The DR650 Highway Touring Thread

[planemanx15]

Going to lower my dr650 tomorrow the factory way... think it will affect the highway ride?

[soboy]

Short answer: the only thing a stock DR650 needs to be a good street bike is a better seat.

Long answer: I bought my DR to replace a vintage Yamaha DT250 as my dual sport bike. On the ride home from the dealer, I was so impressed with the DR's street performance that I ordered a Corbin for it. Once the seat arrived, I took the tailbag off my WeeStrom, put it on the DR, and took off for a Blue Ridge Parkway tour. It handled that ride so well that I sold my Wee when I got back. Now my DR is both my dual sport bike and my street bike of preference. I have also added heated grips which let me ride the bike in the winter comfortably. I've also made a number of modifications for off-road performance, but none of these are needed to make the DR a good street bike.

I don't like windshields so that is not an issue. I find the OEM Trailwings to be an excellent 50/50 tire, I can go asphalt dancing all day in the twisties, and still ride all the dirt I want (just no mud). The Wee had a better engine but nothing else about the Wee was as good for me as the DR. I have really enjoyed this bike and it is as close to a do-it-all motorcycle as I have ever owned in my 38 years of riding.

[ram1000]

Originally Posted by planemanx15

Going to lower my dr650 tomorrow the factory way... think it will affect the highway ride?

no.

[ADV8]

Originally Posted by planemanx15

i like that setup, how hard is it to move the key over? you dont have the ability to lock the steering now right?

Yes the steering lock is now removed as it would not work with the RMZ 450 triple clamps and be more accessible.

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...cpZZ1QQtppZZ20






I have found the DR650 to be a very capable tourer,dirt or tar.
The SM wheels and 320 mm front rotor make a noticeable improvement.
A simple wheel change back to dirt specs.

[Adv Grifter]

Originally Posted by soboy

Short answer: the only thing a stock DR650 needs to be a good street bike is a better seat.

Long answer: I bought my DR to replace a vintage Yamaha DT250 as my dual sport bike. On the ride home from the dealer, I was so impressed with the DR's street performance that I ordered a Corbin for it. Once the seat arrived, I took the tailbag off my WeeStrom, put it on the DR, and took off for a Blue Ridge Parkway tour. It handled that ride so well that I sold my Wee when I got back. Now my DR is both my dual sport bike and my street bike of preference. I have also added heated grips which let me ride the bike in the winter comfortably. I've also made a number of modifications for off-road performance, but none of these are needed to make the DR a good street bike.

I don't like windshields so that is not an issue. I find the OEM Trailwings to be an excellent 50/50 tire, I can go asphalt dancing all day in the twisties, and still ride all the dirt I want (just no mud). The Wee had a better engine but nothing else about the Wee was as good for me as the DR. I have really enjoyed this bike and it is as close to a do-it-all motorcycle as I have ever owned in my 38 years of riding.

PLUS ONE

Having come off a Vstrom I'd have to agree. I also agree with your view of the DR650 and what it does well and what it needs ... and doesn't need ... to be a good road tourer.

Sure, you can spend a fortune on farkles; fancy dash mods, suspension, over-bore kits, but as mentioned above, the DR really only needs a decent seat. I have a Corbin.

I put an Ohlins shock on my bike but for road work the stock suspension is totally fine unless you weigh in over 225 lbs. or so. Even then, it's mainly springs that are needed. If you get into very sporty riding then more is needed, but for touring, its really OK.

Figuring out luggage is your choice. Hard or Soft. Both work well on the DR. Try that with any KTM, Husky. Not great.

Since I DO ride off road with my DR ... I have it set up with that in mind. I have two sets of wheels. But I've done many long road rides for up to a month or six weeks that were 85% on paved roads. I did lots of these when my DR was basically stock, save the seat.

I am not a fan of taller gearing on the DR. The stock gearing is plenty tall IMHO and it's quite smooth even at 80 mph indicated. If you cruise faster than that you'll be burning through tires, chains and sprockets very quickly.
But if the 16T front sprocket fits and lasts well ... then why not? You can always down shift to 4th if it gets "luggy".

IMO, the DR is pretty nice and smooth at high speeds. Very low vibes with my heavy Corbin seat (absorbs vibes!), Pro Taper Alu bars with risers, and those wonderful rubber mounted pegs that very few other single dual sports have.

I'm also not a windshield fan but I totally get why our Canadian brothers go that way. I would to if I rode a lot in freezing temps. But in hot weather a shield just makes things worse. On a long ride a shield can mean less fatigue, but if it's noisy, then you'll be worse off. No shield means CLEAN, QUIET air flow.

