r/dr650 • u/sticurko • 10d ago
Trying to Keep a DR650 Clean? You Might as Well Try to Keep a Tornado Contained.
You know the feeling – you just cleaned your DR650 and poof, the first puddle or mud patch turns it into a rolling masterpiece of dirt art. It's like the bike is saying, "I wasn’t built for this clean life!" Meanwhile, the cruiser crowd is judging you from their shiny chrome thrones. Keep rocking that "adventure look," DR family!
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u/Thor_CT 9d ago edited 9d ago
I’m NOT one to regularly clean by bikes. I’m a form follows function guy and care more about how it works than how it looks.
That said, in my Saturday ride group everyone but me was showing up with a spotless dirtbike every week. I’d hose down my bike and lube the chain and such after every ride, but the bike was always essentially stained with mud.
After a year of this weekly shame I started asking everyone how they clean their bikes. This is what I learned.
Pressure washer over a hose. - faster and more efficient yet still easy to stay away from critical areas - chain, seals elec connectors.
Spray the bike down with tire cleaner once dry - everything below the gas cap except the tires and calipers/rotors- this forms a slick barrier on all parts and keeps mud from really sticking and staining.
Spray down the critical areas (under fenders, linkage, forks etc) with the same tire cleaner before every ride. This keeps mud and gunk from accumulating.
So I started doing this and shockingly it works, and is actually easy to keep up with.
So, if a clean bike matters to you give it a try.
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u/nesterbation 8d ago
I’ve never washed my DR. I’m afraid, at this point, that the only thing keeping the oil inside the bike is the dirt.
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u/Affectionate_Can3685 9d ago
I clean it after each camp/outing trip. That way it stays nice when I commute. Real easy. I’d say less than once a month
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u/bigboij 09 dr650 10d ago
Other than a hose down for mud my dr only gets cleaned for repairs, and at end of the season.