Lukas' Ultimate DR650 Adventure build up

So I am finally starting my next project. I would like to share this with you guys and hope to inspire some of the less mechanically inclined ones. It should help people working on their DR's as well as show you what NOT to do as I am sure to make plenty of mistakes.

The bike is a 96 DR650SE (except for a gasket the exact same thing Suzuki is still selling today) that I bought last winter real cheap. I plan on doing a trip from Vienna - Capetown down East Africa sometime this fall. I thought it would be a smart idea to really get to know the bike, replace all the wear items and improve some of the DRs weaker areas.

The plan includes the following upgrades:

Wheels:
Excel 21" front and 18" rear wheels for offroad
Excel 17" front and rear for supermoto
Front brakes:
Brembo 2 piston with 300mm rotor, 13mm (?) MC for offroad
Brembo 4 piston with 320mm, 16mm (?) MC for supermoto

WP 43 USD Forks with 20mm offset, custom valving and external preload-adjusters
Pro Taper Easton 28mm bars
Ufo hand guards with aluminum inserts
KTM EXC switches
Touratech IMO 100R300 with switches
Garmin 60CSX GPS with Touratech mount
IMS tank (and later Safari)
Wilbers rear shock
Hepco & Becker luggage rack
SW-Motech quick release side racks
Replace worn bearings, regrease
Metal base gasket
Holeshot Performance header
Aftermarket exhaust (probably LeoVince)
Dynojet kit

Also, since I have a scale in the garage and somewhat of an obsession with weight (being a wannabe racer), I will keep a running tab of the part weights as I add them to the bike. Maybe they will help someone who is trying to get the weight down to something more off-road worthy:

Frame (helmet lock yet to be taken off): 16 kg
Wilbers Shock: 3,4 kg
WP 43 Forks with triple and handlebar mount: 12,5 kg
Stock engine with oil and oil cooler: ~50kgs!
21" complete Excel front wheel with tire (90% thread): 9,1 kg
IMS Tank, plastic cap, petcock: 2,9 kg (I read somewhere that stock is 4,5 kg)
Left side case saver: 0,1 kg
Ufo hand guards: 0,6 kg
Wiring harness: 1,1 kg
Stock Pegs: 1,1 kg
Sidestand: 0,6 kg
Throttle tube with cables: 0,4 kg
Front MC: 0,4 kg

Removed:
Plastic undertail: 0,7 kg
Rear handles: 0,75 kg
Sidestand safety switch: 0,1 kg

So this is what she looked like the day I bought her. What can I say, she was really cheap :huh



The previous owner clearly felt no love for this bike, so there were lots of little nags and minor issues. The engine however felt solid and made no strange sounds, so I thought it was a good candidate for my planned project. I does however have a leak, which I think comes from the shifter shaft area. Kind of hard to tell as the whole thing is covered in grease and dirt.

Since the frame had lots of rusty areas and a hideous purple color (looks much worse in real life than the pictures), I decided to tear her down completely and start fresh.



These are various shots that show what mess I had to deal with. And this is after several tries with the pressure washer..



Wiring was messed with as well:



Almost done, the beast (sort of ) and its heart:

Since the dissassembly about 3 months have passed, I have accumulated lots of the parts I need (much of the delay due to a very unreliable supplier ), the frame is back from powdercoating and of course I have no memory anymore which part goes where

This is what the frame looks like after sandblasting and powdercoating. The finish appears to be pretty tough so far and I think the dark silver color came out nice:





Next up were the WP forks. As I have posted on here before and member Gsuser did on his bike, they fit on the DR650 very well. You can re-use the stock DR races, the lower KTM seal and bearing on the KTM stem, and the KTM upper bearing with the DR seal on top. Looks like this when done:





Put the upper triple on and slide the forks tubes in, gotta love the USD look!





The swingarm was wire brushed, and the seals + bearing cleaned and re-greased. Also put the pimpin' shock on for a trial fit.

Great project! Keep the updates coming!

