Have a question!
Im thinking to get rid of my tiger 900rp and go for the dr650se.
Gonna be my daily commuter as well as my bike for long trips in first hand here in europe and nearby countries. Gonna stay with me for a long time is the purpouse.

Have found one 2003 that im intressed in. But its very upgraded whit the procycle big bore 790kit and everything that comes around with that, new carburator mikuni tm40, bigger valve seats, Nova 3 gear, new rear yss suspension, new progressive in the front, new outgoing axel, gsxr 1000 muffler, cylinder planned out, and it almost no continuing whit uppgradera. Sorry bad english but you guys know heat i talking about. About everything i can read about that you can do with this bike is done.I know nothing about if this is god in the long rund.

Now the question!! Owning a bike like that with all these mods on can it be hard when i go for long trips and something happens? Thinking of getting spearparts and so on?
Is it risky?

Best regards/ Niclas

Yeah, any extensive mods to the motor can both reduce reliability and leave you stuck for getting replacement parts since overbore kits often use a mix of off the shelf and custom bits. Also, a heavily modded bike like that may well result in an unbalanced overall package which is unpleasant to ride due to vibration or suspension being tuned for hard off road making it wobbly on the road.

If you watch the videos of Itchyboots' "new" bike the mods they made were to improve reliability, not to add power, and they mostly used proven production parts. That's the result of an experienced expert doing the work rather than someone in their garage just going and putting on the biggest of everything.

The DR650 is a proven pack mule when stock (like most of the old Japanese larger dual-sports), it's worth finding one that's stock (or near stock, maybe with luggage racks and a bigger tank) and that has not been thrashed.

In other news, as time goes on the chances are older high-emissions bikes won't be able to go into many European cities. You can't ride a DR650 all the way through Barcelona for instance. That might not affect you, but it's worth being aware.

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FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

Thank’s for answer ????
Well i’ve been thinking a lot about just what you saying.
Checked various pages about this upgrade with Procycle bigbore 790kit.
Still can’t find any that says it’s a bad ting, just good things. Procycle them selves have done very many test on bikes whit this upgrade. Many miles on them over severel years and can’t find any damage what so ever.

This bike i thinking about have the Procycle kit,cylinder sised by professional workshop, valve seats made by another workshop and so on. Himself have just put everything together and after seeing all pictures he sent i belive he is a well skilled mecanic. Every little detail he have documented whit photo.

The rest of the thing he done on the bike are upgrades i probably would have done anyway. Progresive spring in front, new rear suspension, lowered footpegs, clutch, clutchcable, rear disc, brakepads, bearings, all buschings new.
And a hell of a lot more.

I’m not up for the efect actually, more for realiability. But yes, an upgrade of engine from stock might be a risk. Thinking little like this…… if i want to i can always chance back to stock cylinder, piston, valves and get it original again. Whit so much spare part’s that shouldent be any major problem?

The bike i so well gone throe so it’s almost like from factory.
Here in Sweden there’s almost impossible to find any newer then -96. So getting hands on a -03 is very hard. 2004 was the last year they toked them in to Sweden.

I loked at Itchy boots in between, specially this last season just because she drives an old bike. They have done a very big job on that bike, but…… even so they put many different parts togheter whit different year modells and also used old already used parts, i can find that risky as well.

They also have many god ideas whit ex elctrical system and so on that absolutly can be applayed on other old bikes????

Well i have the winter on my side to thinking this over and search for more answers????

Thank’s very mutch for your response and toughts ????

Sorry for all ??? They were suposed to be smileys.

Well, go and take it for a test ride if you've convinced yourself - if it's been well done then buying it and then returning the engine to a normal cylinder and piston is an option, like you say (along with reverting the carb and anything else engine related).

The other thing which pops into my head now would be to consider fuel consumption / range for where you plan on going.

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FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

Who did the work?
The guy that did Itchy Boots Yam is one of the top Tenere machanics in Europe.
People like that can command huge prices but their rebuilds are top notch.

Personally I prefer to keep my bikes stock - except maybe suspension and exhaust (for weight saving not performance).

If I wanted a DR650 with more power, I’d buy a KTM.

If you do buy it, I hope it serves you well

Ive had 3 DR650 :1. 70,000 miles, 2. 55,000 miles, 3. currently at 23,000 miles. All 3 ran well for all those miles, used no oil and were exceptionally reliable with ordinary services as called for by Suzuki. With stock motor and carb I think it's a great choice for a travel bike.

( All that follows here is just my opinion, of course.)

I've been participating on the DR650 thread at ADVrider for 15 years or so, and this is what I've observed. The more a rider changes on the bike, the more likely they are to come back to the group and ask for help- especially with the carburetion and the motor.

I would not buy that bike. Who knows how well it was rebuilt, whether the guy really knew what he was doing. Some rebuilds go forever and some blow up right away- but some fool you and go several thousand miles before falling apart. Not what I want to be thinking about on a long trip.

Also, I wonder if you can even register the DR650 where you live? I'm sure they stopped selling them in Europe because they didn't meet inspection standards.

Really great bike, though.....



.............shu