The Wife's Bike - Suzuki DR650

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
I couldn't resist... should have, but didn't. I've loved my DR650's and have been looking for an affordable one to pick up as a adventure bike for the wife, a smaller bike for me when the KTM 990 Adventure is too big, a loaner bike for friends, etc. I came across one that was pretty well built and the price was right, so I made arrangements to look at it. It was just as described, so we struck a deal and I hauled it home!

It's a 2004 DR650 w/13xxx miles.

Mods-
5.3 gallon Acerbis tank
Aluminum skid plate
Rear rack
EarthX Lithium battery
Luggage racks from Precision Motorcycle
Heated grips
12v socket
Larger stator
Eastern Beaver 3 Circuit Solution Fuse Box
Homemade fairing (trash can fairing)
Plastics painted with Krylon Fusion Tan
Suzuki "Low" Gel Seat

Tires-
606 on the front
T-63 on the rear
Heavy duty tubes


Pics-

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Some minor plans and tweaks-
Some weight loss, the rear rack (an odd-ball addition from another bike... it's not fully bolted down) and passenger handles may go, side reflectors, clean up the tail with a smaller brake/tail light & smaller license plate bracket. The stickers on the fairing are going to come off (not a big sticker fan) and the fairing needs to be repainted. The indicator cluster is missing for some reason (Neutral/High Beam/Turn Signal) so I ordered a new one on Ebay for $12. I want to put an FCR Pumper Carb on and get rid of the factory vacuum operated POS, we will see about that. The factory front fender has to go... it's a massive windsail at speed. Supermoto fender will replace it. It needs hand guards and probably a big bar upgrade along with the hand guards.

I would really love to add the ProCycle 790cc big bore kit and do some head work, bigger valves and cam... but I don't know that my wife would appreciate the added power. That and this is supposed to be a 'cheap' bike. ;)


I will say that riding this thing, after spending so much time on my 990, the DR feels tiny and light! It seriously feels so small! I think it's lowered, the PO says it's stock. Catherine can easily flat-foot, giving her confidence with riding it. :)
 

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
Nice looking bike. What did I say in that other thread about you owning every bike I have ever wanted? Now your wife even has a super cool bike. I especially like the tank and windscreen;)
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
That is a clean looking bike. Congrats. I love the paint scheme, it looks awesome.
Makes me miss my old KLX 650R.

It does look like the PO took care of it, which is always nice! I've always wondered about the KLX, seems like a neat bike.


Nice looking bike. What did I say in that other thread about you owning every bike I have ever wanted? Now your wife even has a super cool bike. I especially like the tank and windscreen;)

I thought you'd like it. ;)

I'm excited about another DR, the wife... well, we'll see if she ends up liking it. She gets a little jealous when I go on my long rides, but she does NOT want to ride passenger. We had talked about getting her a BMW 650 GS Funduro or Dakar, but I don't know them as well as the DR650. And the DR's seat height is low and can be lowered more still, if needed. I don't plan on making her ride on rough dirt roads, initially... she does fine on easy dirt roads, so that's the hardest we'll push it.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Finally had a chance to wrap up all the work and maintenance! I removed the stickers and paint from the Trash Can windscreen and the color isn't too far off the Tan paint. Going to run it like this for now, since the paint seems to chip off the windscreen easier than the other plastics.

New parts and old parts pile...

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In progress...

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Pat Walsh Designs rear rack.... (this guy is from Utah!)... it has a mount for a Rotopax tank. I happen to have a 2 gallon tank, for the 990 Adventure.

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Built a license plate bracket...

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DR is done with needed maintenance, mods and ready for it's first ride! Going to ride it to Moab & back tomorrow... :cool: SuperMoto front fender, DR250 rear tail/brake light w/ brighter LED brake light, Pat Walsh rear rack, smaller license plate bracket, better heated grips, proper hand guards, bar risers and 1 1/8" Tusk handlebars, fork seal savers, oil change w/ Rotella, Twin Air air filter, 2 new spark plugs, modded factory carb, magnetic oil plug, stainless steel oil filter, etc, etc.

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glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
Bike looks good Greg. I need to build a license plate bracket like that.
I have always disliked the D Flex spoilers. They don't really offer much wind coverage. Rocky mountain sells these
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/1036/19201/Tusk-MX-D-Flex-Replacement-Plastic-Hand-Shields

They fit the same aluminum had guard but offer much more wind protection. Just a thought. Plus they offer them with LED turn signals in them too.

How do you like those luggage racks. I need to build some or buy them. Those PMR racks are high on my list of candidates.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Bike looks good Greg. I need to build a license plate bracket like that.
I have always disliked the D Flex spoilers. They don't really offer much wind coverage. Rocky mountain sells these
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/1036/19201/Tusk-MX-D-Flex-Replacement-Plastic-Hand-Shields

They fit the same aluminum had guard but offer much more wind protection. Just a thought. Plus they offer them with LED turn signals in them too.

How do you like those luggage racks. I need to build some or buy them. Those PMR racks are high on my list of candidates.


