The story of my DRZ 'tard...

[Wobbly]

I guess someone has to kick this off, so pull up a chair if you're interested and hear a story of desire, passion, financial horror and obsession. No, its not a new episode of days of our drearies, but the story of how to build a motard, or at least my story anyway :)

So, as with many stories, the first question that might be pondered is ..... why? I had been thinking about a motard for quite a while - well over a year or two actually - but never had a real burning need to. I had my aprilia RSV, and that made an excellent road bike and did me well from weekend scratching through to bright and jindebine style scratching tours. However, about a year ago I moved house a bit far out from the CBD where I work and the commute was getting a bit of a drag. The change came when I got sick for a while and especially didn't like being crammed in a train for 40 minutes. So, I started commuting in on the bike. And then found out how much faster and enjoyable it was, and eventually became addicted to the morning run on the bike.

So, this now led to a bit of a quandry .... the RSV (or any sports bike for that matter) isn't the greatest thing for commuting on, and I was stacking on the k's. It seemed odd to be putting up with a bike and depreciating it for a purpose other than which it was built. So, I decided that a commuter was in order. The first thing I thought of was a nice, sensible commuter bike, like a GS500, an old XJ or even a suzuki katana 650 shafty. That lasted about a day. So then I shortened it down to either a streetfighter, a 600 track bike that I could strip the fairing off or a motard. A streetfighter seemed like a good idea, but something a bit more manuverable in traffic would be nice. The 600 idea didn't last long as it was really just a way of rationalizing getting a new track bike, so the motard came to the fore as the most suitable option .... as well as finally justifying the urge that I had been fighting for quite some time!

So the next question I came to ponder was - which bike? Initially I looked at some of the more exotic machinery, such as the Husqvarna TE610, Berg 650 and a few KTMs. However, the running costs, parts availability and some reliability concerns soon made me look elsewhere. I briefly considered some of the more focussed japanese machinery, really the WR range (400/426/450) but ended up shying away from them because their state of tune and enduro focus meant very high servicing requirements. Given its road focus I wanted something with electric start, but I also wanted something that would be adept on the dirt, and which I relative dirt novice like myself would find easy to ride.

So the final three came down to the Kawasaki KLX650C, Honda XR650R or Suzuki DRZ400E. First to go was the Hodna - relatively expensive to buy, heavy and kickstart only. Next was the KLX - this was the favourite at one point, but after seeing what was on offer for the price and feeling the heft of one I started to think toward the DRZ. I got a ride on the DRZ and found it to be exceptionally easy to ride and had all the prerequisites that I want. Electric start, lower rego cost, light weight, good promise in the dirt, relatively low service intervals (thanks to nearly twice the sump size of the WRs) and a good supply of aftermarket parts. I found a good quality one with some included extras (graphics, valving, bash plate, renthals, etc) and talked the seller down to $5900 including RWC but plus on-roads. Sold.

Next, the fun of converting it from a knobby shod off-road tool into a pavement scorching road rocket. Well, sort of anyway...

[Wobbly]

First thing I had to do was getting the bike re-registered for the road - easily enough done, just book in to VicRoads, show them the roadworthy cirtificate, let them inspect the bike to check VIN and engine numbers, pay them a pile of dosh and they hand over a rego label and numberplate. Bike back in the van, off back home and stick the plate on the horrible standard rear mud flap and we're done. Before really getting started on it I rode it in to work a few times and it confirmed for me that it was a much better commuting mount already.

First thing to change was the gearing. Off comes the 14t front sprocket and on goes a 15. The case saver gets a bit of a workout in the vice with an angle grinder, but that's as hard as it gets. I start looking at wheel options, as this will be the single most expensive part of the deal. Standard hubs are hard to find wrecked, so I look at buying some OEM ones as parts and building some wheels, but the part costs end up being close enough to getting some complete wheels from Talon (along with bling-bling billet hubs) that I decided to forego the hassle and just buy built wheels.

Talon wheels are built in Queensland using Talon billet hubs, stainless spokes and excel rims, and can be ordered through any Talon distributor. I ended up getting mine through TW-Performance (http://www.tw-performance.com.au), and can heartily recommend their customer focus. The wheels I got were black rims with stainless spokes and gold hubs. Very bling! 3.5" front and 4.25" rear rim widths are de-rigour for motards, and are also known to fit without modification on the DRZ.

