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Thread: The DR650 thread

  1. #76
    Join Date
    2nd March 2004 - 13:00
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    FransAlp 700
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    Oh dear

  2. #77
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    15th February 2006 - 15:25
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    Orange ones! (and a few others...)
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    Good luck Gazbur, I will raise a beer to you as I sit at the beach tomorrow!

    Try to stop eating the road, ok?

  3. #78
    Join Date
    20th November 2005 - 22:24
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    WR250R DR650 Transalp650
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    Quick someone make a set of bars with the grips in the usual place and the very ends of the bars drooped down below 900mm.
    www.remotemoto.com - a serious site for serious ADV riders, the ultimate resource in the making.
    Check out my videos on Youtube including... the 2011 Dusty Butt 1K - Awakino Challenge and others.

  4. #79
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    13th March 2003 - 11:47
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    Quote Originally Posted by GaZBur View Post
    Bugger!!!
    There are some new rules in F-3
    A: All motorcycles racing in this class must have a maximum end of handle bar centre line height of 900mm from the ground. The measurement is to be taken at the handle bar end with the machine unladen, ie no rider.
    Geepers that is low as our DR which is on the low suspension height setting measures more than that and many dirt bikes the seats are higher than that. Such things never applied back when guys like Croz were punting their 4 strokes with sit-up-and beg bars.

    Some low level clip-ons will get you down there - will look and feel bloody weird probably.

    Good going all the same and you remind me of all the fun I've had on dirt bikes - trail, road or track. Keep the stories coming to keep us retired guys interested.
    Cheers

    Merv

  5. #80
    Join Date
    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    2006 Suzuki DR650 & FZR1000 race bike
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crisis management View Post
    Good luck Gazbur, I will raise a beer to you as I sit at the beach tomorrow!

    Try to stop eating the road, ok?
    Just a quick post to say I got back - in one piece too!!! Had an absoulute ball of a time. I will give more details later when I get a chance to as there was plenty of excitement.
    I had a heap of people come up to me and say "I got one of those - never thought to race it" and leaving thoughtfully, maybe soon we shall see a few more on the track. There was another DR650 in Invercargill but he was in the "Have a Go" event not actually racing. I also had three people come and introduce themselves coz they know me through this site, nice people one and all too!

  6. #81
    Join Date
    13th October 2005 - 12:08
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    2007 Suzuki DR650
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    at home...
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    22
    Hullooooooo ,

    I will join the DR650 crew as of tomorrow. Im fah king exited yaaaaayyyy )

    Certainly will have to read through some tips to make mine..well..more efficient?

  7. #82
    Join Date
    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    2006 Suzuki DR650 & FZR1000 race bike
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    Quote Originally Posted by C&C-rider View Post
    ...I will join the DR650 crew as of tomorrow. ...Certainly will have to read through some tips to make mine..well..more efficient?
    Welcome to the dark side. I hope you get as much fun out of yours as some of us here do. Are you going to do the Adventure thing? I am about to set my bike up for Adventure riding over summer - so I will be checking the forums for ideas too!

  8. #83
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    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    2006 Suzuki DR650 & FZR1000 race bike
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    Bert Munroe - DR650 at Teretonga

    Got up real early Sat morning to ride down to Teretonga from Dunedin.
    Race leathers are stinking hot when you race so why are they so freezing cold when you are touring. It wasn't even a cold morning but I was absolutely frigid by the time I got to Ing'll just before 8am. One of the first to sign in and then it was just a case of ripping off the number plate and mirrors off the old DR and wait for practice. I have raced Teretonga several times before so thought it would be simple - but that was about 25+ years ago. The track itself hasn't changed but I used to think it was an easy track and went reasonably fast, now I am a lot slower and thought it was very technical and difficult!!! Jason Veitch from Veitch's Suzuki/Harley shop was the first Dunedin guy I saw and he was kind enough to let me throw my bag in his van so it didn't disappear while I was on the track and even offered me extra petrol if I needed it. He was riding an awesome SuperDuke!!! Drool!!! (Wipes chin and continues) There were some other awesome machines as well as heaps of Motards - but almost all well set up real race machines. The guy that turned up on a DR650 from Ingll (Les) rode in the Have a Go sessions but not to race. Sorry I can't report how he did coz I didn't see him ride but expect he had fun as he was looking keen. I noticed one of the Southland Club officials also uses a DR650.

