DR650SE Index Topic #4- SUSPENSION/CHASSIS

A lot of material in this category... What improvements have you made to your DR's suspension?


FRONT SUSPENSION UPGRADES:
-SPRINGS
-FORK OIL
-OTHER INTERNALS

REAR SUSPENSION UPGRADES
-SPRING
-INTERNALS

SWAPPING SUSPENSIONS FROM OTHER MOTORCYCLES

RAISING CHASSIS

LOWERING CHASSIS

SIDESTAND

MAINTENANCE/LUBRICATION
-STEERING HEAD
-SWINGARM
-AXLES

i run the proper spring rate and intiminators valves in the forks
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=468588

and a cogent rear shock w/ the proper spring
http://motocd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=1

unreal improvement over stock!

Bump for the day shift...

I'm running Eibach 0.5 springs with emulators in the front. Eibach 8.3 springs with Sasquatch rebuilt shock in the rear.

The pig does not wallow anymore!

Eibach springs front and rear, no shock mods or fork mods.

Big difference nonetheless in squishiness and fork dive. I weigh 195.

I tried the Gold valves and upgraded springs. I thought they were great at the time.

If you were going to do back road touring, dirt road riding, maybe some desert twin tracks, the upgraded standard setup is fine.

For a rider of say 140lbs or more, the standard setup is disgraceful. No real workable adjustment on the bike, it does have compression adjustment on the rear, but I could find very little difference in it. It went from really bad to just bad.

It would be nice to have some fork adjustment externally though.

I looked at a couple of guys bikes that had DRZ 400 forks with heavier springs and revalving. To tell the truth, the DRZ option still appeals to me. I have another DR (my sons bike that I have inherited along with the loan due to his newly arrived daughter) with the upgraded standard forks. I'm going to start using it to ride to work soon, so I might end up doing some modifications.

For my trail riding DR I decided to go with the RMZ suspension swap.

I chose the RMZ because I wanted motoX suspension travel and the adjustability. I have to say, it was worth swapping just to be able to adjust the compression and rebound front and rear.

Using all the RMZ parts unmodified was the tough decision. I wanted to make it so I could buy stuff straight off the shelf. So that meant modifying the frame to take the rear end. The first cut is the hardest. After that failure drives you forward.

For my standard DR I'm thinking of concentrating on getting it sorted using all genuine Suzuki parts, and keeping it looking as standard as I can. So I'm thinking DRZ swap. It will also keep it closer to standard height.

Ebay is my friend.

I did the .50 straight rate springs up front and its been a great improvement. Nothing else done yet, maybe later. Same with the rear, just a heavy 8.3 ProCycle spring that does not require an adapter. I run 3" static sag with my 280 pounds squashing things down.

Just the springs help big time when you are not a light weight. The stiff rear spring handles my weight and my camping gear very well on tour.

Cogent rear mod with the stock spring.
RaceTech cartridge emulators and .46 RaceTech springs in the forks. (195 lbs w/o gear)

Completely transformed the bike into a very competant offroader.

I enjoy this bike now in the rough as much as my KTM's. The limiting factor is the ground clearance and the weight.

As long as I stay out of the bottomless mud and the rock gardens it's fantastic.

What upgrades should a 300 pound guy look into ? besides a set of dump truck springs.

Front: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13193123&postcount=36300

Back: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13043241&postcount=35652


Test ride: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13244852&postcount=36502

Update: Still love the change.

and you will no doubt need a tractor seat as do I

Suzuki designed the DR650 with a suspension that is changable, to allow the chassis to be lowered. The procedure is outlined in this thread: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176223...

Lowering the chassis does require a shorter sidestand. Suzuki sells one, or the stock one can be shortened...

home brew lowered pegs required me to modify the brake lever.
this is my version





I added some spikies during the burn

If you have a welder and lowered you pegs and want to do the brake lever, just make the cuts and take it to a welder

i guess this section includes footpegs.
i use those ebay ones from d2moto.
cheap, strong & work great!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Suzu...9309621QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

procycle has lowered pegs in a full kit that includes mounts & wide pegs.
his design move the pegs down but not back, plus nothing protudes below the skid plate.

others make just lowering plates that move the peg down & back, plus it hangs below the plate.

