the DR650 thread

That's a fast pace for the DR650. Traffic flow must have picked up from when I lived there in the early 1990's. I lived in West Palm and commuted down to all the beach towns ... even as far as Miami some days. Average pace then was about 70 to 75 mph. Not much enforcement.

The startling thing I remember riding that freeway was the kids who would
suddenly hop the barrier and bolt across five lanes of high speed traffic. One kid jumped RIGHT in front of me (I was on my old XL600R in the fast lane) I missed him by two feet. Locals said it was Crack dealers. Whacko!

Going up to Daytona once in a while I noticed the pace picked up to about 80 mph. If you're going 95 mph you need a sport tourer. Buy a used Vstrom or Bandit 1200, older Ninja 1000, or any number of freeway cruisers. My DL1000 Vstrom could cruise at 90 mph all day and never even break a sweat. Just 5000 RPM at measured 92 mph. (overdrive 6th gear),
45 mpg.

Thank you for the response! I appreciate the suggestions. Maybe we should meet for a ride someday and trade DRs for a few miles...You can try out my DR outfitted with the 420... Of course, we are of different weights but not by much.

Stock carb sucked. I would like to sound like joe pro carb guy ! but I had my PC jet kit installed at a local High performance bike shop the bike ran very smooth and got 50 mph. But I like to upgrade so I ordered the PC TM40 and installed myself and this is like the poor mans fuel injection! I am geting 53 mph well worth it.

I would not ride a bike in Miami, too dangerous. My life has enough value to find a car to drive in that crap hole. That said, 80/90 mph will get you in trouble on a DR650, totally wrong for that speed. Can't get out of the way at 80.

The bike won't last long at 85 mph all the time either.


We learned to get a place close to work so we could avoid the freeways. I was amazed at the traffic speeds down there in the mornings. I just drove a beat up diesel truck while in FL and stayed to the right. The idiots can go around. Don't join the morons or stoop to their level.


Sent from my GT-S5690L using Tapatalk 2

A couple times coming home from Miami at 4 or 5am on a Friday night
(movie business work long/weird hours) we'd see running gun battles on the Freeway and get passed by guys going like 120 mph. On those occasions I was driving with a friend. Scared the shit out of us. YOU COULD HEAR THE GUN SHOTS. ... not a cop in sight! It's funny now ... I hope things have calmed down.

Thank you.

Here are some pictures of the cylinder and head. I found one scratch that I can barely feel with my fingernail, the rest seem like stains or very fine scratches. Can't feel them at all. The longer one is the one that I'm talking about. Is that too much damage that I can't really use it like this? Bike has 30.000 km. I was thinking to put it back in and ride it for another 10.000 then change it. Thing is that I don't know of any good shops in my country that could repair the cylinder and to send it abroad would cost too much.

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Hi all,

I just bought a set of Oxford grips and my question is: if I put them onto my current bars, will I be able to get them back off when I order a new set of bars later on (several months away)??

The kit comes with super glue but I don't want to obviously destroy the heater grips to remove when I get new bars. Even without using glue, I need them to come off without damage!

thanks heaps.

If the choices are that limited stick it back together.
What does the piston look like where that scratch is in the cylinder.

One thing I noticed is the DR must have a big squish measurement.

^

I'd say that's way false. Even with a Race Tech gold valve installed, the Race Tech set up called for light (3 WT) oil on my shock. I seriously doubt the stock valving could even begin to handle heavy oil.

I know a lot of you DR guys think I should ge ta street bike, but I'll try to keep running this one (I just sold my larger street bike yesterday). As I wrote earlier, I really don't believe that the 90 to 95 MPH my speedo reads is really what I'm doing. At that speed I still have plenty of power to speed up to over an indicated 100, so this speedo is just way off if you are saying it doesn't have passing power past 85. I would say 80 to 85 is my real cruising speed. (Plan is to put a taller rear tire on, and a 16 tooth sprocket, by the end of this week - that should lower the RPMs a bit.) I am thinking about getting a steering damper for the twitchiness at those speeds, but I'll try new tires first. It really isn't bad enough that I'd slow down for it, but it seems like it would go into a tank-slapped if I fucked up enough.

