The Virgin is no longer pure, she has been violated yet again. After my aborted Mexico ride (about 3000 miles) last Fall I've mostly been doing weekend rides out to the Desert or California Sierra mixed with street hooligan rides with the crazies that I call friends here in Northern California.
Most of these local rides are group rides that rarely stop, so very few pics.
Frenetic pace and sort of competitive atmosphere leaves no time for good pics until a gas stop or lunch. Roads rarely featured. But going alone in Baja on the DR I had lots of time to shoot.
![](http://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/photos/218293719_gYzww-L.jpg)
I've picked up a few more tips on the DR650 as time and miles roll by. I've found the oil level likes to be pretty much up to the top line on the sight glass. Motor is quieter, smoother, especially when super hot. Did I mention this motor does not use even a DROP of oil between changes? (I change it at about 3500 miles, new filter every other change)
Bike Cleaning!
Once again, taking the time to clean up the bike saves some possible trouble down the road. I pulled up the rubber accordion fork gaiters. I found quite a bit of dirt/sand/crud built up down around the seal. At some point I will probably go with Neoprene gaiters and lose the stock ones.
![](http://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/photos/284637135_Pnb4u-M.jpg)
I've gone with a new small GIVI right side only small rack. I only use to keep the new soft bags (Technic .... $60) off the pipe. Works MUCH better than my funky home made system shown earlier in this thread. While cleaning I did notice my left side piece of elec. conduit (another home made funky deal!
![Frown](https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/images/smilies/frown.gif)
) used as bag support had cracked and so had the mounting point on the DR. This will have to be redone. But it lasted up to almost 20,000 miles and plenty of rough dirt roads along the way, so not so bad really.
I've been into the air box and carb again and have found some good results.
i've cut the stock air box open according to the Jesse Kientz (Kientech) method, removed the backfire screen, installed the Dyno-Jet Needle and swapped to a 155 main jet from the 140 main I had in there. The new needle allows clip position adjustment, unlike the stock needle. It's on the fourth position.
The slide had already been drilled and a washer installed under the needle.
I'm running a Twin Air air filter.
The bike runs very well and shows great throttle response and great power lofting the front end even in 2nd gear. But after you shut off and go back on throttle there is just a bit of lag. I will look into this. Idles and starts fine.
But the key thing I was after was fuel economy. I did not want to give up good mileage or performance. With the "sort of" stock set up I previously had I was only getting around 42-44 mpg at sea level. Not good enough.
I rode the bike around some with the new set up but didn't really fine tune the few niggles it had. Instead I took off for a two week ride to Colorado via Nevada and Utah. Over all fuel economy was impressive going over 45 to as high as 47 to 50 mpg
![Thumbup1](https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/images/smilies/thumbup1.gif)
![Very Happy](https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/images/smilies/biggrin2.gif)
This at altitudes up to 5000 ft.
Higher than that and it began to drop off sharply giving maybe 42 to 45 mpg. Seems most all the roads I took were fairly high up, over 5000 ft. Colorado was of course stratospheric with many passes over 10,000 ft. But MPG never dropped below 40 mpg.
Any thoughts on this? Can I do even better?
![](http://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/photos/333595901_nXmnS-M.jpg)
I pulled the snorkel off on a dirt dual sport ride out of Silverton, CO and that helped some at the super high altitudes where the bike would barely run .... literally!
I probably should have changed the needle setting and gone leaner a notch or two for Colorado. But at a rally its not really something I felt like doing.
![](http://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/photos/333594480_pDuVP-M.jpg)
Imogene Pass
More later.....
Patrick