I also ordered an EBC 320mm brake kit from where I bought the bike, which included the oversize disc with the standard DRZ sized carrier and an offset plate for the standard front caliper to mount to the oversized brake. I was a bit worried about the ability of the standard caliper, but if it didn't work out I could always have a custom offset made up for one of the 4 spot Tokico calipers I had in my garage.

I started looking for tyres in the sizes that matched the rims (120/70 front and 150/60 rear). The normal sports tyres are of course an option, although 250 sports tyres are probably the best bet as they are lighter than standard Pilot Sports, Dunlop 208s, etc. Another option are dedicated supermoto tyres, such as the Maxxis intermediate road tyres and Avon Distanzia supermotos, both of which are priced around $380-400 a set. In the end I found someone selling a bunch of used ex-250 production race tyres to fund his new venture into local superbike racing. This represented a good deal for both of us, as I took a few off his hands, and ended up with a mixture of 3 Pilot Sports (probably only 25% worn) as well as 3 Dunlop GPR70s, which were reasonably good except for being fairly worn on the left hand side thanks to some time at Phillip Island. But for $250 for the lot and my intended purpose, this represented a pretty damn good deal.

Now we are ready to cook...

[Wobbly]

The rims arrived looking stunning and were quickly fitted with a set of the Pilot Sports I had picked up. I fitted up the EBC oversized rotor and swapped over the rear disc from the offroad wheels on to the rear rim as well as the spare 47 tooth rear sprocket. With the smaller diameter rear wheel the gearing would be about the same as it was on the dirt rim with the 50 tooth sprocket. A bit low if you want to do anything much over 80kph, but would have to do for the moment. I also got myself a set of Bendix HH rated pads - I normally buy EBC myself but these came well recommended, so thought I'd give them a go.

I stuck the bike on the MX stand and whipped off the old wheels and stuck on the new ones. So far, so good. I reused the front wheel's left spacer to replace the speedo drive on the standard rim (as the standard hub's bearings are perfectly centered) and the front wheel slotted straight in. Similarly the rear slotted straight in as well. Talon ship their wheels with the appropriate spacers and they really are just a bolt-in affair. Brilliant.

The brakes, however, turned into a bit of an affair as with the oversized disc and wide rims you are left with very little space to mount the caliper. In the end I had to file down a bevel in the rear pad in order to be able to slip the caliper. The alternative to this would be un-bolting the disc or putting the pads in once the caliper was already mounted around the disc. Tyre pressures were checked and reduced to 28psi front and 30psi rear, around the same as you'd run on a 250 and much lighter than a big bore bike due to the low weight of the DRZ.

with the wheels sorted, the next thing I needed to do was mount my newly purchased trailtech speedo and odometer. The trailtech is much like a pushbike speedo on steroids, and truth be told you could get by with a pushy one for a considerably lower price than the $200 trailtech. But given the extra features and backlight I decided the trailtech was worth it. I ended up making up a bracket to raise the trailtech over the height of the bar pad and had to improvise a mount for the sensor, as the standard mount used the caliper in its stock position.

So now at least the bike was functional! Motard wheels on, can tell how fast I'm going and gearing unchanged. I went for a few laps of the block to ensure the brake pads seated themselves properly, as there was a lot of drag on them initially. After a couple of quick rides the wheel didn't drag unnecessarily and all was good. The brake itself is a real revelation compared to the dirt bike unit, which in itself I didn't think was bad at all for an off-road brake despite the small 250mm disc.

So the bike was together and working, so now I just needed to take care of the anciliaries and make it look like a motard...

[Wobbly]

So on to the more asthetic modifications necessary. First off the bat was a trick looking Acerbis motard front mud guard. The kit comes with a sticker with a grid on it and some measurements needed to drill it out for different bikes - a 30 minute job was all that was required to mount it up. Nice. The guard was coloured black and I got some matching black barkbuster guard covers to match. The graphics were black and yellow and I figured that a plain black front would look good in combiantion with this, and I happended to already have a plain black UFO enduro screen from when I was considering turning one of my KR-1S's into an alternative streetfighter (except that it got sold to partly fund the motard!).

