True, but I found it shockingly hard to find a mechanic that would check my valves for me - most outright refused saying that if the bike started then everything is fine. This was both in my home country (UK) and all the way across Asia. I finally found someone who both had feeler gauges and was willing to check in Kathmandu, but then they didn't have shims for a Suzuki (I had a DRZ, which has shims instead of screws like the DR), so I ended up having to ride with valves out of spec all the way from Nepal back home to the UK. I haven't had a chance to crack open the bike because it's hard to find a workshop in London, but I suspect I've sustained some damage.

I mean, it is impressive that the bike managed to keep going despite this, but it kind of goes to show how problems can start to compound themselves when you can't do stuff yourself. I'm considering buying a DR in the States for my next trip, but ONLY after I've taken apart my DRZ and rebuilt it and feel confident. I'd honestly never reccomend someone do what I did (that is to say, taking a used DR/DRZ, no preventative maintenance done (cause I couldn't find someone in the UK to do it for me), and then take it on a big trip. Too many mechanics either didn't have the tools, wouldn't work on my bike, couldn't communicate with me, or weren't very good, and I spent SO MUCH time chasing problems wondering whether the last mechanic put the carb back together properly or knew what he was talking about when he said something was fine. If I hadn't been an idiot mechanically I would have fixed it quickly, moved on, and not even given it a second thought and probably be posting here about how reliable the bikes are

Note: a lot of these problems seem greatly lessened in the Americas.

Realistically I don't think it's very hard for ANYONE to get to the point where they can do this stuff on a DR/DRZ (We'll certainly see when I finally get a workspace) but not everyone has the opportunity to do so.

I don't know about the DRZ but on the DR650, if you're to the point where you change your own tires, fork seals and wheel bearings, this bike is easy to keep in top condition. Checking/setting valves is not difficult, it just takes a while to figure out how to get your hands in there.

I would do a complete service on the bike before leaving home, just to figure out which tools I need to carry with me- as well as have a little familiarity with the bike.

.............shu

If you are riding pavement and good gravel roads then don't even consider getting a single as they rarely outlast a multi cylinder bike on easy terrain.. Now on the other hand if you tried taking your V-Strom into the places {off road}where I go with my single your bike would not last and would end up being a costly choice to maintain..



I classify the V-strom as a street bike you can ride on gravel.. One just has to look at the location of the oil filter to indicate what usage the bike is intended for.. If you install a skidplate to protect it you end up with about 5" of ground clearance...



I've rebuilt DR 650s and find that they have a pretty cheaply engineered engine.... Looking inside, they are kind of like a christmas turkey with one large open cavity for the gearbox and crankshaft... Not the best design, as it lets transmission crud move into the crank chamber... Also the gearboxes are underbuilt in these engines, I rebuilt one last winter that had around 30-40K miles on it and the gearbox was shot, with badly pitted gears.. We found a donor motor with less miles and used the bottom end off it as it was in better condition.. While the donor motors gearbox didn't show any pitted gears, some of the gears did have stretch marks on them indicating that they were not living a perfect life..
That been said cheaply built or not the DR 650 has in a lot of cases put up pretty good service miles VS purchase price.. There has been some cases of exploding gearboxes in low mileage units taking out the whole engine but it is not super common.. I prefer the DR 400 to the 650 for an all around bike with one real downfall, the lack of a 6 speed gearbox..


An ideal bike would be a rally style version of a 400CC to 600 CC twin, that so far is a no show from any factory... My friend built one by installing a 500 twin into a CRF250L Rally frame and that proved to be a great combo.. This is something that would be quite simple for Honda to replicate..

The 250 Rally with a 500 twin in place, does not look much different..