Hi folks! Countdown to my midlife crisis trip is now under way.
Two weeks and counting. I'm an Irish fella (41) who's flying into LAX on the 6th February, picking up my nicely farkeled 2009 DR650 and heading to Panama via Baja. I have a month for the trip and no set itinerary beyond start and end points/dates. I'll be doing a mix of camping, Airbnb, hostels and hotels and plan to ride as much off road as possible. I'm an experienced rider (20 yrs approx) and have toured extensively in Europe but this will be my first long trip. I know my limits so there'll be no heroics. The only rule I'm setting myself is to relax, ride miles and have fun.

I'm interested in a riding buddy/buddies for some or some more of the trip. Anyone interested then drop me a line.

Cheers!

Hi Keith.
I´m a portuguese rider, 50 yrs old, and I allready rode in South, central and north America in previous years, I have a total of 50 000 Kms in Americas riding an Honda Africa Twin
In 2016Feb08 I´ll leave San Francisco heading south, trough Baja, Mexico till Panama, on a month trip, wich i intend to finish around March06, so I`ll enter mexico mainland around Feb19/20. As I already visited Mexico on my 2015 trip, i intend to go fast to San Cristobal de las casas, and then to Coban in Guatemala.
I have a page on Facebook called " America Twin",https://www.facebook.com/America-Twi...570288/?ref=hl,
where I wrote about my trips on Americas, since 2012, and where you could see places and advices to your trip.
If you wish and your dates of trip are similar to yours perhaps we could meet at San Francisco or L.A and ride south together.
My email is paulosadio@gmail.com
Best regards
Paulo Sadio

PM sent.

Cheers.

Keith

Correction. Email sent.

Welcome Keith,
If you have any DR650 questions I may offer a few tips and tricks on the DR.
Be sure to check out the two good DR forums/threads:

www.DRRiders.com
the DR650 thread | Page 5981 | Adventure Rider

Good when on the road and need help, advice or tutorial.

Remember Pro Cycle is only one shipping day away from L.A. so any parts you need are easy/fast to get.

What spares are you taking? Tire changes? Flat repairs?

Good luck, you'll run into all sorts of riders in Baja, but most won't be going all the way to La Paz and even fewer will cross over to mainland Mexico.

Have a great trip, hope you can post pics and story here.

Hi Mollydog and thanks for your message.

It's funny but I had never considered a DR650 for this trip. The DR was never even on my radar and there's a story behind it.

A chance meeting last summer in a garage in West Cork in Ireland with Wheatwhacker led me to James Tucker in Claremont California who's a big DR fan and has done several builds for riders coming to the US to ride there and further afield.

So, Wheatwhacker and James Tucker essentially do the same thing. Wheatwhacker in Ireland and James in California and they provide a brilliant service. They take your brief for what bike you want, go shopping for said bike, check it out mechanically, negotiate the best price, buy the bike (with your money), farkle the bike to your specification, register the bike in your name and organize local insurance so all you need to do is fly in, jump on your bike and ride into the sunset and all this for an exceptionally reasonable fee. The real value is that they take all the hassle, risk and guesswork out of buying a bike abroad. The enthusiasm and the knowledge they impart is priceless.

I'm a KTM rider here and I had pictured myself riding a big bad KaTooM down through Baja, Mexico and CA but there were none jumping out off the pages of Craiglist or ADVrider at the time. James had a minty fresh '09 DR650 with tiny miles that was costing half my KaTooM budget. The rest of my budget was to bring the bike up to expedition readiness. So the deal was done and within a few days the bike was registered in my name and my inbox was filled with pictures of new DR650 farlkles. Here's what's being done in advance of my arrival:

New rear spring for my weight
Heavier front springs and new oil
Seat Concepts seat
Lower footpegs
Pelican top box
Acerbis 6.6 gallon tank
Fat bars
Bar risers
Heated grips
Bark busters
Bajaworx screen
High output stator
NSU removed
Tool tube packed with spaniards
Heavy duty tubes and spares
Mini compressor
Spotlights
Small indicators
250 tail light
FMF power bomb and mid pipe
Counter shaft seal install
Side stand switch mod
K&N filter
Oil and filter
Headlight shield
Magnetic sump plug drilled and wired
SW Motech bash plate


There must be more. My head is spinning. I've gone from never even considering a DR to jumping up and down like an excited schoolgirl at the prospect of getting on an expedition prepped one like the one waiting for me in James' garage. I'm pretty excited.