I replaced the standard headlight and cover with the UFO one fairly easily - the only problem being that the upper triple clamp had to be removed in order to remove the old headlight mount without destroying it. The headlight had been bought second hand so I had to cut and re-crimp new connectors on to it so that it could plug into the standard headlight connector. The light is only an on-off affair (no separate high/low beam) so I wired it up so that it would be on when high beam is triggered. The unit then just strapped itself to the fork legs and seems to be a good mount.

The standard rear mud flap is also an example of horror - large, bulky and ugly. So I pulled this off and mounted a cemoto rear guard. Mounting this was a bit more difficult as it didn't really match up to the subframe, so I ended up recessing it under the guard and mounting the standard indicator elsewhere (although these bulky things will be up for replacement soon as well). The brake light has the moulding to shine down on the number plate, but it isn't clear so it just reflects a pale red light on it. This coupled with the amount its recessed means that it is probably of dubious legality, but we'll see how we go. If I need to move it I'll just need to hack it up a bit to mount over the top of the subframe instead, and maybe cut the bottom of the light cover off and replace with a bit of clear perspex. But until I'm told otherwise......

http://members.iinet.net.au/~nmilne/files/drz_motard_rf.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~nmilne/files/drz_motard_lr.jpg

A few more little things still need to be taken care of, but the bike is well and truely a motard now. I've got a manual cam chain tensioner that I'll fit up soon as well as a stainless countershaft sprocket bush that I'll stick on next time I change the front sprocket or when I get any oil weapage (this is one of very few problems with the DRZ). I've also ordered a 41 tooth rear sprocket to make the bike rideable on the highway and bought a braided front line which I'll stick on soon. I'll no doubt do this when my new springs arrive - I've ordered heavier front and rear springs to account for my, err, bulk as well as its more road oriented focus. The jetting needs looking at as well as it seems to have a constant RPM stumble, normally a sign of lean jetting, so the slide might need some attention or the needle clip revised.

I also need to shorten the side stand slightly, as the smaller motard rims have lowered the seat height but also made the bike stand very upright on the stock stand. That's one embarassing tip over that I could definately do without!!

[Wobbly]

So, what's it like to ride? Very different, and very fun. First thing is that there's a lot of weight on the rear, so cornering feels a bit strange to begin with. I've got a heavier shock spring on order that should help that, but I'm thinking whether a shorter set of linkage arms might be the go to raise the rear end a bit. The whole bike was lowered from the new wheels, the front end more than the rear, but it still feels like it would like some more weight on the front. Part of this is riding technique as well, as I need to move my weight up the sloped seat and into the tank more. Of course riding around in a Melbourne winter is not going to tell you the full story on handling, so I'll fit the rear spring and wait for some more sprited riding opportunities before deciding for sure.

But for a riding around town, playing about tool its certainly a fun thing. It carves the traffic up with aplomb and makes the morning commute a much easier thing. It's also good fun because you can come out of a corner and screw the throttle on, make a bunch of noise, get a good sensation of acceleration but not end up doing go-to-gaol speeds in suburbia. Once the new back sprocket is on I'll see what its like on the open road, but I can't see it being a real drama. One thing I did notice that although the supermoto front mud guards look great, they don't do much in the way of guarding from mud, or wet weather road grime for that matter! Winter riding might be worth going back to the Acerbis front guard it had on before, except for my vanity!

The only problem with all this motard stuff, though, is that it leads to more purchases. For example I've just put down a deposit on a full yoshi stainless exhaust for it to replace the stock (albeit gutted) exhaust. And I'm not sure where it will stop, as the engine is fairly stock except for an opened up airbox, but there are also good cam and overbore options available. The 436cc kit sounds especially nice, as it has a real impact from all reports by unshrouding the valves, similar to what Kawasaki have done on the 36cc overbore on the ZX6R.

