The DR650 thread

[NordieBoy]

You're a junior?
How did you swing that?

Good one

[GaZBur]

You're a junior?
How did you swing that?

Good one

Junior is the class - not the age.
I am a little old for junior although I am told that at 49 I would be still a junior if I joined the Ulysses club.
Junior is the class where you keep the same bike and only change tyres. Senior allows wheel changes so most of my stiff competition in the form of about 4 guys on KTM525's were called senior. There were 9 in my class but most weren't in contention due to not doing enough competitions even though they may have well beaten me at any single event.

Yes deanohit it was good to have a DR in front of a lot of bikes worth so much more. She is a great all rounder and there aren't many other bikes that can do all the same stuff for under twice the price of them.

[deanohit]

Heres one for you guys that I found on ADVrider, a slammed hard tail DR650,
Be awesome for the dirt drags!

[NordieBoy]

One of the guys on ADVRider bought it cheap as he only wanted the wheels

[crazyxr250rider]

And then burnt all evidence of its hideous existance?

[GaZBur]

OK re this Bash Plate thingy - so how solid does it have to be. The only metal I have handy is some computer cases - I guess I could even double them over. I see Nordie used a traffic sign so my guess is its function is to take a sharp impact before it can get to the crankcase rather than hold off a really solid hit anyway. I don't even know if you can buy them of the shelf so I guess it would be smart to find that out first before fabricating some butt ugly creation of my own. There is a scrap dealer on the way to work - I guess I could go and see if he has some plate aluminium.
Any pearls of wisdom guys?

[NordieBoy]

Mine has been bashed about quite a bit by flying rocks/gravel but it bashes back easily too
2.5mm alloy and zip tied on, no problems yet.
The plastic coating also acts as a laminate layer adding some strength.

The only thing the 4mm ones have going for them is not having to worry about caseing out on rocks.

Make one from cardboard taped together how you want it and get someone to make it up in 4mm alloy.

[cooneyr]

OK re this Bash Plate thingy - so how solid does it have to be. The only metal I have handy is some computer cases - I guess I could even double them over. I see Nordie used a traffic sign so my guess is its function is to take a sharp impact before it can get to the crankcase rather than hold off a really solid hit anyway. I don't even know if you can buy them of the shelf so I guess it would be smart to find that out first before fabricating some butt ugly creation of my own. There is a scrap dealer on the way to work - I guess I could go and see if he has some plate aluminium.
Any pearls of wisdom guys?

BandB in ausi make them and they sell from about $160nz. Most are about 3mm alloy which can bend but will stop any stones hitting the cases. Computer cases are probably a bit thin in they could be punctured and might bend or stretch and possible back to the cases.

Cheers R

[warewolf]

OK re this Bash Plate thingy - so how solid does it have to be.

The KTM one is soft enough to bend by hand. It's there to protect the cases and the frame rails. As Nordie says, they cop a hammering from flying debris. The bash plate soaks all that up. Protecting from big impacts... thin plate is OK for slow-speed scrabbling over rocks.

I don't even know if you can buy them of the shelf so I guess it would be smart to find that out first

Google is your friend.

[Mole_C]

Hmm synthetic oil or normal oil for the DR650 with 8000kms? Just brought 4L of Motul 3100 (normal) + filter and wondering if i should go back and change it for 5100 (part synth) or just bung it in?

[GaZBur]

The KTM one is soft enough to bend by hand. It's there to protect the cases and the frame rails. As Nordie says, they cop a hammering from flying debris. The bash plate soaks all that up. Protecting from big impacts... thin plate is OK for slow-speed scrabbling over rocks.

Google is your friend.

Ok - built it. Was going to do a photo description thing like Nordie did but after doing the first cut thought you guys didn't need to see my handywork. How did it happen - well i was making cheese toasties for lunch and thought hmmm this oven tray looks strong. But then came back to reality - life can be difficult enough without butchering kitchen things and I would only get caught! Went back to the garage and looked at those old computer cases again. One case was particularly thick so cut it up and wired it on. All in a little over an hour! It's solid and doesnt vibrate or cause noise. Now tomorrow I need to go and get it covered in mud so people can't see my handy-work.

[Transalper]

am thinking you going to need to photograph that for us...before and after it gets dents.

[GaZBur]

Off Road Tyres - well they are really designed for Off Road like they say. Had the crap scared out of me yesterday. Dropped the bike off at the shop to get the road tyres swapped for the knobs. I was actually being careful but still managed to scare myself riding home on the knobs. After using the road tyres for racing and commuting I built a lot of cornering confidence up and can belt into a corner without fear - but not any more. With knobs on I can actually see the amount of turn the bars require for cornering - which means to me its understeering due to the tyres side slipping in the corners.
So - I am looking forward to the getting off tarmac and onto gravel!!!
My guess is the front tyre at least was not meant to be used on the road at all.
Trelleborg Winter Friction 434 Offroad. 80/90-21 front.
MITAS E-09 Enduro 130/80-17 rear.
Correction - I earlier said I won the Junior Clubmans. Just got the newsletter and its actually called the Social Clubmans not Junior. Looks like no racing for me till Feb at least as I wont be attending the NZ Roadracing series, I expect they will be taking things a bit too seriously for me.

[cooneyr]

Off Road Tyres - well they are really designed for Off Road like they say. Had the crap scared out of me yesterday. Dropped the bike off at the shop to get the road tyres swapped for the knobs. I was actually being careful but still managed to scare myself riding home on the knobs. After using the road tyres for racing and commuting I built a lot of cornering confidence up and can belt into a corner without fear - but not any more. With knobs on I can actually see the amount of turn the bars require for cornering - which means to me its understeering due to the tyres side slipping in the corners.
So - I am looking forward to the getting off tarmac and onto gravel!!!
My guess is the front tyre at least was not meant to be used on the road at all.
Trelleborg Winter Friction 434 Offroad. 80/90-21 front.
MITAS E-09 Enduro 130/80-17 rear.
Correction - I earlier said I won the Junior Clubmans. Just got the newsletter and its actually called the Social Clubmans not Junior. Looks like no racing for me till Feb at least as I wont be attending the NZ Roadracing series, I expect they will be taking things a bit too seriously for me.

LOL - new tyres and knobs at that from ya racing tyres is going to feel like crap.

Thing that seems strange to me is there are Trelleborg Rocky Grip 434 and a Trelleborg Winter Friction 434 (may or may not be spiked/studded) tyres. Basically the same tyre I would guess but compounds are possibly different. See the Mitas-Trelleborg pages. Seems to me the importer is bringing in non-studded Winter Friction 434 when they should probably be bringing in the Rocky Grip 434 if the rubber compound is different. Anybody got any info on this?

Cheers R

[Transalper]

no info but my DR hates the Trelleborg front, it wobbles in gravel at speed and through most the sweepers on seal.
Is better with the fork brace installed.