I posted this info on the big one, http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135295&page=2831 but thought it might be more useful for someone here:

Quote:
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="alt2" style="border: 1px inset;"> Originally Posted by danbeck
Out of curiosity, where abouts did you score the ohlins from? I've had a bit of a look around and apart from references from people saying they've used them, I can't find where to buy them Whats the damage? Are they hidiously expensive? Will I cry when my wife finds out how much?
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

I got mine on ebay after following Mezo's thread.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...ght=mezo+dr650
Cost me $190 Aud delivered for one like on the right of Mezzos pic with a proper Ohlins spring, albeit a 5.1 which is a waste of time for me.
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11102...SI%3AAU%3A1123
I have to add to the cost a new 8.5 spring and revalve to suit, and I'm also shortening the reservoir 5 mm to clear the FMF header where it joins to the tailpipe which may not be needed with a stock pipe. I may not have needed to do it either as I had 1-2 mm clearance, but while the shock's apart its easy enough. the shock clears the air box and frame easily. The total cost will be less than a Racetech or Cogent rebuild and will be superior due to the Ohlins body and inherent Ohlins quality.

According to my Ohlins contact, the 95,96,97,98 KTM shocks were 461.5mm long with 134mm travel. The DR shock is 455mm long with 128mm travel. This means that the extra length is also shock travel and bottoming isn't an issue.

The extra 6.5 mm length equates to 12 mm at the axle further away from the frame, ie swingarm droop. The DR swingarm ratio is 2.8:1, but it seems that at full droop it is actually 2:1. This results in the link just kissing the swingarm at full droop, but a little file work fixes this.

The top bush is 24 mm and the Suzuki is 30 mm. You can tack weld some washers in the frame, or get some more and smaller hands when assembling. Alternately Ohlins can supply a 30 mm bush for no frame mods and ease of assembly and this is what I'm getting.

The bottom yoke on the Suzuki is 30 mm between cheeks, the Ohlins 32 mm. You can easily fit 2 x 1 mm shim washers to fill the space.

I should have mine fitted later this week or next for testing. Ohlins are great because they can be adapted, valved and sprung, to suit many/all applications

My WP front end should arrive today

Steve
__________________
shed time IS quality time

economy:
heavier PS shock spring from a member
fresh shock oil & nitrogen charge
for the forks, added 1 1/4"? pre load & fresh ATF oil

I have a question regarding hard braking front end dive and a slight pull to the left on a stock Dr I just purchased. It's an 09 un-molested stock bike. I owned one previously and I know it is weakly sprung in the front I also had performed fork and shock up grades on it, ebach straight gauge springs and emulaters. I can't remember if this is nomal for the stock set up or what. Could the fork tubes be slightly tweeked in the triple or what. Thanks in advance

Snowy,

You have provided much entertainment and quality build information for us all. Thanks.

One thing that keeps me wondering is the talk of replacing DR forks with RMZ or DRZ or KTM forks. Can you give us a concise list of the changes that are necessary to do these swaps. For instance, for DRZ to DR will the triple tree just swap across without mods to the frame bearings? What about for RMZ and KTM. I guess I am looking for an idea about the extent of mods that are needed for each. Are there some years that are better? I would attempt a swap if things just bolt together but I don't really have the means to do machining or welding.

I believe you also have a DR350S. I have the same question for a DRZ to DR350S.

Thanks to Basketcase: (data corrupted by the transition to XenForo but still some useful links)

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12963580&postcount=35299

My stock forks (full extension) are 35 1/4" from the fork cap to the axle centerline. Factory lowered should be 33 3/4".
Metric: stock; 89.5cm: lowered; 85.7cm

Stock fork spring spacer: 37mm diameter (1.465") - 40mm tall (1.58")



Fork tool, 1" square tubing, photo thanks to JellyFinger. Thinner gauge tubing will have sharper corners and they may need to be rounded off in order to fit.


Thanks to DisTech:




The stock DR shock is 455mm long with 128mm travel. (info from another inmate)
Stock rear spring rate is 6.5kg/mm

Stock shock preload:
10.0" (253.5mm) Softest
9.7" (247.5mm) Standard
9.4" (238.5mm) Stiffest

Stock links are 4.5" center to center (115mm)

Shock Spring Seat: stock and lowered

These pics are from the manual:
If you can see the notch at the arrow, your spring seat has been flipped to the lowered position and your shock travel is limited (by intent, when lowering). Also note that the bolt in the clevis changes holes.
Nothing is changed inside the shock.

Stock


Lowered, yes it looks raised. If you can see the notch, the seat is inverted.


The white spring is stock (2004), 6.5 kg/mm, 10-1/8" long and has 9 coils. Top ID = 2.2", bottom ID = 2.354" (maybe upside down in the photo)
The blue spring is 7.5 kg/mm with 8 coils. Both use .465" diameter wire.


ETA: 7-18-2015
After reading this

I did a little photo editing.


