Anyone have a DR650?

[pepperona]

Maybe its a quarter life crisis, or the adventure bike ads getting to me, but the dirt is calling.

I live about an hour away from the closest OHV park, and don't own a trailer/truck. Looking for something that can survive highway. 

 

Anyone here have a dr650 as a second bike? I like how its old, reliable, and easy to get parts for. I had a DRZ for a bit and don't mind tinkering. I considered a KLR for a while but the weight is a bit off-putting. Im hoping I can find a cheap beater as a winter project.

 

Or I just sell my MT07 and pick up one bike to rule them all, the tenere 700. 2 bikes and a car in 1 apartment carport might get hard lol.

 

[Northsouth217]

I have had 3 over the last 25 years. Great bike. Very simple, cheap and easy to work on. Lots of aftermarket parts available for not a lot of money to make it yours. First thing I would do is add the 5 gallon Acerbis tank. The second thing so you could use all of that fuel is to change the seat to a Sargent. The stock seat will hurt you after about 20 minutes!
 

[tomlichu]

18 hours ago, pepperona said:

Maybe its a quarter life crisis, or the adventure bike ads getting to me, but the dirt is calling.

I live about an hour away from the closest OHV park, and don't own a trailer/truck. Looking for something that can survive highway. 

Not answering your question exactly, but my friend who got into dirt had a DRZ to do roads + dirt in the bay. Although he said it was a trek to get the DRZ to the park, so it made it hard to ride back after since he was tired. He still thought his DRZ was too heavy to learn on, though he is light (150 lb). Not sure how experienced you are with dirt, maybe you will be fine on 650, but it will be heavier and not as good on the dirt.

[pepperona]

3 hours ago, tomlichu said:

Not answering your question exactly, but my friend who got into dirt had a DRZ to do roads + dirt in the bay. Although he said it was a trek to get the DRZ to the park, so it made it hard to ride back after since he was tired. He still thought his DRZ was too heavy to learn on, though he is light (150 lb). Not sure how experienced you are with dirt, maybe you will be fine on 650, but it will be heavier and not as good on the dirt.

No experience with dirt so far. Ideally I would start on a 250, but then transporting the bike becomes an issue. I could lift my WRX and put a hitch on it, but that's just more money to spend.

 

Such is life

[tomlichu]

6 hours ago, pepperona said:

Such is life

It never ends. I am thinking about getting a trailer and towing my MT07 with my Prius to a track day. Hitches are not that expensive, I installed a Kurt hitch pretty easily, and towing via Uhaul is $15 for the motorcycle trailers.

[FZ not MT]

On 10/10/2023 at 6:46 PM, pepperona said:

Anyone here have a dr650 as a second bike?

Here's a very good alternative for you - Suzuki DR350SE. This bike is stone reliable, and much lighter than the DR650 (80 lbs.). It has plenty of power to do nearly anything you will want. There are only two years worth getting 1998 and 1999 due to their upgraded suspension and the lack of their cush drive (long story on that - Google it). The 1999 looks fairly modern as far as the colors. This bike has been known to easily do the TAT ride. Also, there are still a lot of aftermarket accessories for the DR350 - https://procycle.us/

Here's a pretty good new article on it. BTW, I had a 1998 DR350SE which I had modified it quite a bit. It was a great bike which I sold about 6 years ago - still greatly regret selling it. This pic is of a 1999

https://motocrosshideout.com/suzuki-dr350/ 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by FZ not MT

[Northsouth217]

I bought a DR250 years ago only because I couldn’t find a used 350 anywhere. The 250 was anemic. Seems like people hang on to those 350’s. Same for the Honda XL350- very hard to find.