DR750 & DR800 owners thread

Trust me on this.....even though I'm a Yank I firmly believe that the only thing that resembles Bud is excreted from the bladders of felines.

I am, admittedly, pretty much a "lightweight" when it comes to alcohol but I DO like a GOOD beer....but just one (well, OK, sometimes two). We have a wide variety of "microbrews" here in N. Cal. Some are nice.

On the whole, I prefer English beer, usually Boddingtons. A few shops here carry it.


I ordered a new gasket from Stefan along with my other parts. I amazed myself by actually planning ahead on this one. I purchased some gasket paper from the local auto shop and have used the new one for a pattern so I can produce my own from now on. Shockingly efficient, that.

Well, then you totally settled! :) it will be an easy and rewarding work on the bike, believe me. You not going to regret that planning for many more cases, that's was very wise move!

I have vector-based corel draw files of the generator and clutch cover that can be used in any cutting plotter.. I went to a graphic shop and they charged me $10 to cut a 1m x 1m piece of 0.6mm gasket paper. they came out perfect! if anyone wants them I can zip the files and upload them to rapidshare...

Hi Beaky now thats a bike colours are great and I like the headlight you already have just sraighten it up a bit better globes and she,s a goer mate good job on panniers the size of them suits the bike to a T regards, Rob,

Jabroka, thanks for the offer about the gaskets they turned out really well but that computor talk has got me buggard.:huh

Yes, please.

Robmoto....we'll 'splane later.


I finished the balancer chain adjustment without too much bad language. I was worried when trying to loosen the two allen headed screws that hold the idler wheel. The PO had these really-really tight. Had visions of stripped allen heads and then flywheel removal and all kinds of ugliness to get the stripped screws out. They broke loose with a "pop" in the end with no damage....whew! The manual doesn't tell you to watch out for the starter gear train to wander out of the case with the cover. Good Grief - it looks like a damn transmission in there with so many gears. Got all those sorted out but it kinda scared me at first with a "Where the hell did THOSE come from" moment.

There was a bit of slack at the bottom of the timing chain run. I read the post about using wrenches to put tension on the top of the balacer chain run. When I did this there was about 5-6mm of up and down movement in the run of chain from the front balancer to the idler wheel. Is this alot? When I loosened the two allens, the spring sucked up all that slack so now there's really no slack to speak of at all in the system. Is that corect?

I realized early on that the shift lever and near side footpeg had to come off. When removing the peg, I noticed that the treads on the ends of the peg mounting bolts looked a bit beat up.......corrosion inside the threaded tubes welded into the frame. Got out the taps and some thread cutting oil. Cleaned up the frame threads and slide the bolts through a die to get those threads back into shape.

With the side cover off, I checked the three bolts holding the stator to the cover.....loose - yikes:eek1 I removed the stator and ignition coil, cleaned the side cover up well and then reinstalled the stator with locktite. I've heard on Thumpertalk that some DRZ400s have had their stators come adrift due to improperly torqued bolts. I removed and locktited (can that be a verb) the bolts on my 400 so maybe we should be checking these on the 750s also. You'll have the cover off to check balancer chain tension so do this at the same time.

Waiting overnight for locktite to set up then I'll add oil and start her up.

Forks and cartridge emulators are next.

Hello to you all, just sold my f650 funduro to a friend and bought this one. Very nice bike, but it's taller than my old BMW. I need to lower it a little, so any suggestion would be appreciate.

thank you,

Ray sounds right to me good work, all my starter coggs fell out on me as well they show a good detail veiw and what to do in the manual as well.I did not know about letting locktite set maybe I better read the instructions next time another way to make sure there tight is do them up till they strip then back off half a turn Ihave been cleaning, rubbing back the barrell and head and using a scotchbrite to get in beteen the fins going out to paint them now, I got more parts from cnsml 2 new oil lines and head gasket today and just waiting for the valves and other trick stuff from stefan it is on its way he posted them on the 20th.I pulled one carb apart last night just have a looky see and the c clip on the needle is not there I think lots of carbs use the same bit and size so shoud be easy to get another. regards, Rob.

Hi BigS

Others here have, I think, lowered their bikes as well. I'm sure they'll let you know what works. Since this is such an international site, you have to get used to waiting around until other people get out of bed and start their day.

Geez, Rob. Good thing you looked. It would have been frustrating trying to figure out why your bike wouldn't start after all that work.

A scotchbrite between the fins??? You're gonna have to call it DR. OCD.

I use Blue Loctite 243. For threads with oil contamination.

Full cure time is 24 hrs.

That's good looking DR you have! Congratulations! :)

SR43 series (one you have) is actually lower than older 2 models (750 and 800). I am really short guy but I did not bother with lowering. BUT I had to figure out (and I did) that previous owner of my DR set rear spring preload to almost max. and that raised bike height a lot, really a LOT. So, when I set spring preload to factory standard - all issue with seat height dissapeared. I never even thought about lowering it anymore.

You may try to set preload to lower factory limit, but then you need to raise forks in the top yoke/clamp to reflect geometry change of rear.
If you want to lower your DR even after rear preload set to lower factory setting then best is to tackle seat. Stock DR seat is way to hard for long distance anyway.
Just do not touch rear suspension links. Usual sportbike rising/lowering methods (changing suspension links) in application to DR is really bad idea because of suspension trave range.