So far body panels, the rear fender top-bolt, and the chain-guard are what I've found loose. Got lucky with the rear fender bolt since it somehow came all the way out, but stayed on the bike for +30 miles. It's obvious bolts were falling out for the previous owner, too, as there is a make-shift replacement on an exhaust cover that I can only assume fell out. I've only had the bike a few days, so while I can't say critical bolts are loose yet, if the few areas I have inspected or fooled around with are any indication then I'm going to have a lot loose.

Thanks Mongle, that top adjustable jig is just what I'm looking for. I should probably buy both for the allen-bolts that have round heads though.

And Harbor Freight has safety-wire pliers for cheap, so no big deal there. I don't need a professional set that resets itself since I'm not doing an entire aircraft.

I'll be doing a mix of Loctite and safety wire on the bike as I see fit. I understand the concept of how to safety wire (i.e. wiring to keep things tight), so it's not as if it would be pissing in the wind.

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I ride north, instead of to Miami. My experience shows these commutes are much faster than those who ride from here, south, into the snarled traffic heading to the big city. Yeah, speeds are still high going south sometimes... and I-595 might as well be a NASCAR track going west in the mornings - actual bumper-to bumper traffic doing 80 or 83 MPH (measured with a car back when I used to do that route - you wouldn't catch me alive on the DR, or any bike, on that route at those times).

I love hearing about how Florida used to be (even crazier) back in the day - thanks for the stories guys. It's still sort of a third-world country, so ...

Yeah, I think you REALLY need a 16t countersprocket.

My buddy who also rides a DR650 is 75, so a lot of you guys have many years of riding left I expect! He outrides me (I had Polio when young so don't have much stamina for the rough stuff anymore but he does) He's a tough old guy! LOL!

I mostly just ride gravel roads now.

I'll bet there a quite a few older than my buddy and me.

How about it? Old guys speak up!

L D 'Thinairflyer'

Originally Posted by thinairflyer
A few months ago I ordered the Seat Concepts seat kit for my '02 DR650 and asked for the foam to be a little softer than standard as I only weigh 130 lbs. and am 72 years old so my old rear end is not as tough as it once was.... and I ride some pretty long rides on the DR.


ER70S-2 noted:
72 and still riding a DR!! I have another 8 years. I'm learning about that skinny ole butt syndrome, a 1/4" of body tissue between my pelvis and the 'very firm' Corbin. :huh

The 10W oil makes a great difference. It stops the rear pogo ing up after a bump. I found it not to hard at all.

I guess you could put new rings on and have the cyinder honed. My only concern would be blowby into the crank case putting too much contaminates into the oil. I think they make a special hone for the nikasil as it is very hard.

+1
It's not on par with a proper revalve but changing out the stock shock oil for 10w does make a significant improvement.
A proper revalve of the shock will be designed around using light oil to minimize fade due to loss of viscosity from heat.

I have wondered the same thing. I just went ahead and installed with the supplied "super glue". With alot of patience and gentle prying and probably compressed air, you should be able to break the bond to get them off. That throttle side is gonna be a pain to get off, and as with most throttle DR grip issues, just order up a new throttle tube cause I have a feeling it's gonna be destroyed upon removal, being plastic and all. Oh, and FYI, the aftermarket billet Moose throttle tubes that Pro Cycle sells will NOT work with Oxford Heaterz. The tube is way to big in diameter. For regular rubbery and more pliable grips this wouldn't be a big deal, but the Oxford grips are not flexible or expandable enough. Plus the billet throttle tube is knurled, so it makes it even more impossible for a smooth slide on application, especially due to the tight tolerances. Ask me how I now.

Yeah, I have one in the tool box and have used it for a lot of jobs, especially removing stickers and glue, but softening the carb boot escaped my thinking.

Yeah my wife always asks me what the hell I am doing with her hairdryer. I haven't yet found a use for the curling iron or hair straightener but I should think of one.