The license plate bracket was easy, Procycle sells one for $30 but it's hard to spend the money knowing I could build one myself. Took less than 30 min and I used some 12 gauge plate steel so it's pretty thick and shouldn't bend. I've lost plates in the past due to a flimsy plate bracket. I have a plate mount that will sandwich the plate I need to add still.

I have no problem with the D Flex spoilers, they seem to work fine for my needs. I'm less concerned about wind deflection and more worried about protecting the levers when the bike gets dropped. The blinkers built into the hand guards seems pretty cool, but they seem to complicate one more thing that should be simple. I've overcomplicated bikes in the past, trying to stick with 'tasteful' upgrades these days. ;)

The PMR racks... I don't know that I like them. I think they're kinda ugly the way they're stitched together... :rofl: They will protect the rear plastics when the bike gets dropped though, so I need to put them back on. I had the Wolfman racks (and Expedition panniers) on my old DR650 and really liked them. -

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All said, the test ride to Moab & back yesterday did prove that the bike is capable, reliable and up for most anything. We rode some of the Kokopelli trail to & from Moab, played around in Yellowjacket Canyon, then hit Hwy 128 into town for lunch. We took the same way back, picking up the Kokopelli trail around Cisco to Westwater, then rode the highway back. I had 210 miles on the bike from the day. I was riding with 2 guys on KLR's and the DR had no problem staying out front. I used a Wolfman tail bag to haul tools, water & gear on the rear rack yesterday and it was great. Out of the way, nothing on my back and stayed on thru miles of rough, rocky trail. It did move around a little front to back and there is actually a velcro attachment panel on the bag that could be glued to the rack, but this bag gets passed between my 990 and the DR so I'll deal with it moving a little. The trash can windscreen worked very well, we got into some massive winds in the afternoon and the windscreen gave me some decently clean air when I moved to the back of the seat and ducked down a little. And despite being pretty tall, I never came close to hitting it.

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A few impressions and thoughts from a full day on the DR.... the seat SUCKS! No surprise there. :eek: I couldn't believe how small and nimble the DR feels... I suppose it's because I'm used to riding the monster KTM 990 Adventure, but the DR feels tiny... even just sitting on it, feels like I'm riding a 250. I'm sure the lowered seat doesn't help. The stock exhaust sounds lame, sounds like a sewing machine! The front Dunlop 606 isn't very confidence inspiring in soft, loose corners... it may be the bike, but anytime I'm cornering in loose stuff at speed the front end wants to wash out. The rear Michelin T-63 is about toast, probably going to put a TKC80 on the back as it's a great road knobbie.

Having been riding KTM's for the last few years, the DR is on the exact opposite end when it comes to 'performance'. :rofl: The suspension, brakes, engine power, carburation, etc, etc... nowhere near in comparison. This isn't a surprise, but it has been a few years since a rode a DR and it was a bit of a shock to find how soft everything was. The upside is that the DR is simple and dead reliable which is the attraction. There may be some improvements to help the DR in each category as time passes. The bars still feel low to me when standing, I think I'm going to lower the footpegs when I get a chance. Should help me when standing and help my wife with getting her feet to & from the pegs. Speaking of foot pegs, the factory pegs are pretty narrow and don't feel great. May be a change there in the future as well.

Overall, I'm happy with how it worked. Now to get the wife out on the DR and see what she thinks!
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Well, after writing about the uncomfortable foot pegs I decided to head out to the shop and see if I could do something about them. I had the old factory pegs of my '08 KTM 250 laying around after I upgraded them to Tusk pegs. Comparing the KTM pegs to the DR's pegs, you could see that the KTM pegs were noticeably wider... after some fitting, grinding and drilling I had them sitting in place of the narrow DR pegs!

I also decided to cut & weld the peg mounts, I have done this on a previous bike and it lowers the pegs by 1" or more, making my knees feel less cramped when sitting and will help with standing, on top of making it easier to get feet on/off the pegs. All of this was free and took about 2 hrs, I had the KTM pegs and the cut & weld was easy... both changes will really improve the feel of the bike and stay in line with the idea of a low-buck bike. :D

Here's a few pics of the progress...

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Once the pegs were back on, I adjusted the brake and shifter positioning and now it's ready to ride! After I did this on my last DR, I wished I had done it sooner! It made riding so much more comfortable and it takes very little time. Glad to have got it done early on with the ownership of this bike.


Since I was working on the DR, I decided to pull the license plate bracket off and paint it, then add the sandwiching mount to keep the plate in one piece. Turned out very well IMO!

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Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Well, ProCycle was having a sale on their seats and the DR was in need, so... $120 later I had a new foam & cover on the way. (If you bought their complete seat w/ new seat pan it would run you $300... I don't mind saving $180 and doing the work myself). This is a kit that you have to staple onto your factory seat pan, I've done this kind of work before so it wasn't that bad. - http://www.procycle.us/bikepages/dr650.html#foam-cover-kit


Stock low gel seat next to the foam & cover-
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Getting into it-
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Putting the Harbor Freight stapler to use.-
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Heating up the vinyl seat cover to make it easier to stretch over the sides-
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And the final product!-
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Sitting on the seat in the shop, I have to say that it's a HUGE improvement in comfort! Well worth the money spent, the new Procycle seat is going to make long days so much easier.
 
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