I'm glad I finally got around to doing this, and am looking forward to a lot of fun riding this thing, especially once the weather improves. My only concern is that it has quickly turned from an affordable but fun commuter into something that one day might get its own bank balance. And I think that might only get worse when I manage to get a shot on a motard track day.

But I guess we all need our obsessions, right......?

[Wobbly]

Well, since the initial build the drz has been well ridden and further enhanced! I went 0.48kg fork springs on the front and a 5.5kg shock spring. I got myself a cheap 17 litre long range tank from NSW in black and have put some more black plastics on order to complete the look :wink:

The full yoshi system came and got stuck on when I did the springs, and made a definate improvement over the stock can, both in terms of power as well as taking a good chunk of weight off! The mirrors have been jettisoned and I've got some neat under-handlebar jobbies and the road gearing (15/41) is working out just fine :D

I've got to say, the more I ride this thing the more I like it 8) So much so that the road bike is going to be up for sale soon to make way for a cheap sports touring thing for long trips. I did a trip down the great ocean road just recently on the drz and, apart from the long straight stretches, the drz did just fine...

So at least one of my predictions has come true ... I've stopped collecting receipts and counting the dollars spent, but I am eyeing up hotcams and a big bore as the next most likely subtractions from the bank balance :lol:

[dicky]

talk about doing things the hard way...

Kids, don't fall for the DIY trap.
Just get $12k, go to the shop and buy a KTM 640LC4SM.
You won't regret it.

Go on, you know you want to...

dicky.

[Wobbly]

yeah, but if you do it diy you can convince yourself that it won't cost much and fool yourself with smaller ongoing bills! :lol:

[Flash]

Ever considered a turbo!!
I'm obbsessed I know, but have you.

[Wobbly]

Hmm, standard c/r is 12 point something to 1, so to stop it separating the head from the block you'd need to drop it to what, around 7 or 8? Could make things entertaining when it goes from BSA mode to full boost! :lol:

But if you build one I wanna ride! :D

[Flash]

No probs. I imagine when It all happens I'll have a few people knocking on the door.
Ash

[Flash]

Hey Neil
You know that you can get a 470 kit for your bike!!!. http://www.thumper-racing.net/cgi-bin/EZBulletin/bbtopic.cgi?SUID=X362143&&topic=DRZ_470_&&category=0
Now that's the shit :shoot:

[Wobbly]

Hmm, must be the kit with the replacement cylinder, as the std one can only bore out to about 440cc without affecting the integrity of the water jackets.

I can also get a 450 stroker kit from yoshi, so if I got that in combination with the big bore it could theoretically go anywhere from 480cc up to 520cc ... but I'm just not sure how long it'd hold together, plus the yoshi kit is $$$$$$ :shock:

[Wobbly]

Actually, just found out it runs an iron liner instead of an aluminium sleeve :down:

Blown head gasket, here we come......

Hotcams inlet and exhaust, 436 kit and drill the fecker out of the airbox sounds like a good idea :up:

[Flash]

caast iron liner will have more integrity. It would be more reliable than hot cams.The motor wouldn't be any more stressed just bigger.

[Wobbly]

Cast iron liner expands at a different rate to the aluminium barrel. The cast iron lined big bore kits have shown a tendency to have problems ... the other problem is that with a 97mm bore that the integrity of the water jacket is in question and head gaskets tend to go because of the lack of mating face material to the head.

There was a mob that did a totally new barrel and head that I can't think of the name of .... made for the LTZ quad but fits straight on the DRZ. That could be a go 8) The 436 sounds like the most reliable without going the stroker route though.

I priced up some hotcams through the AU dealer recently ... $338 each ... YIKES :shock: And you can get them off ebay for $115 US plus $20 shipping......... :-k

[dicky]

why not just buy a new LC4 SM and be done with it.

go on, you know you want to ;)

dicky.

[Wobbly]

Now where would be the fun in that? :lol:

"getting there is half the fun" ;)

Plus, I'm sure one day I'll wander out to the bike to find that Ash has managed to wedge a turbo on to it somewhere :D

[Flash]

Just let me know when you go on your next holiday!!

[Muzzard]

At least the cast liner will give some longevity if there are piston sizes to match. I trust that it is not plated. Almost like going 'old school' engines.