    I had been entering into two classes, Motards and Formula 3 and was expecting to get thrown out of F-3. There were two or three of us motards with the same idea and we were told to ride F-3 style not motard which is pretty obvious if you don't want to cause mayhem and we started at the back. We did get twice as much racing as anyone else though. It is a HUGE track with fast corners and in my inexperienced opinion there is only one corner realistically where sliding in motard style could be faster. It amused me to see motard riders holding out their foot on corners around 100kph, why?? Were they going to plant their foot at that speed, do that and you will get your leg ripped off! I made up heaps on time on them by braking later and cornering faster when they did that! I had even abandoned using the stronger Motocross boots for light road boots so I could feel the rear brake better which is a good move as it turned out.
    So how did I go then? Well as you can guess - power wise the street based DR650 is going to be pretty disadvantaged by race bikes putting out more horses and only 2/3 the weight. I tried my best though and started at the back, in the first motard race kept a reasonable few behind me for the whole race. In the second motard race I know I was not last into the first corner and should have had a couple behind me but when the race was over and I looked back couldn't see any one.... oh no!!!! I know I am not likely to impress anyone with my skill or speed but my aim when racing is "Don't care where I come but I DON'T WANT TO COME LAST"
    In the F-3 races the real F-3 bikes just disappeared from me. There were also a bunch of 150's thrown in there as well so once the field had sorted itself out I passed the 150's and pretty much ended up racing all alone between the two groups. The 150's were surprisingly hard to get past I must admit though - they carry a lot of speed through the corners even on a high speed track. Teretonga is 2.57k long, the main straight is about 950meters. I did't get the new sprocket yet so was changing into top when the speedo read 153Kph. Top speed depended on the wind and varied between 160 and 170kph. I reckon it would have been better with the 14tooth on.
    Did I mention the wind? I mean WIND!!! It blew like you wouldn't believe. On the tarmac I relax and am seldom tense even when racing. The wind made me tense every muscle and I had to fight all the time to keep from being blown about, even my neck muscles took a pounding. The wrist and hands hurt like they did after my first nervous attempts at motarding and it was exhausting just trying to keep upright. It was hard on the nerves too when cranked into a corner to have a gust catch you - or just as bad have the gust stop as you are cranked over. It was the same for everyone though so can't use it as an excuse.
    After racing I went to help a guy put his bike on a trailer but he didn't need a hand. He brought two classics to race and more than a bit of a classic himself. 74 years old, spry enough to hoist his leg over a bike and sharp as!! Man I hope I end up like that if I can last that long.
    Hope this long post hasn't put you all to sleep. The real excitement though was Sunday down at the Wyndham street race. Tell ya about that soon.

  9. #84
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    9th May 2007 - 11:14
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    Quote Originally Posted by GaZBur View Post
    Hope this long post hasn't put you all to sleep.
    Hell no man, really enjoying your reports, it's great to see some one out there just having FUN and not bitchin about what shit happened in their day.
    The real excitement though was Sunday down at the Wyndham street race. Tell ya about that soon.
    Great, looking forward to it.
    "I came into this game for the action, the excitement... go anywhere, travel light,... get in, get out,... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form."

    Paved roads are just another example of wasted tax payer dollars.

  10. #85
    Join Date
    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    2006 Suzuki DR650 & FZR1000 race bike
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    Dunedin
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    Bert Munroe - DR650 at Wyndham Street - Practice session

    Woke up at 7 and looked outside my B & B in Invercargill and saw sunny clear sky. So packed up and had a huge cooked brekkie to set me up for the day. The window I looked out of must have faced north though and as I got on the bike a storm front came through from the south. Screaming wind and driven rain – lovely!!! Fecking soaked and I haven’t even gassed up yet. Put the wet gear on at the petrol station and got blown to Wyndham. When I arrived in the pits the first guys I saw from Dunedin were the Henry’s, a father and son team riding Kawasaki Motards for SPV in Dunedin. Nice guys so I asked if I could chuck my stuff in their van. Allan has given me advice when I first started Motarding (along with others) and his son and I have crashed together (no hard feelings I see).
    Well the rain stopped just before practice in time for another nasty storm front to come through just in time for me to go out in it for practice. Did I mention it was WET – huge puddles – wet slippery road, driving rain – beautiful start to the day, I hated it!! I rode like a pussy, no wait - I rode like a pussy wearing a big girls blouse I hated it that much. Every time I picked up some speed someone would pass me and crash right in front of me. Happened three times in two laps, the last one was amazing. I was using my position relative to the Ambulance to sort my braking point for the end of the start finish straight. Why did they put an Ambulance right there you may ask? One of about four that I could see too! Some guy rips past me on the straight and cuts in front of me and the bike just went down for no apparent reason right in front of me. I braked hard and wondered if I was going to need to do something drastic not to run the guy over – but I needn’t have worried. He slid on his back following his bike oscillating slowly with his hands and knees in the air, he just slid and slid and slid without seeming to slow down. I saw the bike hit the hay bales with a thump and flying straw but was a bit busy cornering to see if he hit the bales or followed on to his bike. About that time practice was red flagged for the Ambulance to come out on the track. An encouraging start to the day!!! In fairness to the guys who set up the track, you could hit tarmac, you could hit another rider or you could hit one of those huge circular hay bales but it was pretty well impossible to hit something bad like a pole or gutter or building, they did a good job of setting it up. Did I mention it was wet and I wasn’t having fun!!!
    Next post – street racing!

  11. #86
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    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    2006 Suzuki DR650 & FZR1000 race bike
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    Motards at Wyndham

    Well bugger me the rain stopped - and it blew hard enough the track dried. If it had continued to rain I was seriously considering wimping out for the day so I could be sure to get home in one piece. If you didn't lose it yourself in the wet there was a good chance to be taken out by someone else who did, it was that slippery.

