Hi everyone, I'm a new owner of a 2007 DR650 and have logged just over 1000miles on it. Next summer I'm heading South to Argentina. I took the advice of many others in the Suzuki thread and contacted Jesse at Kientech and am expecting new springs, a fuel/air screw, along with a dynojet kit. (just a bit of a plug for Jesse- he was by far the most pleasant and knowledgeable person I have ever done business with) Jesse recommended putting the dynojet 155 main in, along with drilling the carb, and opening the top of the box. I'm going to stick with the stock exhaust. I'd like to know what riders on this site, who have taken the trips that have brought them from sea level to 10,000+ feet have done? From what I've read elsewhere, the dynojet mods seem to lead to a nightmare of low mileage followed by endless jet and needle configuration changes. I'm content with how my stock DR650 runs at sea level. (sometimes ignorance is a good thing) Could the altitude changes be managed and the performance I get now maintained, by gradually opening up more and more of the air box and adjusting the fuel/air screw while leaving everything else stock? Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make the question as specific as I could at this time. I know jetting has been discussed countless times over, but what I've read seems to focus more on peak performance, rather than good performance over the widest range of elevations.

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www.Jeffs9thSemester.com

My DR is stock carb, intake and exhaust.

While obviously way down on power, the bike runs OK at 10k', but will bog at WOT. I'm able to pull Red Mtn Pass and Molas Pass (close to 11k) near Silverton, CO in 5th gear.
If you're going to spend much time at high altitudes, you could just remove the air box cover....3 screws.

Thanks for the input Lone Rider. It's reassuring to know that I can get by with leaving the stock jetting, and just open up the box at higher elevations. Patrick, thanks for all the detailed information. This is all new to me and you explained several things that I was unaware of. I'm going to make a couple jetting changes just to see how it works, and if for no other reason, simply to have a better understanding of the bike before I leave. Worst case scenario I can resort back to stock. If anyone else would like to add their experiences I'm all ears. Thanks again

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Hi
My partner and i travelled from Mexico to Alaska and then down to the bottom of Argentina, we travelled in the high Andes and the Rockys, Putting over 80000 miles onthe clock in 4 years.
She has a 1998 DR650 from the USA, and in all that time it never missed a beat or lost power even at 5500 mtrs. Leave it stock and keep the air filter clean and you should not have any problems.
I was so impressed by the way the bike went i borght myself a new 2007 DR last month. Skip

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Do the best you can with what you have,
A stranger in a strange land now heading North South East West to.....

As a follow up to the post that I started this thread with, two days ago I road up the highest motorable road in the world (Bolivia) to 19,060ft (5,809m) on my DR. The road goes even higher but the snow got in my way. I put the stock needle and main jet back in about a month ago when I knew I'd be at elevation for over a month. I still prefer the DJ 155 and DJ needle at 3rd notch from top, for lower elevations, but the stock jetting will get you to wherever you need to go.

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Did you think this would have the biggest effect of all at very high altitude.

19,000 !!!!!! Wow!

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

I could have moved the clip on the DJ needle, but I had to open the top of the carb up anyways. I know what the DJ needle does on the richer side, but I've never moved the clip down more: Go with what I know. In addition, I really just wanted to see what the bike could do stock. I've had a couple people contact me about how the DR is treating me on the trip, so I figured it would be good info for their prep.

I honestly don't know at what point the bike stopped idling because I didn't stop until 18,400, when I took the panniers off to lighten the bike up over a steep sandy stretch. It wasn't idling there, but to be honest, I didn't mess with the idle screw or air-fuel after 16,000. Above that, when going over the nasty loose rocks and stuff, it certainly didn't idle. I think I had the air-fuel out a half a turn. I had the airbox cover off and the top of my box is opened up as well. The exhaust note was almost humorous at that altitude, almost like there was no air coming out of it, which I guess there really wasn't. My own personal exhaust note was interesting as well, as I was huffing, puffing, and coughing.

I guess bottom-line is that the bike had next to no power. The road was pretty steep and rough so that didn't help things, but since that's the only road at that elevation, it's not really an issue. I'm sure it could have been finer tuned and performed better. But I guess the reality is, the stock jetting has treated me great since Ayacucho Peru, to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, where most of my riding has been between 11,000 and 15,000ft.

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www.Jeffs9thSemester.com

I've only had my bike to 14,000 ft.

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Jeff,

Just found your blog after Mollydog gave you a plug over on ADVrider. Been reading for a couple of hours now and enjoying it very much. And that "Stuck in the mud" video was funny as hell, I could so see the bike rolling back in the hole both times!

Anyway, cool to see another DR going far.

Stay safe and have a good trip,
Lukas

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