Tires. That's the only thing I can't decide on. I plan on doing as much off road as possible and I'm thinking Mitas but I'm open to suggestions.

I'm blown away by the enthusiasm of James and Martin (Wheatwhacker) and the help they're giving me for this trip. Anyone wanting their details please shoot me a PM.

Great stuff!
I know of Martin and his work while he lived here in San Fran. I'd love to get over to Ireland and buy one of his bikes some day. Good guy for sure.

I read Jame's thread on ADV Rider. I did not agree with some of his mods... plus he's a used care sales man ... which in this country has a very negative connotation.

But he's proved his worth, did well on DR's in S. America. IMO, they both traveled too heavy. I think he figured that out about 4 months in.

I like the list of mods on your bike ... save a few mistakes:
I would have left the NSU unit in place. Does James really understand what all the NSU does and how it interplays with the CDI unit? Can get complicated. But if all is well ... then

Most long time dirt riders are not K&N filter fans. K&N are junk. Ditch it, install a simple Twin-Air air filter. If you want to use a re-useable oil filter, go with a Scott's, not K&N.

How many "Spainards" did you manage to squeeze into your tool tube!

FMF power bomb is good ... ... but DO keep an eye on the FMF muffler. It WILL come apart. (well documented!) Be sure to remove and LOC TITE all the allen bolts on the muffler that you can get to ... so they never come out.

I assume you mean countershaft seal guard? (keeps it from coming out)
A good thing!

Sounds like a good start!

Hello Keith,
Just a few titbits....If you are riding down the east side. Good beach camping in san felipe...Pete's campo on the outskirts into san felipe. Worth a visit is Mike's sky Ranch. Camping at Alfonsina's but It's worth getting a room. Not always fuel at the Pemex at Alfonsina's so could be worth carrying a can...depends on your range. A at Coco's corner is always worth a stop....if the old bugger is still waking up in the morning !! Good free camp out near the ferry, La Paz.... Beach bar with food...small dunes and free camping to the right
..https://www.google.com.mx/maps/place...a22fb71b5d13ea

Oh and on the Ferry...the truck drivers dash for the seats and sleep on them on the overnight, worth doing the same or taking your sleeping pad with you.

Not teaching you to suck eggs but you know about not riding at night?

Have a great time.

Thanks for the info Baja Bits. Mike's and Coco's are both on my itinerary. Riding at night comes under my 'heroics' category of which there'll be none

Hi Molly, used car salesman notwithstanding , James is a top bloke and hugely enthusiastic about the Dr. White (that's what he named my DR) and the trip. I can overlook his being disreputable.

I deferred to James' experience on the NSU.

Have you personal preference regarding 50:50 tires for the DR? I like Mitas but hear conflicting reports.

You'd be surprised at how many Spaniards you'd get in a tool tube

Oh yeah, I forgot, blue loctite on everything boltable.

The good news is James claims to be expert in the workings of our California DMV. A very good thing for travelers!

A few things to pack:
Spare Pick-Up coil, aka Pulser coil. They can fail on the DR, but are fairly easy to replace. They attach to the stator. LOTS on the forums about this. A spare one is about $35.

Spare Pilot jet (stock size),
Spare fuel inlet tube filter (the tiny white one)

Switch over to a DDM tuning HID headlight kit. (cheap, easy, plug and play) Saves Watts, 3 times brighter than stock 55W H4 bulb. You don't plan to ride at night ... but you will, guaranteed.

Tires
We could on and on, lots of opinions. The Euro tires are tough, long lasting and expensive. I hear more good things about Mitas and Mefo than I do about Heidenau. You decide.