The DR650 is one of the most economical, low maintenance bikes out there ... and certainly TOP DOG for a single in terms of a road tourer. It's also a HOOT in the twisties and sucks up broken up pavement like its not there. The KLR can be made good, but needs a lot more to match the reliability, simplicity and smoothness of the DR. The BMW 650's are nice ... but are 60 lbs. heavier and double the price ... plus have a litany of problems.

There is a reason the big DR650 thread has over 6 million posts.


The guy on the K1300S was stunned that all three DR650's left him behind on the slippery wet roads going over this Sierra Pass. I did miss his heated seat and better heated grips however. His bike costs about $20,000.
Most of us payed under $5000 for our DR's.

[planemanx15]

^^ Completely agreed...

Rode the other day with the girl for the first time for a greater distance (she's been a bit reluctant to get on), and realized that 1) the suspension is way too soft stock, 2) a little more "get-up-and-go" would be nice on the highway when having to pass someone 3)16-46 gearing might be too high with 2 aboard, seems like i had to rev it a lot more to get the heavier load to move.

[GipperDR650]

Heres my setup....

Eibach .50 front
Eibach 8.1 rear with Cogent rebuild on shock
Safari Tank
Corbin seat
case armour
B&B bashplate
SW Motech main stand
Laminar B king screen
Vapor dash
speedo drive eliminator
steel braided front hose
full length front seal savers
Protaper Contour bars
Touratech GPS 60 cradle on RAM mount
Symtec heated grips
IMS pegs
Centech AP1 fuse holder mounted over airbox
hi cap battery
airbox mod
extended pilot jet screw
Scotts Stainless reusable oil filter
14 tooth front sprocket
twin air filter
HT Teton panniers and top box
Touratech double bottle holders on panniers
Gebring troller with controls on dash
headlight on/off switch on dash
BMW power outlet on dash + double outlet in top box with ignition relay
clutch & side stand switch removed
Procycle number plate mount and led light.

This was a good touring setup, my wife and I are just back from a 22,000 km trip to South America 2up. We did quite a few rough pistes, some tricky sand and lots of gravel on parts of Ruta 40 and Ruta 3, and ran into some strong winds - over 80 mph in Patagonia

[straygypsy]

Yeah ;; I put a whole lot of things on my,n but for Highway ,, two great & cheap mods both under $20 ,, Those foam type hand grips are a little wider -thicker-& they really take a lot of vibration out,, & the highway pegs, well they speak for themself, Now lets hope I can put up those photo,s

[straygypsy]

let,s try for the footpegs then ,, if I can only get in one photo, you,ll work it out

[straygypsy]

Sorry about 3 times ,

[Adv Grifter]

Originally Posted by GipperDR650

This was a good touring setup, my wife and I are just back from a 22,000 km trip to South America 2up. We did quite a few rough pistes, some tricky sand and lots of gravel on parts of Ruta 40 and Ruta 3, and ran into some strong winds - over 80 mph in Patagonia

Do you have a ride report posted anywhere?
Love to hear feed back about how the DR650 did on the ride ... things that worked and did not work for you.

Did you ride it both ways ... from Canada to TDF and back?

[D-Fuzz]

I think the DR650 is an excellent long-distance tourer. I rode mine 11,000km to Prudhoe Bay and back. The only issues were a broken speedo cable and a leaky base gasket. It started every morning, ran like a champ and never complained about the abuse it was taking. It did take a bit of $$$ to get it properly set up though.

[planemanx15]

Originally Posted by straygypsy

let,s try for the footpegs then ,, if I can only get in one photo, you,ll work it out

I was thinking about that, either doing the happy trails kit or building a tube tool case out of 2.5-3" PVC and make it long enough to set my feet on like pegs

[planemanx15]

Originally Posted by adv grifter

do you have a ride report posted anywhere?
Love to hear feed back about how the dr650 did on the ride ... Things that worked and did not work for you.

Did you ride it both ways ... From canada to tdf and back?

+1

[GipperDR650]

Hi guys I posted some info on the HUBB re the bike:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-america-53258

Our blog is here:

http://gipperstravels.blogspot.com

I had a big accident on day one of the trip in Canada, I was supposed to ride through the US, Mexico and Central America from home and meet up with the missus in Colombia.
I managed to fix the bike up and fly it to Santiago, Chile, we then rode South to Ushuaia, then back up to Colombia, I then flew the bike to Miami, rode to Arizona and got a ride home to Canada last week.

Cheers

Grif