    There were some real trick bikes there - including those V-twin Aprillias, but there were also a few of us with 21in fronts and crossply tyres instead of radials on 17in motard rims, although I think mine was the only real street bike. I mention this because I often find I can out brake a well set up motard bike on the old DR and assumed the braking on them wasn't hugely better. Well I have since had a wee squirt on DRZ Motard and it stops like you wouldn't bloody believe! So the average motard rider is crap under brakes on tarmac, possibly coz they are predominantly dirt riders??? I also notice most racers, motarders included are very slow off the start. It's understandable with F-3 as the gearing is high but Motard guys are used to MX starts. I am only making a generalisation about the average guys - the ones in front are awesome at everything. There was also a guy there on a KTM with the use of one arm only who came 5th I believe, so his skills must be amazing.
    The real bugger about riding motard class is it's the one race I didn't get to watch, and from what some spectators told me the motards were the real highlight and the spectators loved the tight action. So much so that the organisers rearranged the program for the last round so that Motards were the last race.

    44 of us lined up at the dummy grid, the warm up lap isn't a warm up so much as a race to get a good start position. In fact the race starts even before that as there is a tussle when the previous race dummy grid goes out to be first at the gate so when our dummy grid goes out you can get a good place at the start. I sat a the back with a guy on a Husaberg and a ginger beard poking out the bottom of his helmet having a good laugh at the antics of some of the serious guys vying for position behind the barrier. So out we go for the first race warm up lap and I get to the first corner - and stop to assist a guy who has his leg painfully pinned under his bike. I head off again expecting them to have started the race but they held it up for me to arrive and it turned out the first start was a false start anyway.

    Let me tell you about the grid. There is one line with about 15 bikes on it with their bars practically overlapping. The next line isn't actually a separate line it's where you nose your wheel up between the two guys in front till your handlebars are almost touching the guy in fronts back protector. A few of us thought this a bit much and hang back.
    Surprisingly most of the time everybody gets around the first corner but if you hang back at the start and go wide you can pass a lot of guys who are caught up in the melee on the inside. With a dry track the feel is totally different and it's a real hoot to blast around. Am I having fun or what!!!

  12. #87
    Join Date
    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    2006 Suzuki DR650 & FZR1000 race bike
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    Dunedin
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    Racing the DR650 Wyndham Stree Circuit

    My races all follow pretty much the same pattern. Start at the back, pass a few on the outside of turn one. Have a few pass me back on the Cardigan Rd straight, not much passing happens on the turn into Ferry St. Try hold my position if I can till the end of Ferry street go wide and right of the fast line and out brake one or two into the big hay bale chicane, find/make a space to slot into for the chicane down the short straight (Balaclava St) avoiding the guy who falls at the chicane (every race someone binned there) and go wide out into the main straight allowing faster guys to pass on the inside. Brake at the last minute at the end of the straight rear tyre squealing and maybe drift out just a fraction and going wide, late apex the corner so you can see the fallen rider before you run him over and it's off for another lap. What an absolute hoot this track is!!! The first race was shortened (red flag) by a lap so the Ambulance could come out. The Ambulances were used a lot on Sunday although as far as I am aware none of the injuries were really serious, at least I hope not. The other races were pretty much the same for me and I had an absolute ball out there. I especially loved the chicane as it's where I made ground especially braking into the approach. OK - as you would expect I was way way down in the list - but had enough guys behind me to be happy with how I went. Did I mention I loved every minute of the racing?
    Well I had several sideways moments but none spectacular and the only sideways moment that concerned me was on the Highway on the way to Invercargill in a corner after hitting some road kill. The rear tyre wear was quite significant on the Wyndham surface compared to rubber lost on asphalt circuits. I have had a marvellous weekend racing and met a heap of nice people too!
    I am a definite starter for next year!!! Woooohooo!!!
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  13. #88
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    2nd March 2004 - 13:00
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    Nelson
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    Coming up to the Port Nelson Street Races?

  14. #89
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    19th June 2007 - 21:30
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    Quote Originally Posted by NordieBoy View Post
    Coming up to the Port Nelson Street Races?
    Really wish I could now, as I just loved the Wyndham Race. But I will be in Stewart Island over New Year. I will also be putting the knobblies back on so I can do some Adventure riding in Central mid/late Jan as I will probably spend a week around Albert Town(Wanaka). Will you be out with your camera at the Port circuit? Love to see some pics of the race. I will post some pics of last weekend when I can get some from the photographers that were there. A KB member came up and introduced himself said he would email me some he took too.

    One thing I will say though for those wanting to ride a street circuit and thinking of the Nelson street race, they are not as forgiving as a race circuit and its easy to get injured if you take it too seriously. At Wyndham you needed proof that you had done at least 3 major events before they would allow you to enter so - do it coz its a real hoot, just be carefull.

  15. #90
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    9th May 2007 - 11:14
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    I'll be at Nelson with the camera snapping away, hope fully get some video as well.
    Really looking forward to it.

    Man, the DR is just such a brilliant bike, racing, trails, commuting, touring, sounds near impossible to beat!
    "I came into this game for the action, the excitement... go anywhere, travel light,... get in, get out,... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form."

    Paved roads are just another example of wasted tax payer dollars.

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