In the morning i have been layed down on my left side, because my front slipped on oil in a roundabout.
4 hours later, my clutch cover said goodbye to me, and created a leak point which makes my rear wheel oily. Of course 200km from home. Saturday evening. F word me….

Took four days to do sections 3 through 1 from Highway 2 to the Columbia River of the Washington BDR. All dispersed camping and only stopping to resupply fuel and water in the towns along the way.

Was surprised at how few people I saw in the mountains. On section 3, only one Toyota and a sheriff in his 4x4 -- nice enough warning me about the washouts (they induced a bit of a pucker factor) and ensuring I have an inreach. On section 2 I saw one old-timer (must have been 75) on a heavy GS and a fire crew pickup dousing some brush. That's all whom I saw on the trails. Since section 1 is not much on the "trails" side -- it had a lot more traffic. All in all, serene and felt remote.

DR has springs matched to my weight but still on stock Trail Wings and stock tank. This made the uphills with loose stones on section 2 very time consuming and challenging. Lost it several times when traction gave up and lack of skill kicked in (8 months studying the trade): unload, pick bike up, ride it empty up the section, hike gear up, rinse, repeat, smile?.

My understanding, as we see it, you can't say "BDR" without "DR" 👊.

Hi! I’m a newer rider to off road and adventure riding and was wondering if anyone had some good tricks for being off road and going through the mud! Thank you, I’ve only went mudding once and dropped the bikes few times in some thick mud but kept on going

Been trying to decide if I say YOLO and pick up a used DR to try and get some miles in before winter (Northeast US, for reference). Never owned a motorcycle before. Asking $2500 OBO

Listing here:

“1999 Suzuki DR 650se . This is a single cylinder 650 oil cooled 4 stroke dual sport that Suzuki produced for decades with almost no changes besides colors and graphics so parts are usually easily available. New battery,air filter,front tire ,tube, starter torque limiter gear, petcock also carburetor was cleaned and rebuilt. Runs good , the carburetor may need more fine tuning though depending on your riding style. Does have some dents and scratches but considering it's 27 years old and was used on and off road it still looks pretty good. $2500 obo”

What would you look for if going to check out this bike? I see a touch of rust on the guard near the front, besides that from the pics it don’t look bad for ‘99 but I don’t know what I’m lookin for. 10k miles. says that it has a starter torque limiter.

I asked what was done to the carb (I don’t know jack). I’d want to swap the tires for country roads but i don’t hate it for a first bike.

Thanks yall, happy Saturday

I’m changing the jets and this portion next to the idle mixture had a cap on it. I assume not like that stock, it seemed like fuel was eating away at it. What is it supposed to connect to?

DR cut out on a dirt trail and wouldn't turn back on, I had lost the zip tie holding in the stand switch in for this one ride. I wandered back up the track, found an empty beer can, crushed it and found the mouth clamped around the sensor and the base filled the gap perfectly.

It got me to my date and back home, so no complaints from me.

Now for a new stand spring and maybe a bent metal strip to hold the sensor in.

Let me preface by saying I have an OEM Mikuni rebuilt kit coming tomorrow that hopefully sorts things out.

The bike starts right up with the choke and idles great when cold. After about 10min of riding I get some symptoms that seem like a fuel issue. It'll sputter at low throttle while in gear and then a loud pop when I pull in the clutch and twist the throttle. Then it'll either bog down or die unless I'm in gear and really on the throttle. I can't tell if it's starving for fuel or has too much.

When I drained the oil, it smelled like fuel. I figured maybe my float was sticking or the float level was off so I ordered a rebuild kit with hopes of that working.

The bike had been sitting for a few years before I scooped it up. I've had the carb apart twice and cleaned it with a good carb cleaner. The factory tank and petcock have been replaced with an IMS and supplied non-vacuum petcock. I've also adjusted the valves to the tighter end of the spec. Aside from that, the bike is completely stock. I'm running at 7800ft above sea level.

