DRZ Cartridge Fork Upgrade On My 05 DR650

[LostAussie]

Originally Posted by DRinda505

As I previosly mentioned, I intended to use the original DR front wheel. Two problems; 1st the brake disk is not the same size so the caliper mount is in the wrong location. The DR uses a larger diameter full floating front disk. My solution... buy a DRZ brake disk from fleabay and mount it on the DR wheel. 2nd, the axle diameter for the DRZ is 20 mm while the DR uses a 17 mm axle. My simple solution was to but a DRZ brake disk and front axle ($20 + $10) and mount the disk on the DR wheel, and buy new wheel bearings.
Of course this didn't work once I got the parts.
The DRZ rigid disk will not bolt to the DR hub.
I went to the local bearing supplier and the bearing size to match the DR hub to the DRZ axle does not exist. I started drinking at this point, so I bit the bullet, pulled out my charge card, and bought a DRZ front wheel from fleabay for $220 (expensive, everyone wants two sets of wheels for their DRZ).1
I went to the local bearing supplier and the bearing size to match the DR hub to the DRZ axle does not exist. I started drinking at this point, so I bit the bullet, pulled out my charge card, and bought a DRZ front wheel from fleabay for $220 (expensive, everyone wants two sets of wheels for their DRZ).

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more to come.

Another option: The 01 to 03 RM250 Front Wheel and Spacers fit perfectly and use the same front axle as the DRZ. The caliper is the same from the DR650, DRZ and RM. Literally everything is plug and play! You loose the speedometer drive but for the difference in price (I just bought a wheel for $24 on flea bay) you can buy a Trailtech Vapor and have a better gauge set-up than Suzuki ever offered. If you contact Trailtech, they will send you the directions to make the odometer read the actual miles of the bike so you don't lose track of the bikes mileage.