Hi,

New thread - so here's a little background.

Felix is my DR650. His sweet little engine was purring away happily one afternoon in Italy. He named himself. I had nothing to do with it.

My name is Richard, though I use 'Hud' a lot on motorcycle sites because that was my nickname when I was a kid, and when I'm riding I feel like a Hud. There have been a couple of occasions on this current trip when I feel like a Dick. I try to avoid such occasions though, when I can. I'm English, from Hertfordshire.

I've been on a solo road trip with Felix for just over a month (England, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, and now Bulgaria. I will hit Greece tomorrow. Then (according to the grand plan) it's on to Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Western Siberia, Western Russia, the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine (possibly), Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands and home. I might squeeze northern Iraq or Syria in there, too. I'm curious. I will see how the security situation is when I get there. I'm no hero. Any risks I take will be very heavily biassed in my favour.

The most significant event of the trip so far is that I had a spill in Italy. And it wasn't even a real spill, more like a wonky topple. I cracked a rib. It's painful but not serious, so I'm carrying on anyway - just a little more carefully than before. I realised this evening that I haven't reached for the painkillers in three days, and when I cough I no longer think I'm going to implode. Nor do I vomit words at people unexpectedly when my ribs go into spasm. That's good. I think I'm on the mend.

The most significant problem I have to cope with is that I have multiple food intolerance, a side-effect of medication taken many years ago. It doesn't take much to make me feel groggy. The trick is to stay well and not starve. You'd be surprised how many bananas you can eat in a day when nothing more suitable is available.


Right now I'm holed up in a hotel in the south of Bulgaria. I've been camping mostly, but tonight I got caught out with nowhere to sleep. I thought at first the hotel was a brothel, but later realised that I'm just not familiar with Bulgarian hotel kitsch. Nor am I used to hotels that sell toothbrushes and toothpaste prominently at reception. It's all cultural learning.

Cheers

Welcome Hud!
Hope the ribs are feeling better ... but I know from experience they take quite a while to stop hurting and heal up. (I broke ... not cracked ... four in one accident, and four on the other side in another years later) The worst pain ever! I had a compound fracture which was nothing pain wise compared to broken ribs. When the docs see my Xrays now ... they freak!

Anyways, continued safe travels. Hope you can post some pics up ... maybe go back from the start and do a report? Lots of work, I know, but as a fellow DR650 Rider, I'll be reading it! Quite a few DR guys here on this forum.




Baja this past November

Hi Mollydog, thanks for the welcome.

Ribs are beasts. This is the third one I've cracked now, all of them motorcycle related. I've never broken anything else. I did think about buying an inflatable jacket before I started this trip. It might still be worth thinking about for when I hit all those gravel roads. I'm a skinny oik - not much natural padding.

I've been doing a general blog of the journey over on blogger/blogspot. Here's a link if anyone is interested.

a rock to stand on

It's a general blog for friends who are not particularly bike oriented, so it is more about people and incidents. I started posting here, because I wanted to connect with other motorcycle travellers.

I bought the DR650 new especially for this trip. I'm loving it to bits. Lovely engine. The bike has one curious feature though, which I can't pin down. Every so often it starts to judder. It will carry on like that for a while and then the judder will stop. I thought at first it had to be something to do with road surface, but it doesn't appear to be, at least not exclusively. Revs will make a difference but don't explain why it starts or stops. I've wondered, too, about weight distribution (how that varies with the amount of fuel in the 25 litre Acerbis tank) but I can't see any pattern. Presumably it has something to do with the way the bike puts down power from its single cylinder. Anyone else had that experience? Now I'm used to it, it's not a big problem, but its bugging me.

The other issue is a more obvious one and easily sorted: the side stand. It's far too long for the height of the bike. I've had it cut down three times and the bike is still unstable if the stand is on an upslope. I will try to find someone in Turkey to take some more off it. I'll be staying with friends near Fethiye. Maybe then.



Cheers!

Hey Hud,
Curious where you bought a new DR650? In the UK? Couple threads here on HUBB about guys trying to get them.

The Juddering is pretty common, lots to say about it but I'd rather not mess up your Ride Tales post with all the info. Why not start a DR650 "Issues" thread over on the Suzuki Tech forum here on HUBB? Lots of members here are interested in this bike.

Or, go over to DRRiders link below. Those guys are very good with new DR owners ... and ProCycle Jeff is there all the time, very helpful guy. (and now also a $$millionaire$$ from selling DR parts! )

www.DRRiders.com

Best solution for too long side stand? Raise up ride height with heavier shock spring/more pre load. But when parking, you've got to just pick your spot. Also arrange bike so it's left leaning, on the down slope.

The more luggage weight you add on, the more SAG you get, which means the stand issue get WORSE. I would have never cut my stand ... because once you sort suspension it's likely to be ... TOO SHORT!

So, heavier spring, better shock ... makes all the difference. Here is my Shock, an Ohlins:

Hi Mollydog

I've been enjoying four days coddling myself for the effects of travellers tum in a great little hostel in Istanbul, a happy place of refuge for waifs and strays, searchers, asylum seekers, and travellers of all kinds.