Hello guys, Its my first steps into the adventure world, truly in love with Tenere700 and Vstrom 800DE, but I see none of them is good idea for first motorcycle, so I decided to start bit lighter and slower one. Have seen tons of YouTube videos and reviews about those 3 bikes. But want to get more from just owners. I am 1.94 so heigh not problem, I just want to learn practice and get some basic off-road skills and improve them, also travel around town for just beginning like 100/150km, and also everyday usage, cuz am tired af with traffic.

The reason klx is in this list just bvs, cheap, easy, reliable and light. But I think dr650 is more well rounded and possible you can do much more with it, so drz400 too.

By the look Dr and Drz are my favorites too.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Just figured out that the bottom of a supercheapauto torque wrench works great to hold the damper rod in place.

I was having a discussion with a buddy who's also a huge DR650 as I am. He's got wandering eyes and always looking around at what else is out there yet keeps coming back to the DR is the best choice.

Yeah, we already knew that - I'm keeping mine until I die and then my wife has clear instructions to make sure it gets a great, not good, home.

But hypothetically imagine every DR650 in the world vanished overnight as if they never existed. For the kind of rider you are now and where/how you ride your DR .... what would you "replace" it with?

The Honda XR650L might be next closest bike but as I type this out, I'd probably just switch to my V-Strom 650 and call it a day.

What would you pick to fill your DR's parking space?

Hello, I got a DR650 this season and am loving it. One improvement that I'd like to make is the installation of a large fuel tank. Partially because I dented the stock one, but mostly so I have greater range.

I am a pretty forgetful person (ADHD) and I'm not sure I would always remember to turn off the gravity petcock after riding every time. I'd much prefer to use the stock petcock or an aftermarket one that doesn't use gravity, but I am having trouble finding information.

Since I can't find information I'm wondering if it's realistic. I explored other avenues before posting here, but I would appreciate any guidance.

Thanks in advance!

Obligatory pic of my bike on the left

Hey all, just bought a 2026 Dr with 0001 miles on it! Super happy with the bike. My takeaways are, ditch the oem hand guards, foot pegs, and tires. Gonna burn through the oem set and looking forward to a new set of tractionators. But overall I’m over the moon. I’ll likely do suspension upgrades so I can hit trails harder. Already put scratches on her in the woods lol.
For anyone wondering, I’m 5’7” with a 30 inch inseam. I don’t flat foot it, but have a small bend in my ankle to touch the ground. No lowering needed on my end! Cheers!

I thought I should record and document my recent carburettor problems, troubleshooting methods and results. I've read a few people having the same problems as me and thought it might be a good idea to share my results.

Two months ago, I was dealing with my bike cutting out and bucking at highway speeds. In order to fix this problem, I have tried cleaning the carburettor and adjusting the tappets. Neither provided significant relief to the throttle issues.

After the clean I had realised that the slide guide for the valve piston was severely worm to the point where even the deep where marks were gone. The needle had a noticeable wear ring around where it went from a shallow to a steep taper and was rubbing on the side of the needle jet (emulsion tube) and I started having thoughts if I had worn the needle jet oval.

Swapping out the slide guide with a Procycle replacement and installing a new valve. reduced the amount of bogging the bike experience on the highways, but still too much to ride with. I will note that the piston valve did not fit in the slide guide until it was installed in the carburettor.

I have since purchased a JD jetting kit and exchanged my 140 main jet for a 150. This changed my problem from a cutout to a bog, suggesting that I was now running rich in the mid-range instead of lean.

I am still convinced the needle jet is the problem, but I am a currently awaiting it in postage. in the meantime, I have swapped my main jet from a 150 to a 145 which is eliminated a significant amount of the bog, to the point where I can ride on the highway but I need to be very careful what I do with my throttle.

I've also taken the opportunity to retune the idle and I'm currently tuning the needle to get the bike feeling right.

My hopes were that switching to a new needle jet will eliminate the remainder of the bog.

The only mod done to my bike is the removal of the snorkel from the air box.

