics and the tank. I said "rebuilding completely (except for the engine)". So did you even read my complete post? Since I even changed the frame (because the old yellow one was a bit bent...), I actually had to unbolt everything on the bike to put it then onto the new grey frame. So I think I know my bike good enough...

And just to be complete, here a list of what I did while I changed the frame:

- new spark plug
- new spark plug connector
- new ignition cable
- new ignition coil (so I can take the old one as spare with me)
- new oil + oil filter
- checked and adjusted valve clearance
- new linkage bearings
- new swing arm bearings
- new steering head bearings
- overhauled front brake caliper (including new brake pistons, new brake fluid DOT 5.1)
- overhauled rear brake caliper (including new brake piston, new brake fluid DOT 5.1)
- new brake pads front and rear
- new brake disc front and rear
- new heavy duty chain guide
- new chain (DID VX3), new front and rear sprocket
- new rear shock (Wilbers 641 Competition)
- front fork service, new fork springs and Race Tech cartridge emulators (FEGV 4321)
- new speedo cable
- new decompression lever cable

Other than that:
- new cam chain at 31700 km
- checked wheel bearings (still fine, I changed them 15000 km ago. I'm gonna take spare wheel bearings with me anyways. So no need to replace the bearings already now since they are absolutely fine)
- clutch, decompression and throttle cable are going to be fitted twice, so that if one cable breaks, it's really easy to switch from the broken one to the spare one that is already in position and just needs to be "hanged in"
- Carburetor is also in good shape (Keihin FCR37MX)

And for sure I did also some other stuff I just forgot to mention...
As I said... complete rebuild except engine. And engine is fine for now. Was a bit noisy due to loose cam chain, but since I changed the cam chain 15000 km ago engine is running really nice.

And by the way, I got no advisor... I would never select a bike for myself just because someone sad so. I always form my own opinion. And my opinion is, that the DR350 is definitely a reliable Dual Sport bike, as long as you are looking after it. Most important thing for the engine is, that it always has enough oil... Other than that the bike doesn't need much.


I know you just wanted to help, but it really annoyed me that you made blind guesses and presented me in such a way that I had no idea about anything.

Hope we're fine anyway.

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YES .....!!!

That one looks much different from the last Suzuki DR I have seen starting a long distance trip.

Congratulation! Well done!
No more questions.
Good job!

Thank you

I still got to fit the new big 22 Liter Acerbis tank thats actually made for a Honda XR650L though. But that shouldn't be a big problem either. I just need to fabricate some aluminium brackets and it should fit well. Handguards are missing on that last picture, too, but I actually already mounted them in the meantime.

Other than that I need to wire up some electrical stuff: The new LED spot lights on the front that are already on the picture aren't connected to the battery right now. And I also have to put two 12 V sockets to charge stuff somewhere. One for sure to the front and the second one maybe somewhere in the rear.

Ah, and I'm still waiting for my Seat Concepts foam and cover that I ordered in the beginning of April. But their website says right now that orders may take 8 - 10 weeks until they get shipped. So it might take another month or two until I get the new foam and cover for my seat.

So the bike is not completely finished yet - but almost! And as soon as it's finished it will be in very good condition for exploring west africa.

Firstly, welcome to HU. I will be really interested to hear how you eat on going to and from Senegal / The Gambia.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Thank you.

I'm also quite curious about the food in Morocco, Mauritania and especially Senegal/Gambia.

I will probably start a travel story as I will for sure be happy to share what I experience on and off the road. Then I can tell more about the food. I mean I could quite easily look up what for food they eat in Senegal and Gambia... But I somehow like not knowing already everything before a trip about the destination... The parts of a trip that are security relevant like border crossings and corruption is really good to know. But the cuisine... I'll just let it be a surprise. Hopefully it will be a good one.

I had never really thought about that aspect of travelling - what is the cuisine like. The way that you have put it makes sense - you are getting the key logistics sorted out without filling in excessive detail allowing the world to wash over you without the things to trip you up.

This is one of the joys of the HUBB for me - people come onto the forum and post something up and you learn from then. Thank you.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Well, I think I misunderstood your first post then.

I thought you were really talking about what I'm going to eat on the road. Didn't realize it's just a phrase. But it's nice that my answer made sense anyway.

You're welcome, have nice travels.

[QUOTE=Lingerprince;620589]


I thought you were really talking about what I'm going to eat on the road. Didn't realize it's just a phrase. But it's nice that my answer made sense anyway.
[/QUOTE]

Ha ha. I meant to say I would be really interested how you get on - the “eat on” was from the dreaded auto-correct amending my poor spelling but not to what I wanted to say.

__________________
You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.