In our first vid, we talked about how the DR650 is great value for money.
But Suzuki has been too lazy to fix many of the known issues.
This is a summary of everything we think needs attention,
and will be addressed through this video series.
We start with the really dumb stuff Suzuki has had 20 years to fix...
Just pause to read the detailed info.
The NSU bolts!
Sitting under the clutch is a little black plastic plate called the 'neutral sending unit'.
It senses when the motorbike is in neutral and triggers that green light on your dashboard.
These screws can work loose over time, drop into your crankcase, and potentially ruin your gearbox.
Some guys just use longer screws and Loctite them,
others prefer to drill the screws and 'wire' them for safety.
If your neutral light ever flashes or disappears,
stop riding immediately and check it isn't these bolts working loose!
Procycle has an excellent step-by-step tutorial and the necessary parts.
Suzuki has put a tiny sock fuel filter here.
It takes very little to clog this up so if your motorbike is ever
starving for fuel check this before anything else.
We recommend removing it and putting in a decent filter like this.
Wheel bearings!
The Suzuki accountants thought they could save three cents on
each DR650 by only having seals on one side of the wheel bearings.
This isn't a huge issue, but if you'll be doing deep creek crossings we'd recommend fitting
bearings with two seals, otherwise just put decent bearings in when the original ones wear out.
Rubber-mounted footpegs!
This is just bizarre.
Whenever you stand on the DR650, these pegs bend and it feels as if
your boots will slip off,,, which they might in muddy conditions.
At the very least, get some wider washers which will bypass the rubber grommets,
and let you stand like a man should...
whether he's riding an adventure bike or pissing in the toilet. 😂
We suppose this is meant to reduce vibration but couldn't build any
difference through our boots after fixing the pegs in place.
The upper chain roller - there is some debate on this,
but most think this is completely unnecessary and is likely to snap
off eventually when the rear suspension takes a big hit it, then leaves a hole or crack in
your frame which can allow water and mud through to rust your frame from within.
Remove it and fit an 8 millimeter 1.25 thread set screw.
The countershaft seal retainer - surprise surprise, this is a
known issue Suzuki actually fixed and it only took them 17 years to do so!
The countershaft seal can pop out then you lose most of your engine oil,
potentially on to the rear tire to get you sliding around speedway style on the road.
There is a cheap aftermarket plate available,
definitely get one of these as cheap insurance against seizing your engine.
These were finally fitted as standard on
2013+ models. Lack of grease - the Suzuki accountants are at it again!
They have saved at least 5 cents per bike by putting very little grease on the steering
head bearings or linkage bearings. It pays to get some decent grease in there too.
Long-term issues?
Ergonomics - unless you are a jockey with a cast-iron butt,
the ergonomics of the DR650 are shocking.
The seat is rock-hard and too narrow.
We'll be fixing that with Procycle's well known seat foam and cover kit.
For some reason, the triple clamps push the handlebars back towards the rider,
this gets even worse if you fit risers.
I'm very tall so we'll be fitting Roxx pivoting risers
to angle the bars forward to where they should be.
The vast majority of riders find the foot pegs set too high and often too far forward.
We'll be looking at various ways to fix this, including lowering plates
from Vince Strang motorcycles through two Procycle's lowered foot peg kit.
And talking about handlebars, the stock ones are steel and usually bend the first time you crash.
They can be straightened again when you get home,
but we highly recommend fitting some decent alloy bars.
And while you're at it, the stock hand grips are terrible and will
give you blisters - replace them immediately.
As everyone knows, the stock suspension is truly awful,
we'll be covering budget upgrades through to the full makeover which should see the
suspension matching the performance of a modern adventure motorbike.
Carburetor and exhaust restrictions - we've already covered this in our video series.
The DR650 will never be a fire-breathing dragon,
but you'll get far better power and fuel economy with some very basic cheap mods
to the carb and replacing the incredibly heavy muffler that chokes the potential of the bushpig.
This isn't necessarily a design flaw,
but it's worth noting water collects under the starter motor when you wash your motorbike.
You should always have the bike on its stand so water flows out of this drain hole.
If you keep the bike upright, water collects and can seep
into your starter motor then it eventually looks like this.
If your starter motor sounds like a strangled chicken, this is often the issue.
Pull it apart, clean it out, and regrease it.
This can be an issue on any motorbike.
We like to zip-tie a bit of rubber on the gearshift lever here so it's
less likely to punch a hole through the crankcase.
The rear brake lever is very unlikely to do this, we strap it up anyway.
We usually cut a V shape in the front sprocket cover so you can see if mud
is building up in there... and also inspect for oil leaks and sprocket wear.
We'll be fitting a replacement cover from Vince Strang's motorcycle in the near future.
Safety switches?
I guess we can't complain about these switches fitted to the clutch and side
stand, they are probably legal requirements in some countries.
But these can fail, so if your bike won't start you've checked these immediately.
If you do choose to bypass them, here is how to do it.
The third gear cog!
A small percentage of early DR650s had third gear failures.
This part was changed by Suzuki in 2006 and 2008.
We haven't experienced any issues over the years, or met any riders who have,
but we've cut and pasted this info from the DR650 wiki page if you want to read more.
So that's it!
A reasonably comprehensive list of known issues with the DR650.
You shouldn't be deterred by this list, it's easy to run up a list this long on any motorbike.
And anyway half the fun of buying a cheap DR650 is turning it in to
an awesome motorbike that suits your purposes.
Good luck!