I'm starting this thread mostly for my own future reference as I will most likely swap out most of the stock parts, as I usually do with all of my bikes. If this thread will end up offering information and inspiration for others, even better. Starting off with a bone stock '02 with close to 9k miles. Overall, in a very nice shape. My plan is to set it up for off-road/on-road touring around the country this year and hopefully in years to come. Get the suspension set up right for my weight (and gear I'll pack), with USD forks and a revalved shock, get it running better than new with a new pipe and a FCR carb, and all the other bits that will make it a great enduro tourer.
First step - get rid of the anchor of an exhaust and replace it with a Staintune full system. Bike needs to breathe freely! 39mm FCR-MX should be here tomorrow..
Nice work man! You don't waste no time! That Staintune is nice! What stand is that/where'd you get it? I need to pick one up... Looking forward to the updates!
The quality of the Staintune pipe is pretty amazing. Won't need repacking, too! The stand came with my YZ250F race bike. Not sure who makes or sells them..
Yeah I had a Staintune on my K75, they make nice pipes for sure. I'll searcheroo to find a nice stand, just thought I'd ask.
The last thing you need to do is what I did.... move the fuck outta Chicago to where the reall riding is... West youg man... go west ! Left 2 years ago... never looked back.... every ride is epic.... 50 deg. here today, sunny. gonna ride baby the hills baby.
I put a 39mm FCR on my 96 KTM RXC 620, it made a huge difference. A 41mm would have been even better. Was that a used/take off or new?
The carb is used but pretty damn clean. I've done the BSR->FCR swap on my DRZ before so I know how much snappier the bike gets. I don't have any dyno charts to prove me wrong but I feel the 39mm carb will be plenty for the stock DR motor. If I was building a race motor (which the DR definitely isn't), and using a big bore/cam/porting combo, the 41mm would make sense. If somebody tested both carbs for power gains, I'd love to learn about the results. For now, I'll stick to the smaller FCR for the stock torquey thumper. Going to a bigger carb doesn't always automatically mean power gains.
MX-Rob has dyno tested several version both the 39 and 41mm FCR-MX and found the same as you. The DR is better with a 39 pretty much everywhere except near redline.
Nice looking bike, should be very cool once finished. I love that shot of the carb too - very artsy! Tex
I'd say it might have made even a bigger difference than putting the FCR-MX on a DRZ. The bike has a GREAT grunt now. Everything you would expect from an FCR - snappier feel, better throttle response, better low-RPM cruising. Personally, I see no reason to run bikes choked up with stock pipes and stock lean carbs. I feel that after the first ride with a proper carb and pipe setup, you always get that "I don't understand why I haven't done that earlier" feeling. That's why it only took me a week to put this stuff on the new DR. I might have lost a little bit of fuel economy but the results are SO worth it. I really can't imagine trying to get "adventurous" on a stock DR with 40 pounds of luggage
Btw, I put on a new Polisport front fender today. Made for a YZ450F. Much better styling than the stock piece..
Looks like the beginnings of a great project. DRs are good like that, there's so much terrible OEM stuff, you can personalise it with farkles to get exactly what you want. I put a custom Akrapovic Ti pipe and a Procycle TM-40 carb on my DR and the improvement over the stock setup was phenomonal (like you said there's a 'why didn't I do this earlier' moment). Enjoy your 'DR modifying' journey.
