The DR650 thread

**DR650gary** · 16th August 2014, 09:12

PM Sent.

Cheers

**pomgolian** · 16th August 2014, 09:14

Originally Posted by DR650gary

I'm still on the lookout for a headlight. I have spotted a few on Ebay but they are all in the US and I have a feeling the light spread pattern will be wrong.

Anyone know if that is correct?

Cheers

Correct no good as they drive on the wrong side of the road so the beam is incorrect for NZ market

**Denniso** · 30th August 2014, 20:10

Finally got my DR back on the road again , dam it's good to be back on the gravel .

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**RogIrwin** · 7th September 2014, 20:08

Just about every DR650 that I look at has dents on the back of the oil cooler. Silly question but does anyone have any idea what the cause is?

I don't think that a stone or anything like that could be responsible as your leg would be in the way.

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**Big Dog** · 7th September 2014, 23:38

Looks to me like a set of knuckles. From tightening or loosening a local bolt etc?
I had similar dents on the back of a Suzuki radiator. From when doing a coolant flush a spanner popped off the hose clamp.

Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

**R650R** · 8th September 2014, 08:33

Careless washing with high pressure hose can do same too.
Should take a pic of the front of the GSXR rad, its had plenty of stone, bird, roadkill strikes, looks 100 times worse, has zero effect on engine temp, just looks ratty.

**Mo NZ** · 8th September 2014, 16:36

They seem to bend if you even look hard at the fins.

**Denniso** · 8th September 2014, 17:19

How many k's has the bike done? Mine has 40k's of abuse and one fairly major blow up and it looks better than that .

**RogIrwin** · 8th September 2014, 20:00

Originally Posted by R650R

Careless washing with high pressure hose can do same too.

I think you might be right. It's consistent with water damage but it's only ever been washed with a garden hose. Pressing gently, I flex them with my finger and I can see that a hose might have enough pressure to bend them over.

**RogIrwin** · 8th September 2014, 20:10

Originally Posted by Denniso

How many k's has the bike done? Mine has 40k's of abuse and one fairly major blow up and it looks better than that .

The bike in the photo isn't mine and is less than a year old. My bike is much the same and also has about 40K of abuse on the clock.

**RogIrwin** · 8th September 2014, 20:25

Originally Posted by Mo NZ

They seem to bend if you even look hard at the fins.

Yeah, surprised how soft they are.

**R650R** · 8th September 2014, 22:49

Well I just went out to the shed an apologised to my bike for the abuse it had over the weekend and had a closer look...

Mine has two very small dings on back. At a guess I'd say there's probably still some random road shrapnel bouncing even in that direction from either the bike it self or other traffic passing both ways...

**DR650gary** · 13th September 2014, 09:31

Looks like I dodged a bullet.

While removing the battery while doing some wiring I dropped the terminal screw. Because I'm a blind bastard I got some wifely assistance who picked up the screw and also held up a round plate with 3 bolt holes. It was wedged between the frame and motor and is called a sprocket retainer.

I pulled the cover hoping it was just a spare that had been replaced but nope, no retainer present. Pretty sure the sprocket would have eventually fallen off but maybe not

I spent 2 hours reworking the indicators with really nice plugs to allow quick removal only to find that the plugs would not fit through the mounting holes, then discovered the locking bolts sitting on the bench. Out with the cutters and back to old fashioned push plugs.

The number plate light does glow blue and is visible from the rear so will wait to see what VTNZ do about that and the cracks in the headlight.

Cheers