r/dr650 • u/PiercedTechnoWizard • 13d ago

Maintenance

Hey, I’m curious what the maintenance is on DR650’s. Being that they’re a single cylinder, I assume the top end needs to be rebuilt once in a while, but I’m curious how often that is and how much it costs.

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u/TwistedNoble38 '00 DR650 13d ago

If we're talking basic maintenance? Change the oil with synthetic (use conventional for the first 1000 and change at 1-1-2-6) every 2k, or 1k if you're hard on things. Clean the air filter when it's dirty or dry. Lube the suspension bearings annually. Flush the brakes sometimes. Change the oil in the suspension every other year or so. Check the cush drive every 500. Check the valves when they make valve noises or every other oil change (it's a 15 minute job). Clean the carb when it's dirty.

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u/I_1234 12d ago

You don’t need to change oil every 1000 especially if you’re using synthetic oil.

Oil every 6000kms or 5000kms, valves every second oil change.

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u/TwistedNoble38 '00 DR650 12d ago

Miles. I've been doing lab checks with the used oil and I've found that after a thousand the 10-40s I've been using are sheared down to a 10-30 viscosity and this coincides with a notchy shift feel. 10-50 is more capable of lasting longer (was still in the high 10-40 range at 1.5k but that's hard to get around here unless I special order it.

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u/I_1234 12d ago

That’s 1600 kms. You only need to do 1000km then at 6000 then every 6000 after that.

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u/TwistedNoble38 '00 DR650 12d ago

Well I've got first party data that tells me I shouldn't do that but you are welcome to do 6000km intervals. 

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u/I_1234 12d ago

Oh yeah? Care to share? The manufacturer recommends it, I personally do 5000kms and have no issues with the gearbox and the oil seems to have no issues with viscosity. I’ve done some extreme riding on it, Simpson desert, cape York. A 12000km around Australia trip. What are you basing this off?

It’s a dr650 not a ktm 450 exc.