As for my DR. It came from Bridge Moto in Reading, a dealership which specialises in importing or acquiring anything special. The content of their small showroom is astonishing. From time to time the guy who owns it (Spencer I think his name is) imports a batch of new DR650s from America, gets them 'naturalised' and sells them. I was lucky enough to pick up the last of a bunch of six.

A resume of the trip so far, I can do, if you think it would be of interest. Watch this space.

I take your point about cutting down the side stand, but frankly it was too long even when the bike was unloaded. The DR was in danger of falling over when parked on the road outside my house which has very moderate camber and where I have stood all my other bikes without concern for years. I've clicked up the preload. I can't get to the spring though, to wind it up with a normal C spanner. I understand Suzuki dealers have a special tool for it - though not the dealers I approached here in the UK. I'm heading down the Turkish Med. coast to stay with some friends near Fethiye. They tell me there is a very good bike mechanic there, so I will probably get him to look at Felix while I'm staying over.

Thanks for the heads up about the juddering. I'll check that out when I have time - I'm not sure, though, whether to be relived or worried. :-) I'm finding it hard to get the time and the opportunity to access the web right at the moment. Apart from all the wi-fi and charging issues, it seems like my laptop is packing in slowly. Heigh Ho!

Not really a special tool for adjusting preload. Rather basic and crude operation in fact.

1. Raise bike UP so rear wheel is OFF ground. (This is a Must Do)
2. spray threaded upper area of shock with WD40 (or similar)

3. There are two rings on your shock (yes ... hard to get to) The top one is the "lock ring". Back off lock ring (IE unscrew UP and out of the way)

4. The lower ring is sat on the spring, that is the one you must shift in clockwise direction (tighten) to increase preload.

5. Best way to do it? I use a sturdy, 10" to 12" screw driver or pry bar of some kind. Using a hammer, gently tap the slots on the ring to move the ring around. This takes a while, don't get impatient and DON'T bash the threads on the shock! Takes about 20 minutes of hammering.

There are a few special tools for this but they usually don't work. So I just tap the ring round about 10 full revolutions. Should make a difference, but how much preload you add depends on your weight and luggage weight.

Check Sag before & after to gauge how much you've raised the bike UP.

Doing this will help the bike carrying a load but the standard shock is NOT GREAT .. it lacks rebound damping and you may not notice much difference other than the bike sitting a bit higher when parked.

Stock Suspension is really set up to handle a 150 lb. rider and perhaps 50 lb. of gear max. Above that and the bike may not be great riding off road or if pushed riding on road, may wallow. Off road, shock may bottom.

There are REAMS of feed back on suspension on the DR forum and every scenario ever imagined is explored. Here is a clever way to make your stand into an adjustable one. Any mechanic can do this:

Hi mollydog. I understand from Suzuki that dealers do have a special tool for getting at the pre-load on the spring, so that it can be turned simply - but clearly not in the UK. I tried a couple of dealers in my area just before I left. (I had my panniers hand made and they arrived only 36 hours before I was due to leave. That didn't give me any time to pursue the matter once the bike was loaded up and I could see what was needed. I did think about doing something like you suggest but shied away from it, not sure whether bashing it from one side would be a good idea. If that's a common way of dealing with the issue, I'll go for it. I'm staying with friends in Turkey in a couple of days, so will have the opportunity to do it then. The standard suspension on the roads here is fine even under load, but I will need to do something about it before I hit the Caucasus where roads are a little less road-like.

I like your suggestion for the adjustable side stand, too. I'll give it some thought. I have a plain dowel in it at the moment to give it some strength. When I had it cut down, the dealer put an extra foot on it to act like a puck. the problem with this is that when the bike is parked on the upslope it effectively lengthens the stand. I told them the problem and they adjusted it, but the result was to make matters worse. The foot now rests at an angle. Once again, I didn't have time to do anything about it before setting off. I've just adapted to the situation. One way or another I will have to get it fixed soon. It is getting to be annoying.

Thanks for your help.

Oh, they have it, or something close, but it may not be ideal or easy to do. Access is the thing.
Hard to get to that adjuster ring!

It's VERY COMMON ... in fact pretty much standard procedure unless you have a custom made tool. Standard "ring spanner" tools may not be ideal. But if you have one, try it. I think you'll be back to bashing soon! Make SURE you elevate rear wheel ... makes it MUCH easier to move ring ... and OIL IT.

Keep in mind that adding Pre-load to your shock spring is only a Band-Aid solution ... what you really need is a stiffer spring. (probably 15% to 20% stiffer) Standard DR spring rates are VERY VERY soft. Both ends need up grading for loaded up travel.

But adding pre-load will help a bit, should help with bottoming out and keep the bike riding more in the middle of shock travel. Ideally, you should ride in the upper 1/3 of suspension travel.
I'm guessing you are now riding in the bottom half.(not great)

Pre load increase should raise up rear end a bit, give a more positive feel, better steering. The DR will track better and be better in Ruts with a raised up rear end. Ruts will KILL YOU. (Cross Rutted)

The Side Stand should be easily modified by any good welder. SHOW HIM the problem you're having ... stay there at the shop and GUIDE HIM, do NOT go for Coffee, make sure he does it right.

WARNING: Do not let the side stand foot hit the swingarm when in UP position! Danger! It will CUT through the Aluminum and ruin the swing arm.
That could end your trip! So leave clearance there!

Have Fun! Ride Safe!