1)After going through original rear shocks like gumdrops on my 1988 Suzuki Dr 600. I am looking at the possibility of modifying another rear shock to fit. I have a 1992 xr250r shock (free) that I was just wondering if I had a custom spring put on it, would the valving take the heavy spring and weight of the heavily loaded bike. I am trying to find the (elusive) cheap alternative to buying a White Bros, or something like it.

2) why is it that no one seems to be able to find me new fork springs for my DR 600. They say that the bike is too old. Rubbish.
the originals worked well up to almost 100000 kilometers.

3)Has anyone looked into the possibility of building a fully enclosed case for the drive chain and sprockets. Maybe even a continuous oil bath. I have seen some bikes that have wrap around chain protectors, but are not capable of oil immersion. I do long trips of over 60,000 kilometers and carrying extra chains and sprockets is getting to be a pain in the ass. I built an automatic chain oiler, but that was a bit messy.

4)I have also spoken to other international riders that are grafting heavier (than 520) chain and sprockets from roadbikes onto their overland bikes. Any real advantages?

Buying a BMW is not the solution?