But here is the thing: None are very good off road. I think you said you wanted to do as much off road as possible, yes? In Baja (i've made about 15 trips there since the 80's) none of the Euro tires have the tread depth required to do well in deep Baja sand (or mud or anything very loose).
Best you can do is deflate them down to about 12 PSI and pray.

For Baja consider "real" knobby tires front & rear. Limited choice on the DR's 17" rear. Try Michelin T66. For the front I like the TKC80 because it lasts a LONG LONG time, works well on paved roads and works off road too!
Expensive but good IMO.


Rocky and steep Baja ... on the road to La Purisma, Scorpion Bay.

Dunes. Fun, with right tires.


Miles and miles of deep sand tracks. Knobby tires help. Front most important.

If you really want to get lost in Baja perhaps a TKC80 front, MT21 or T66. For the rear, T66 ... and pack a Mitas rear on the back. Put it on when the T66 wears out. (3 to 4K miles)

The Mitas rear will take you all the way to Colombia. Best place to buy new tires. (more selection, better prices)


This pic from Jammin Jay's 1st shortened trip. His FMF came apart, mine started to come apart too but I caught it early, Loc-tited bolts and SOLD IT OFF.

Good luck with prep!

Great information there, Molly. Thanks a million. much appreciated. Most of your suggested spares were on my extensive list. However, the pulser coil is new to me.

I'm banking on the standard headlight and spot lights in the unfortunate event of me riding at night.

I like the TKC80s too but I thought the mileage was poor. I travel very light and I'm light on the throttle too which might help keep wear down. Have you used a TKC80 on the rear? If so, what kind of mileage did you get?

That's not a good outcome for the muffler! Yikes! I wonder how a coating of gasket seal on the contact point between the end-cap and muffler body would work...

Visit either DR forum to learn details about Pick up coil. Or visit Pro Cycle Web site ... they sell the item you'll need. ($40)

You will ride at night from time to time. It just happens. Spots are good in corners and off road but use quite a bit of juice, not so great on straight road. Spots will likely be destroyed after a few falls. Cost?

The stock 55W headlight is useless. For $25 you get a stellar HID unit (but not so bright that everyone flashes you). Works well with standard lens, nice cut off. HID only draws 35W (3600 lumens). 55W version also available but 35W is all you need. So you save 20W ... which you will need for sure.

Tires
I would not use a TKC80 on the rear. (yes, used one years ago) I recommended the FRONT TKC. Excellent. You are correct, the rear TKC wears out fast on paved roads. (3 to 4K miles)

The TKC front is the good one, it will go 8,000 miles ... works great. A cheaper, and very good alternative front is the IRC TR-8. It's what I ran on my last Baja trip. At 4000 miles it still looks NEW! Does not handle quite as well as the TKC on paved roads, but better off road ... and cheaper price. Good tough tire. (made in Japan)

Rear tire is more of a problem. Hard to find off road performance AND long life. I think I talked about that before.

You travel light? Good! If going off road you'll need to.
All my luggage (soft) including bags, top duffel bag, racks, tools, 3 tubes ... about 45 lbs. total. Not bad. Staying light is a real challenge. I carry no camping gear, very little food.

If you can find your way you can follow old Baja 1000 tracks all the way to La Paz. I need a guide as can't remember entire route.

I ran a set of D606's all the way to Panama. Buzzy on the road, scary in the wet but, great off road.
The tkc's are a great all rounder giving excellent grip on the road even when they loose their "knobbiness".
I ran a few sets of Heidenau K60 Scout's on my KLR lately and, I have to say for a 50/50 tire, they did very well on and off road.
There is always a compromise with tires.
I think I have a copy of the baja-almanac somewhere in my stash. I'll bring it this weekend when I meet you, otherwise order it. It's the best thing you can have on you if you want to get the best from Baja.
Do you have a "SPOT" if not, get one.
I'll get you hooked up with Steve Soto also. He knows Baja better than anybody I know.
When you coming to see the beautiful town of Kinsale Molly?
Thanks for all the compliments Say hi to Suz for me.

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I'd love to get over there sometime. So trapped here for now. But it's all good.
One day.

cheers!