hi yall....

Bought my first dr 2 weeks ago, a 92 650 kicker w 20k miles for 1500usd.

Loved the bike all around, good size for me (5.10" 140lbs), easy to kick, etc. Well, the crackheads in my neighborhood liked it too, so they stole it. Good luck trying to figure out the start technique high on crack!! serves em right.

Soooo...i found another on flea-bay, a 93, with 2400 miles, owned by a fireman in the country that rarely drove it more than a mile at a time. A perfect score at 1000usd.

BUT.....i found out at the last second, it is electric start. Never occured to me to ask him, as i thought all were kickers at this age.

I searched alot of posts and find little info positive regarding these early e starters...Is this correct?

I will be leaving here Nov1 for 4 months to S america. Mainly to follow the Dakar, but leaving plenty of time for other things. I dont wanna drive a turd, and I want to minimize my investment.

Basically, I want to know should I sell this one, and buy another early kicker model?

BTW, I am driving this one home 1700 miles on Tuesday. The gentleman was kind enough to meet me @ the airport w my bike fueled up and ready to go. Let the adventure start, at least!

Look forward to meeting some of you and talking here!!
EZ

G'day EZ from a Romanian-ising Australian.

I'm about to fork out about US2800/Euro1600 in Romania (lower end of the going rate) for the same bike and have the same question regarding kickstarters. I'm also looking to suss out fitting a kickstart if possible.

Just watching with interest...

Thanks,
Oscar

hi oscar....

glad to hear theres a few odddballs like us out there!!

I leave here in the morning for my 1700m test run....i will post developments day to day for the next four days.
and a few pix!

l8r

holy shit do peoples ideas of "mint" vary....
yes, it prolly was only ridden to the mailbox for the last 10 years, only a mile each way.
yes, it is all "original"

but DUDE this does NOT a mint make...lesse here...yall be the judge...

ok...guy meets me a the airport as promised, with 11 year old son. maybe i should have told them i was the guy with blue hair and a lot of piercings in my neck, but hey im a biker, right? i only say this cause it was obvious from the look this was the first thing he noticed...

the first thing i noticed was one rusty ass swingarm, that upon inspection has been eaten from the batt overflow hose pissing allover it for years. this had also eaten the rear pad material and left the plates looking worse that you can imagine. more on that later....

where to start....i hop on, ride it 15 feet, return and say to him either, a, the forks are tweaked, b, the rim bent, or c, the tires low inflation. oh, and are the bars bent on the right side?!?

he says, yeah, id definitly say those bars are bent. but i checked the tires like you asked in the email.

me: how many pounds?
him: (totally serious) well...i pushed on em and they felt hard. i didnt know you wanted me to use a gauge. they got em up there at the gas station on the hose.

i brought my ktm one, thanks.

this raises another point...on sunday night i sent a long email, with bullet points, basically asking the conditon of each item, not to bitch and haggle, but to bring the spares with me or have whatever ordered and sent to my local Cycle Gear store.

His reply: hi eric, i checked everything you asked about, and it all looks fine. I made sure to look close too becuase i am really worried about you on this trip. you're kinda scaring me.

uh, ok.

where was i? oh...lets start at the front. 1mm of pad on front. OEM original 93 model deathwing tire, 2 12 inch section of split along sidewall, no tread but on sides, id say worse than poor. mind you he knows i am going 1700 miles. now i see why he was scared.

i mention bent bars, no headlight (not fuse, bulb looks good, wires all good, but bought new bulb to try that in the morning) a dodgy key, bent outta shape, so used it barely has teeth and takes a good 5 minutes to turn in the barrel. Lube did NOT help, maybe a lil worse no. Key cannot operate tank, ony 1, and is a homda blank. all fasteners are mismatched mostly with american size stuff. ! seat bolt, above type. original roller chain and gears. swingarm, shock spring, and mucho mas rusted and oxidized from battery acid. rear metzler totally bald, dry rotted split. rear pad material non existent. the tech that put the tires on was amazed. the rear disc is etched and warped from metal2metal wear. no mirrors, no rear signals. and i am sure judging by its tea like viscosity, original oil and filter. nipples on side covers for mount, gone...?!?

did i mention it was advertised as mint?!!?

it did have new battery, a supertrapp muff, kn filter, new grips that had no safety wire or glue, that spun free, and a full tank of mint gas. and he did fab a total cheez bracket to mount my fake plate.

he was too nice and innocent to punch in the face, so i paid the man, told him id had MUCH worse in the 3rd world that worked fine (ahem) and drove away. the air fixed the front end issue. the rest needed a shop.

well the only dealer in gettysburg closed weds, and i could only find D/S tires in Kenda Super Craptacular model, 70 bux for the set. It meant a 45 mile backtrack. I dunno why yet, but any lean angle beyond 15 degrees, wants to fall over and not come back right easily. possibly need more than 29PSI up front as they are rated at 40 cold. i looked a right dumbass almost falling over in the dealers lot trying to scrubb em in.

had i not been trying to beat a storm, i would have done the repairs at the shop...but it was coming bad and i managed another 350 miles with minor rain for 30.

one other funny thing...i guess i never noticed or the reserve doesnt work cause i thought i was having carb jet issues struggling up some hills to get here to my stop point in middle west virginia, but it turns out i was majorly outta gas. literal fumes...or the reserve doesnt work, if thats possible. even when i turned the valve it made no difference at all. none. it bucked and shook and sputtered and coughed for the last 10 miles like it was dying. but she made it. also realized the bike uses more fuel with smaller tires, duh. it turns higher revs @ speed. i smart.

i love her a lot. the bike is cool as cukes, as far as im concerned. the maint is no big deal, as it was expected. super comfy for long hauls. easy to drive. although the rotted tires handle tonnes better.:confused1: i cant wait to put 10 more PSI in, or possibly replace them right away if that dont help.

alll that said, this is a true testament so far as to a point ive always made. even though we can afford it in our lives, the lastest, geatest, and most modern isnt always the best or necessary. it is a marketing ploy from the manufactuers. all the right gear, stuff, technology, electro stuff, etc. latest greatest bike tech that most of us cant even fully appreciate cause david knight we aint.

dont get me wrong, i have my laptop and cell, but just saying remember el che and dr alberto with his trusty vintage norton ponderosa. much worse than anything most of us drive to S america today!!!!!!

repairs in the morning, more miles after that. the tech did say other than the obvious we saw, it appeared in mechanical order. uhhh, mint?

sorry i fergot my cable to attach for pix, so i will upload those later.

til morrow

There is quite an active DR650 forum on Yahoo! Groups. I suggest you search that and perhaps sign up.

Cheers,
Peter.

in Thailand with the SE.

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10