the DR650 thread

no. shouldnt get hot at all. unless you added some grip warmers or other power hogs.

I don't think it'll be any hotter than it is on the SV650... Are you doing anything *unusual* in the wiring?

Did you install this SV headlight on the DR650 already? I'd love to see it, too.

I was looking at this the other day myself - checking the headlight on my naked SV650 and comparing the brackets to the DR650. It appeared that it could be made to work. There are some differences that would need to be resolved if you tried to use the stock SV headlight bracket, however. The SV bracket fits around the fork tubes between the upper and lower triple clamps, as does the DR.

The fork spacing is wider on the SV by about an inch, so I thought you'd probably have to tweak the stock SV brackets. The space between the triple trees is the same, though. And the SV has 41mm fork tubes vs the DR650 43mm tubes, so the SV rubber rings probably won't work.

BTW, the stock headlight on the SV works exceptionally well, in my opinion. It gives up nothing to the more complicated system in the fairing of my Bandit 1250S, and it's a whole lot better than the stocker on the DR650. Surprisingly, the SV650 lens is plastic and the DR650 uses glass. I think I'd prefer plastic on the dual sport.

Ed.

One of the biggest reasons for the bucking is the lean carb. Most of us have at least richened her up an bit and she will poke around pretty good. Also if you change the front sprocket it will help out a lot. If you really want to drop you can also change out the rear.

Tossing the stock carb in favor of a flatslide will allow you to run first gear down to 6-7 mph before you have to start feathering the clutch. Much better for the slow parts of the trails.

This site is a great resource and read, thank you all.
Me: Flatistan (FL), 07 DR650
FMF, DJ, air box gutted, K&N
#160, 4th from the top, 3\4 out - best setting so far

Issue: lean at 1\4 throttle only on down shifts. sometimes a little backfire and occasionally just dies like when doing parking lot and curbs etc. It's tits above that. Love the mods.

I have an extra 5\8 hose from re-assembly, dont know where it goes. What is the large hose from the carb to air box for? Can I just put a filter on the crank case breather behind cylinder.

Without the spacer on the needle, does the cir clip have to be faced a certain way in the slide "D" groove?

Anyone in\near Jax, feel free to contact me for some ridin'

When I rode the DR650 for the first first time I was quite surprised at how tall first gear was. It seems quite odd to me to have it geared that way and that is with just street riding so far. As you point out, to me it seems tall even for a street only bike. That said second through fifth seem geared more appropriately to my way of thinking. No question in my mind that I would go down a tooth on the front sprocket before hitting the dirt.

Nick

I was in the same delima recently.... DR or DR-Z. Finally found the DR I liked, and ain't been looking back. Awaiting a bunch of farkles now, along with some new tires. But the first and foremost is gonna be a gearing change, down 1 in front, up 1 in back > 14/43. If that ain't low enough, I'll go to a 45 rear. The lower you go, the more fun that DR torque is gonna be!

Thanks for the reply and explanation Rick. The mod seems like a no brainer. I will have to take a closer look at the bike and see if I am up for removing the carb, doing the mod and reinstalling of the carb with a low chance of screwing something up in the process. I think remember seeing a step by step guide with pictures over at thumpertalk dot com some time in the past. I'll have to chase that down.

Nick

I wasn't happy either. Dropping a tooth on the front sprocket (down to a 14-tooth) was the first mod I made. Now I love it. I'm mostly a "cruise the country roads, run the Blue Ridge, etc." kinda DR rider ... not that much open-range dirt here on the US East Coast to enjoy. So for my 95% road / 5% dirt mix, dropping one tooth off the front sprocket was the trick. I am getting excellent MPG, the bike is responsive, I'm loving it. If I did more dirt, I might have added a tooth to the rear sprocket as well.

nick, bumpathump hit it right on the head. i was able to do mine without removing the carb but it was a pain in the arse. i removed the cables from the carb allowing me to twist it enough to use a small hand held pin drill or jet drill to enlarge the hole in the brass plug big enough to get the tip of a small sheet metal screw into it. after adjusting for best idle and then setting the idle back down and then adjusting again i ended up with 2 and 3/4 turns out.
runs reall smooth off the bottom end with no surging anywhere. hope this helps ya.

cyclepath

may wanna look into an extended fuel screw (available from Jesse @ kientech) to replace the stocker when you get around to changing it. that way it's easier to get it dialed without having to de-seat, de-tank, and twist the carb every time you want to adjust.

cheers,

mean

or you could get the tool for the job, which will work on most other cv carbs as well.

I recently had a catastrophic failure of the rear bearing in the sprocket hub assy. on my 99 DR650. When I say catastrophic I do mean catastrophic. Everything was frigged, the swingarm, chain, sprocket, sprocket hub to swingarm spacer, sprocket hub, wheel hub and prolly the axle too but I haven't looked that far into it.

I'm looking for a complete used rear wheel assy. and I'm finding out that people really love the wheels on these things. Heck, I paid less for a complete set of R1 wheels with good slicks, rotors, spacers and sprockets for less than what some are asking for a set of old wheels only.

So,,,, I would like to open my options up for a possible rear wheel assy. donor. Would a DR350 18 inch wheel assy. work for my bike? If so, do they have cush drives? I ask because I do most of the miles on my bike on the dirt and I've heard that solid mount sprockets and alot of street miles don't add up to great reliability.

Cyclepath, I am inspired to at least attempt it as you described above, thanks. I will report my results when completed.

Mean: Good suggestion on the extended fuel mixture screw, I had that in the back of my mind already, thanks for reminding me to order it before I do anything else.

Nick

Paul,

Did you happen to note your gas mileage before and after the sprocket change? Thanks

Sarah

After. The front sprocket swap was one of the very first things I did to the bike. In fact, I think I did it the second week I had it ... delayed only by having to wait for the new sprocket to arrive in the mail.

What's your mileage with the 14T? Thanks

Sarah

I average about 51 with mine.

Looking for some help.

There is an arrow on the front wheel axle holder plate - is that arrow supposed to point up or down?

:eek1 Wow.
we should give you an award or something - that's the first of these I have heard of. How many miles were on that guy? Any idea what precipitated the breakdown? I assume the grease ran dry and the rest was wear.... sheesh

I seem to recollect some guys doing exactly what you're talking about. you might search "DR" and "18"" or just post a question in the open. you might PM Max Kool and MX Rob also, or give Jessie a call at Kientech... in fact the latter might be the short path. if its been done he would know.

glad you survived that one!