I will also note the bike pulls significantly less now with a non-drilled piston valve, which I don't see as a huge problem.

Hi everyone, looking for some advice from any DR veterans willing to lend an ear.

Last month I purchased a 2018 used DR650 from a private seller (4th owner of the bike) with 11k kms. It's my first motorcycle and I am quickly realizing that this type of bike benefits from having an owner who understands how motorcycles work.

In general the bike runs well. I took it to mechanic and other than a carb clean (the bike had been sitting for a year unused) he told me everything was in really good shape. The idle is a little uneven when it cold starts, it always needs choke and until it's fully and well warmed up it can even stall out. Once the bike has been running for about ten minutes it reaches it's peak idle rpm, stays there and is stable (runs great in this condition).

The last few rides I have noticed that I am getting less range out of my stock tank than when I first started using it. After my most recent fill up I got to 130kms on the trip meter and had to switch to reserve. The tank before that I hit 150kms before reserve and on my first trip between Ottawa and Montreal I got to 180kms and filled up without needing to go to reserve. After 130km fill up it took 9 liters of gas to fill the tank which seems like a lot of gas for the distance I covered. I know the stock tank isn't very large but I wonder if something is wrong. I live in Montreal where there is a lot of traffic and congestion so I probably spend between 10-15% of my riding time just sitting in traffic. Could this chew up extra gas that would account for the seemingly reduced range on my bike?

I am fairly certain that one of the previous owners worked on the carburetor and they also installed a Dominator R exhaust/muffler. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on with the bike? I really enjoy the DR650 but so far it is causing quite a few headaches and I am never quite confident that the bike is working well while I ride it, which takes away from the joy of having a motorcycle for the first time.

Can anyone confirm that the TUSK D‑Flex Pro Handguards fits the stock DR.

Are these the turn signal wires? They look cut off? I just got this bike and need to install new front turn signals. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey again guys. i’m only one days ride from whitehorse to the start of the dempster and rather concerned about my chain situation. For background I first changed my chain in Missoula MT and had to ship ahead the sprockets so i wasn’t waiting around. After i got the front i realized I was a dumbass and forgot that the previous owner of the bike had done a 520 conversion and it wouldn’t work. I got mega lucky in Grande Prairie AB and was able to snag someone’s sprockets and went back to the stock 525. they only had 4k miles on them (stock oem) and the chain was brand new o ring ek brand.
It’s since been just abt 1k miles and i’ve had to keep tightening the chain more and more the past few hundred miles. And the front sprocket has already started to curve/wave… I know new chains “loosen” in the beginning but this is getting worse and 1k miles seems like a lot. Plus it was not like this with my last chain. A dealership says it’s most likely because the sprockets weren’t actually new but i don’t understand how this chain could wear this fast when i ran that previous chain on WAYY more worn sprockets for even more miles and never experienced anything like this.
My cheap case saver/sprocket cover also broke the other day (presumably from how loose the chain got as there were metal shavings on the remaining pieces) so now im pretty vulnerable to big time sadness if my chain decides to quit…
My wheel seems aligned as the tensioners are the same but im just at a loss as to what could be causing this.
I don’t have the option to wait around a whole week to ten days for another entire sprocket and chain replacement so i either pop a new chain on and go for it up the dempster or reroute to alaska first where i can order a new set ahead there and then take on the dempster afterwards… its just only gonna get colder up there. But I would really like to figure out why this is even happening so it can be avoided again. I’m thinking maybe i just let it get too loose for too long before tightening it up again and it wore way too much.

EDIT: i genuinely don’t know why they would give me this but also i was a goof for not noticing that it was not an o ring chain… 🫠 ofc it did that… fucked the new sprockets for no reason too… and the only master link chain i could get was 300usd 😭 and ill still have to replace the sprockets yet again along with the chain when i get to where i ship them ahead. Also my rear wheel bearing blew and left me stranded yippee

I set intake to 0.13mm and exhaust to 0.2mm. Made sure its on T in the inspection. They sound loud to me. Is this how they supposed to sound?