Incorrect:




Incorrect:


Rear shock linkage information:

ETA: 4-4-14:
For fork oil I measure 19.1 oz and pour it in each leg (565ml), per the manual. It's easier than the (compress fork with spring out and measure down 6.5"). When I had the forks apart I drilled and tapped each fork cap, 1/8 NPT. Always use a cutting oil when tapping alum, WD-40 works fine.

Ignore the fork being slipped up in the triple, it's just an experiment.


Then I use one of these with a zip tie loose enough to slide up-n-down. Now I can adjust my oil level without disassembly, which came in handy when I put a 320mm rotor on the front. The brake works so much better that the fork dive with .45 Eibachs, was too much for my liking. Stock oil level is 16-1/8" (forks fully extended, with springs and caps installed), I added 20ml and ended up at 14-7/8". That's 1 1/4" or 5/8" per 10ml. You don't even have to move your handi-bars, way better than removing the springs and collapsing the forks everytime you want to experiment with oil levels.

Motion Pro P/N: 08-0121:


Ignore the oil bubble:


Added 3-11-15:
Things I tried to avoid spending money, that I didn't have, on improving the DR's forks.

Initially, I rode the DR pretty conservatively so the soft springs didn't bother me much, except for excessive brake dive. I started riding in the dirt and the first thing Dirt Bike Magazine taught me was the importance of the front brake, the harder you can brake the faster you can go between corners. So I've always worked on threshold braking, which is 99% front brake. Doing that on the DR was intimidating to me on the pavement, even with the wimpy stock brake. When I upgraded to a 320mm rotor, things got :eek1

Easiest (still using stock springs): Increase spring preload. I'm 185 in street clothes, 210 in full ATGATT (which I recommend ). I started with 1/2" additional spacer because I was using 1/4" plexiglass (scrap available), but it was too stiff, so I backed off to 1/4", which was too soft. But both improved brake dive by a bunch. I never tried 3/8" but it would have been my number with stock springs. I found enough change under the couch cushions to finance springs and emulators, so that's where I went. Still thinking I would be riding pretty conservatively, I went with the softest spring rate I could find, which was .45 Eibach's. I don't remember if I got them from PC or Cogent.

Most guys use fender washers, they're more 'adjustable'. 37mm OD


Stock heavy steel spacer on the left, Eibach spacer in the center, Cogent DDC spacer on the right. So the OD isn't critical, but the Eibach is pretty small IMO. ALWAYS put a steel washer between the spring and a plastic spacer.


In the early 70's, one of the fads was air forks, remove springs completely, add schrader valves to the fork caps, air up and ride. I rode an entire summer with no fork springs. There's a very small volume of air in each fork and getting the air pressure balanced between the two was difficult, the solution was a cross over tube. Now instead of two chambers, there was one larger one, so both forks had the same pressure. Back then we used copper as the cross over with flared ends. It was a PITA to get the bend perfect so there wouldn't be any 'loading' on the copper. If you pulled it into position with the flare nuts, the copper would get brittle and crack (and leak ). This happened to me once on the trail and I rode many miles back to the trailer with the forks completely collapsed. :huh

I tried this on the DR too, except I kept the springs and just added a few pounds of air to control brake dive. The cross over is something I found in the plumbing section at Home Depot IIRC. Since the air volume is small, I added a gauge so I wouldn't have to check air pressure (and I wanted to know if the 'system' was leaking). My first choice was a fluid dampened 0-15 pound gauge, I thought it would be good for my 5-6 pound air pressure. It wasn't ... every time the forks compressed a lot, like on a rocky downhill, the needle bounced off of the MAX peg like a machine gun. The 0-30 pounder got the job done. Note: if your bike spends much time on its side, oil will transfer from one fork to the other, some sort of pinhole baffle between the two sides would slow this down and still allow air pressure to equalize.

I got the gauge at Northern Tools, <$20 IIRC

CAUTION: Use a regulated air source, do NOT hit the forks with 100 pounds of tank pressure.


The goop that looks like thread sealant is oil soaked Teflon tape.


Close up of the parts used, with the 0-30 gauge. The parts are loose in the photo, that female fitting points down into the fork cap.


I've always used 1/8" NPT thread fittings. NPT is a tapered fitting and will self seal in the fork cap. If you don't like the air forks, plug the caps, I always use Teflon tape so I don't gall the threads.


1/8" NPT


Pics taken after removal, just positioned.


The cross over doesn't go straight across, it's arced rearward toward the gas tank.

Some info on mounting RMZ forks to a DR650 can be found here:

http://ualr.edu/ltjones/moto/showa-install/rmzforkinstall.html