[Wobbly]

Give me a straight re-bore and a new nikasil lining meself :up:

Just a pity of the cost of getting replating done over here. I got one of my KR-1 barrels re-plated a while back and it cost me $400. :shock: Go to the UK and they get done at 80 quid a pop......... :x

[Flash]

I'm with Muzz if they garranty there work your laughing. My Imp has cast iron liners inside alloy and it's on problem even bored to the limit with putting 15 psi boost!!

[Sibbo]

Im sort of with Dicky.

Go a new bike, two stroke of course!!hmmm...let me think...roag reg...500cc....light weight (less than the drz)....two stroke....honda CR500E 02-03. Easy!!! Then you can go top end porting/pipe, reads etc and hang on!!!

And then finally, give me a ride!!!! :D

[Flash]

I like the way you think!!!!

Long live the oil burners :D

[Wobbly]

KX is supposed to be a better motor thought, innit? The guy running around south morang on a CR seemed to have all sorts of wheelstanding problems :shock:

[Trubritbiker]

I like the way you think!!!!

Long live the oil burners :D

Yes, what else would we use to power our lawn mowers :lol:

[dicky]

Was he more well built than you?
Maybe he was just showing off.

dicky.

KX is supposed to be a better motor thought, innit? The guy running around south morang on a CR seemed to have all sorts of wheelstanding problems

[Wobbly]

No, he was just a scrap of a fella, obviously not sporting the fine racing shape that I do, perfect for weighting the front end! :rofl:

Not sure he was showing off, if the foot paddling and wobbling were anything to go by ;) :lol: Although I must admit very impressive wheelies down the back straight :up:

[Wobbly]

Mmmm, guess what landed on my doorstep this week..... :D

http://vsmr.net/files/drz_hotcams.jpg

:la:

[Flash]

Neil you wouldn't be able to give costings on some of those parts would you? (for the drz mate)
FMF pipe, cams, wheels, and the disc. He doesn't want to go the boomba of a petrol tank, he wants to keep it small and light! besides as he said hes only going to have to wait for me to fill my 7.7litre tank every stop :D

[Wobbly]

Any full pipe for the drz will be around the $900-1000 mark ... you can get a slip on for cheaper (~ $500) but you don't get any power increase over a derestricted stock pipe. Not sure about the FMF specifically but both the yoshi as well as the pro circuit were both about the same price. They're the 2 pipes that have the best rep on the DRZ for power as they use a right-sized tapered header. The muzzy does as well, but isn't available over here.

The cams cost $338 each locally, or you can buy them off ebay for about $120 USD each, plus $20-30 shipping (which is what I did). The cams are the same as the LTZ/KFX quads, so you can get them from US ATV stores as well (exactly the same hotcams part numbers). Mine cost me approx $360 landed in aus, in local currency...

Wheels will cost you about 2 grand for built wheels from the importer, or you can buy the bits yourself and build them. The rims are 360 front, 430 rear, the spoke kits are about $150 per end (I think). Not sure about the hubs, but its probably not worth buying new OEM hubs as by the time you add in all the seal kits and bearings etc they work out almost as much as the talon hubs that come with all the fittings. Remember to add in the cost of tyres on to the wheels as well.

Finally, the disc kit cost me $500 for the disc and the offset mount, but you can probably find cheaper if you shop around?

I'm waiting now for our new sponsors to chime in and tell us how much cheaper they can do a deal on these sort of parts for VSMR members 8)

[Flash]

I some how thought that you had a fmf pipe :shock:
Do you have any Idea what talon hubs are worth? Trying to decide weather I should go with a factory one I can get second hand or a Talon, the factory one is going to cost around $150 :? I was hopeing I'd get it for $100 In that case I would have got it the day I found out about it. I may get an alloy wheel for the back to start with just so I can race sooner rather than later. :D

[Wobbly]

Not cheap, they'd be around $300 each or similar. They're about the same as if you buy all the OEM stuff brand new, if you can get hubs second hand that'd be the way to go.

Allow wheel is an option, but does require some machining to fit ... you can either spend a whole bunch of time getting the cush to fit or make up a solid adapter, but its still generally a fair bit of work :(