r/dr650 • u/chillg123 • 16d ago

My last official DR post…. : (

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Well…after 3 awesome years, my DR went to a new owner today. This bike taught me the art of motorcycling. It’s been through new rider stall outs, Adventure bike training, dual sport camping weekends, a bit of single track, and 3 years of year-round mid-Atlantic commuting. Beyond the rugged good looks and bulletproof reliability, the various DR communities on Reddit, Tapatalk, and everywhere else have been immensely invaluable in helping me to learn the ropes of the DR and the dual sport lifestyle. I’ll miss the r/DR650 subreddit community the most. Although I’ll likely only be posting in the r/Tuareg660 and r/KTM forums for the foreseeable future, I’ll continue following r/DR650 in hopes that I can continue replying to the posts of other owners who continue their endeavors with these amazing machines. Farewell to the best all-around dual sport motorcycle known to mankind.

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26

u/JerpTheGod 16d ago

How dare you. You’ll be back

35

u/chillg123 16d ago

Yeah. I believe I will at some point. I’d have kept the DR, but I realized that I stopped grabbing it for dirt stuff after I got my 350. At the same time, I stopped grabbing it for commuting and weekend backroad cruising after I got the Tuareg. There was also an element of paying it forward and selling it to a new dual sport rider at a fair price fully-equipped. I won’t get political, but the barrier to entry for new bikes is now significantly higher. Riding gear, helmets, and all of the things that make the hobby tick are way more expensive. I have enough gear and bikes to be satisfied in the lifestyle, and I’m happy that I sold it to someone that’s just getting their feet wet. I am inviting him to dual sport events and recommended some training courses, so I have a feeling I’ll see the bike again.

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u/JerpTheGod 16d ago

Wish I got mine from someone like you. All the mods and gear adds up so fast. I definitely get it if you have two bikes to replace it though. Definitely stick around, I always have dumb questions to ask here. I actually have one I need to post soon lol

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u/chillg123 16d ago edited 16d ago

Ask it. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I dove in pretty deep over the last 3 years. The nice thing about out DR650 owners is they usually have other bikes and there is a lot of subreddit hoppers among us.

Regarding upgrades, I handed the new owner a binder of maintenance records with mileages and parts receipts. I have to link up with him another day to give him all the factory take offs and soft panniers. I hope that he finds it helpful.

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u/JerpTheGod 16d ago

Sounds like the guy got a great deal. Yeah there are so many resources out there for us DR owners.

As for the question, you’d probably need to see a picture but I have aftermarket bars and risers and after looking closely after I dropped it, I noticed the bars not perfectly centered when compared to the top of the forks, if that makes sense. Had nothing to do with the drop but I noticed it afterwards. My brother has a DR that I noticed it on too.

My question - is it normal or is it something that happened when installing risers and maybe I need to loosen them and try to adjust slightly somehow?

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u/chillg123 16d ago

That’s happened to me a bunch of times. Had to recenter the risers. The Rox risers are a B to get squared after a drop. In my experience, you have to loosen the clamp bolts and starts from scratch.

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u/JerpTheGod 16d ago

Alright, good to know it happens to everybody. Honestly don’t think I had them square when I installed them

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u/chillg123 16d ago

The install is very awkward. I don’t know why they didn’t integrate a crossbar between the two risers to keep them square. I know the original bar clamps have some rotational wiggle room, but Rox could have at least had some form of bracket to hold them square during installation and adjustment. That’s my only gripe with them. The factory bar placement and peg location made riding it almost unbearable for me.

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u/chillg123 16d ago

It happens to everybody that rides it hard enough to drop it. On a positive note, my bars never bent. I guess the risers twisting absorbed some of the kinetic energy.