the DR650 thread

standard bore high comp

I had a nice brisk commute n the Sacramento CA Area this morning on my 2006 DR650!

27 degrees fahrenheit @ 80 miles per hour actual = wind chill effective temp of 4 degrees F - burrrr!

No electric gear I might add.

Done on my dr bought new in 06 with about 40,000 miles and with DynoJet Kit, slide drilled and side cover removed, installed and working great for 35,000 miles or so (still power only wheelies and gets an avg 46 mpg)

I would pay particularly close attention to:

The float needle's tip: Check with and without magnification for a witness line where it has been contacting the seat. If one is found, the float valve either leaks or will begin leaking soon, causing a high fuel level or overflowing.

The needle seat o-ring: Make sure it fits snugly and is not cracked/hardened/deformed/shrunken/otherwise damaged. If it's not in good shape, it will leak, causing overflowing.

The slide guide: Make sure that the indentations concentric with the bore in the bottom corners adjacent to where the slide bottoms are still .010" (.25mm) deep or more. If they are not, the emulsion tube is at risk for wear. See http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=300, http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=301, http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=298, http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=299, and http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19420515&postcount=68638.

The slide: Make sure there is no vertical grooving on the downstream side and that the lift hole area has not been increased by drilling. Drilling causes excessive slide guide and slide wear, which in turn accelerates emulsion tube wear. See http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=304, http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=302, http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=303

The emulsion tube: If the outlet has ovaled, the mixture will become overly rich at low rpm at all openings. The wear can sometimes be hard to see, but keep in mind that .0004" (.01mm) of wear will be discernible on the dyno as an approximately 1 percentage point change in CO (i.e. it the CO was 4% before the wear, it would now be 5%). Sometimes spinning the tube between your fingers can help you see the wear, as can inserting something known to be round, however if the slide guide is worn more than .010" (.25mm), you can pretty much be assured that the emulsion tube is worn. See http://www.moto-lab.com/gallery/view?itemid=305, and http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12560067&postcount=33350.

The pilot jet: I recommend replacing it as a matter of course.

The float height: Using a float height setting tool, set it to it to 14.7mm.

More photos can be found over at http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=347184.

Regards,

Derek

Same here.
I think both Jeff and Derek have good points and both are right.
I can say that I could never get my DR to run well shimming the stock needle with any combination of jetting.

Sure, it ran, but I knew it wasn't it's best. But I think Derek was always talking about a NON USA OEM. These have notches ... unlike USA needle which are non adjustable. I think Derek also mentioned a few KTM needles as perhaps being a good fit to the DR.

The DJ needle has (for me) made a huge difference overall. I'm sure there are better needles ... and since my DJ needle now has about 35,000 miles on it, I'd be happy to try something else. My bike has never been dyno'd so all my assessments are "seat of the pants".

Derek, I'm in the Bay area ... if you can recommend a better needle I could buy ... I would try it out.

I can see some slight wear on my current DJ needle, but bike still runs strong; starts, idles well, around 50 MPG, 102 MPH (measured) top speed (prone) and power wheelies in 2nd gear ... no clutch.

155 main, stock Pilot, open air box top, Twin Air, stock muffler, 1/2 turn out on fuel/air screw, no header weld grind .... 50,000 miles. Throttle response on my bike could be crisper ... but not sure the DR motor is really ever a "crisp" revver. It's no Triumph Daytona after all.

Does your bike have the airbox mod? What pipe does it have?

Regards,

Derek

from his post:

"...open air box top, Twin Air, stock muffler, 1/2 turn out on fuel/air screw, no header weld grind..."

doug s.

Right. That's embarrassing. Anyhow...

Well I guess that disqualifies the bike from the possibility of being the "definitive" candidate for tuning demonstration. However that certainly shouldn't be a reason not to tune it if that's what Mr. Grifter would like.

Regards,

Derek

By my "seat of the pants" evaluation, it's tuned fairly close. But as mentioned, my DJ needle shows some wear, may need replacement?
And this bike has not been on the dyno.

Given my basic tuning set up ... what needle would you recommend to maintain status-quo or maybe go one better? I suppose I should check out your thread on Vendors?

Looks like TinkerinWstuff is tinkering with stuff again. Hope you didn't get a hernia lifting that motor out.

It's pretty clear that Motolab's use of the word "tune" is much narrower than other dudes' in this thread.

To generalize a little further, I think a lot of DR dudes are just happy with a bike that runs smoother than stock and subjectively seems faster.

For myself, I like to see posted dyno charts with thorough explanations of the set-up and tune that made them. That helps me make what I believe to be more informed purchases. However I probably won't ever be dyno'ing my personal ride, so strictly speaking, won't ever have an optimally-tuned bike.

Keep at it boys!

In the pics, the DJ needle looks like it's made out of stainless steel, so it won't wear all that rapidly, but that does mean that if wear is visible, other parts, such as the emulsion tube, slide guide and slide are likely to have borne the brunt.

Would you like it to be?

If you want to maintain the status quo, put another DJ needle in it. If you want better, try the non-USA oem needle or the KTM needle. However I would inspect the carb and replace any other worn parts first. If you do go with other than the DJ needle, be prepared to start over with your tuning.

Regards,

Derek

Problem... I rode the bike one day and everything was fine. Next day when I started it, it was puking oil out everywhere. I found out that the seal around the shaft the front sprocket is on has popped out. I tapped it back in place.. seemed like a nice tight seal, started it up and watched it get slowly pushed right back out again and oil dump all over. Why is the crankcase building up this much pressure? Plugged hose/vent somewhere? I don't know where the vent is on this thing.

Thanks.

This is not unknown. It happened to me on a cold start so I made a mechanical retainer. I ended up making and selling a stack more. I don't do them anymore, but Procycle does. Get one, bolt it on and problem fixed. And for others out there, do it before its a problem as insurance, because when it happens it really is a PITA.

My story starts at #197 here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=646076&page=14

There is more over on DRR:
http://drriders.com/topic5922.html

So there isn't a plugged vent somewhere? This is just one of those inherent things of the bike?

And.. I've never seen what you're talking about on the regular DR650 page of Procycle. Is it listed somewhere else? Does it have an official name?

Look again - it's there!

FInally found it. Thank you.

Hey guys - are rear brake pedals all the same? Bent mine up pretty good and plan to put a new one on.

Thanks

that thing isn't too bad.

This was as far as I got by 5pm today. Maybe have it wrapped up tomorrow if I'm ultra super lucky.