"O God +tax" that&#8217;s what the salesman at the Suzuki dealership warehouse answered me when I asked him what's the price for new ignition coils.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>​

He knew what he was talking about&#8230; (760 euro!!! )<o></o>
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I'm used to the very high prices here in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Israel</st1lace></st1:country-region> for parts, so usually I google or looking at Hessler site. This time I remembered I bump somewhere on this thread ona link&#8230;<o></o>
So I bought it from that guy and now I recommend him warmly!<o></o>
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So thank you all and Keep on the information, experience, knowledge, stories, pictures and so on, coming!!!<o></o>
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O.K now lets get our hands dirty&#8230; <o></o>
First you have to be sure the coils are bad by using an electro tester as shown here:
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If they are bad and you're sure the problem is not the CDI it's time to replace them&#8230;<o></o>
To make things easy I take off the gear lever and the (left) foot peg and disassemble the engine guard. A good opportunityto clean all the mud&#8230;<o></o>
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Don't forget tp drain the oil...

Time to open the 12 case bolts..
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Small tip- the bolts are in different length, to know which one goes to what hole you just posh them in until they reach thethread. They should all stick out the same. If they stick out more or less you're wrong.<o></o>
I once happened to see a mechanic organize them in the order of disassembly. Now, what will happen if someone (like your kid&#8230 will mix them???<o></o>
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Time to take off the case&#8230;<o></o>
The case is magnetic and you can use your hands or a heavy hammer. Just kidding, use a plastic one&#8230;<o></o>
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If your bike is leaned against the side stand what will probably happen is that the starter driven gears will fall off&#8230;<o></o>
If this happens and you don't have the manual book and you didn&#8217;t see it before you're going to have a nice assembling game&#8230; (As it happened to me the first time I opened it many years ago&#8230
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Out with the old in with the new!<o></o>
Don&#8217;t forget to apply a small quantity of thread lock the bolts and some silicone to the rubber seal.

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Now it's a good time for a coffee/beer/smoke break, or in my case- running after the kid&#8230;<o></o>
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As always,assembling is the same only backward&#8230;<o></o>
One more tip- when you pot on the new case seal- spread on it with your finger some engine oil on both sides. That will make it easier to take off next time.<o></o>
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Tighten the bolts with atorque wrench or by feeling. <o></o>
Now it's a good time to recheck that all the bolts are in and tighten well and no bolt is left alone on the plate.<o></o>
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A short prayer&#8230;<o></o>
Push the start&#8230;<o></o>
Hallelujah! It's a live!!!!!!!<o></o>
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Put back the gear lever, foot peg and the engine guard and hit the road!<o></o>
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Drive safely.<o></o>
Nave.<o></o>
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Welcone BEAKY!
Great looking BIG you got there
my best advice for you is- check the oil level in high frequency (about yevrey 400km) and do the service on time (use good oil)
I bought mine with 55,000km on and rebuild the engine on 85,000km
now the bike has about 250,000 on the same engine and the same clutch!!!

It's hard to keep up with you guys...

Surprise, surprise. She took it in her stride! No problems.

I use that line regularly, but she knows me too well. I don't drink any alcohol (had malaria twice) and I don't much care for other women except Angelina Jolie and Cindy Crawford

I also realise I should stay away from eBay for a little while.

Great job there Nave! That's way beyond me, but I always appreciate a good craftsman.

You said check the oil level in high frequency. I'm a little lost here (should come as no surprise). Did you mean to check it regularly?

He means to check it often. Every 400-500 km. I second that.
Little theory. Air cooled bikes oil consumtion highly dependant on riding conditions. E.g. if you really cooked your oil by getting bike very hot - it will start to dissapear as by magic, lots and lots. If you ride high speed for extensive period of time - it will take much more oil. If you plough along or even ride agressively (very) but in sub-70 mph - you will see little oil consumtion. Etc. etc. - so that if manual says every 2500 km oil blah-blah - ignore it and check it more often.

Correct, you need DR headrace bearings set. Buy a set with lower dust seal/protector, there is plenty of such sets on eBay UK - it really give lot of extra life to bearings.

I guess link to bolts shop can come handy for everyone - here it is:
http://stores.shop.benl.ebay.be/stainlessbolts__W0QQ_armrsZ1

I don't mean to start a huge oil discussion but I do have a quick question.

I "inherited" almost 2 cases of BMW's full synthetic motorcycle oil.

I've researched it and found BMW recommends it for all their bikes, even the ones with integral gearboxes and wet clutches. It has an MA rating.

I plan on using it in the DR750 tomorrow morning.

Does anyone think I'm making a mistake? To bed now, back in 8 hrs or so.

Thanks in advance.

Looks great and it is getting spoilt ,on a tiled floor looks like a late model one beautifull its the last place Iwould look for one thinking that they usually ride the step throughs overthere.

OK, will oil change more regularly.

Which brings me to another question: fuel consumption. Seems my BIG is a lot more efficient than either my Hondas were in the same riding conditions. What's your consumption if I may ask - 800 don't have to answer as he rides too hard