Great thread Lukas!!

Keep them pictures coming. You're doing a great job!

mmm... WP's on a DR

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I should be able to finish up the suspension, put the wheels on and drop the engine back in today.

Max and FatChance, both of your rides where an inspiration for me to get a DR and gave me some great ideas on how to mod it!

Nice work! I've always wondered how the DR would ride with a taller front end.

I've dumped about $1k into my stock suspension. Although it can handle some rough terrain, adjusting the front requires tools, and the shock is only adjustable by compression.

There is just something cool about a tooled out DR. Can't wait to see your results.

I am more interested to see if you can shave off any significant weight. I imagine wheels and suspension are the best opportunities for that. Any guesses from fellow advriders on what the weight savings might be from a project like this?

USD forks weigh more than the stock stuff.

Lukas.....nice bike you are building!

Darn, so besides the usual exhaust weight savings, would the wheels be anything dramatic? As a crazed mtn biker I know the beneifts of losing weight at the wheel. But haven't read anything here about folks upgrading wheels on motos for weight so I imagine the cost is too high for the little gains.

Lukas, how about the 670 bore kit? I know no one has praised any performance gain, but sure would make your rebuild more than everything around the engine.

Nice frame work too. Looks sweet, too bad we don't have carbon fiber protectors for the DR, although that would be like lipstick on the pig so to speak.

Looks great!

Posted here the other day. Planning a projet like yours. Watching your thread intently. Good luck and keep us updated as you go. Thanks!

PLease keep posting!!! Great project

Looks good so far. After the road test to Alaska of almost 8000 miles I think it was a great upgrade.

yeah...definately gonna be an awesome masterpiece....with the commitments and hard work,its worth it...

Wow, lots of replies on here. Keep the questions coming, I will try my best to answer all of them. If I miss one, just post it again.

As far as the bike goes, it's a bit of a busy weekend. On top of that I forgot the camera at home , so new pics will have to wait a day or two. The front wheel is in, the engine is back together with a new base gasket and I have trial fitted a 18" rear wheel out of a KTM EXC. It looks like it might fit without too many mods. Axle diameter is the same, and even the brake disc lines up with the DR caliper. It does have a 220mm rotor vs. the DRs 240mm, so the pad doesn't sweep the whole disc. Anybody know the size of the LC4 rear disc? If I get this to work with new spacers only, it would be great for me as there are lots of used KTM parts and wheels available over here.

Unfortunately there isn't that much weight to loose for a DR. I am hoping for a good 10 kgs or so. Check out Max Kool's old bike, it was very well set up and close to what I am shooting for with the finished product. I will post weight comparisons of stock vs changed out parts in the first post, so keep checking there.

Thanks! The forks do seem heavier, they are about 12,5kgs with the tripples and the axle. My stock one has a wheel in it and is stored in the basement, so if somebody knows the weight post it here and I will put it in the post.

The stock DR rims are DID which are good and even came on some year KTMs. Excel is known for their strength-to-weight ratio, but I doubt that it will be very noticeable. Not like a supersport bike where you can save over half the weight by going to Carbon on magnesium wheels...

I am pretty sure I will keep the engine stock. I have a track bike for going fast and my utmost importance for this bike is reliability (travel, Africa etc), or I would have bought a KTM in the first place (had a LC4 engine grenade on me already)... Pretty much all of the changes I am making should primarily make the bike more reliable, while hopefully also improving performance.

I definitely will do something with frame covers. You can see the damage boots and falls will have on the paint in this area in the first post, and I don't want to strip it back down again later. I actually thought about CF covers and might make them if I find the time. Or I could just do something with ABS plastic. Could you just cut out the rough shape and then mold it over the frame tubes with a heat gun, then maybe strap them down with cable ties? Has anybody tried that?

Watching this space... This could be epic- first watching the build-up of the machine, then reading the ride report about the adventure .

My 2001 LC4-A has a 220mm rear disc. Sorry.