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BushPig Build

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Mr. Clortho

Mr. Clortho

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Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
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Location
Katy
First Name
Chris
Inmates,

Yet another DR650 build...sheesh. I didn't find another thread to latch onto so I figured why not. It also helps me keep track of what the heck I have done.

Quick background:
Rode light enduro and motocross in my youth and 20's (2 strokes, XRs), jumped a lot, crashed a lot, broke a lot
Street on an HD in my 30's, didn't crash, somehow lived daily commuting in west Houston for a few years
Dual sports in my 40s (CBX500, KTM EXC, CRF250s), only small crashes

I am back on my feet after a life thing and back on 2 wheels. I picked up a XR150L and a Navi for my wife so we could putter around town. That escalated quickly...sold the XR and Navi, picked up a DR650 for me an a Can Am Ryker 900 for her a couple weeks back.

Bike: 2024 Suzuki DR650...the pig had 1.8 miles on him...I almost cried

Goal: 60% dirt road/light trail. 30% paved country road, 10% interstate

Phase 1: Weight loss, tires, and ergonomics
Phase 2: Fuel tank, carb, exhaust
Phase 3...there is no phase 3, but maybe suspension if it becomes an issue down the road

BushPig1.jpg
 
Phase 1 started last weekend when boxes arrived from Pro Cycle. I also began the weight loss program. I weighed each part I took off and those I put on per category and took the differential.

Weight: 366 lbs - What I will be using as a basis but did not weigh the bike (estimated)
Current Weight: 345.625 lbs
Misc: -4.5625 lbs (rear pegs, bar end weights, chail roller, reflectors, etc)
Tires: +3.75 lbs
Seat: -0.1875 lbs
Exhaust: DG V2: -9.375 lbs
Phone Mount: 0.1875

Mods with a quick review of each
Tires: Shinko 804/805 big blocks - I chose these mainly because I ran them on my XR and liked them for a true dual sport tire. They seem to have good traction on the pavement, don't have the dirt bike vibrations, and perform adequate in the dirt. I am sure there are better tires that lean one way or another, but I have been happy with these for my use and they are cost effective

Seat: Seat Concepts Low - So that I could better touch the ground and the stock seat is like a 2x4. This seat is much more comfortable and grippy and drops a little over an inch.

Phone Mount: Quad Lock with vibration dampener - I am not impressed with the quality of this mount considering the price

Driveline: 14T front sprocket, Pro Cycle case saver. The stock gearing on the bike is far too tall with the 15T. It is much better now and how it should have been geared to start with. I would like it a bit lower so I might change the rear sprocket at some point. I haven't had it on the highway yet though.

Exhaust: DG V2 - This is exhaust is ridiculously loud, and I like to hear a bike. My Harley with straight pipes wasn't this loud. I rode it once and immediately ordered the quiet baffle insert. The quality seems good and the fitment was perfect.

BushPig3.jpg


BushPig2.jpg
 
Interesting thoughts on the gearing. I played around with it a little in mine. I had 14 and 15 tooth front sprockets and 42 and 43 tooth rears. 14/43 was nice in the trails, but as I mostly rode things that were legally roads, stock 15/42 suited me well. I'll definitely want to hear what you think with some miles on it.
 
Well you bought a DR that's shows you have good taste but doing all the mods in a 150 degree garage definitely adds another check on the man card. I break a sweat just thinking about working in the garage. :lol2:
 
BornAgain said:
Well you bought a DR that's shows you have good taste but doing all the mods in a 150 degree garage definitely adds another check on the man card. I break a sweat just thinking about working in the garage. :lol2:
Click to expand...

I hear you there. It sucks. It went like this:

Go into garage, dissemble, begin to sweat, tolerate for about 15 minutes, start to swear, go back inside to cool off and have a beer, go back into garage...repeat
 
In regards to the carb on the DR650, here's my experience (for what it's worth).

I bought a new 2022 DR last year. I could tell it was lean around 1/4 throttle range because it would surge when riding at steady throttle at around 35 mph. Aside from the surging (which was only an annoyance) the bike ran fine and I averaged about 52 mpg riding it on a mix of county roads, dirt roads, and a few highways in the Texas hill country.

Following the standard DR carb advice on ADV rider and elsewhere, I bought the Pro Cycle stock BST Carb jet kit and installed it. I did not open up the airbox (the bike was already too lean, I didn't want to make it even more lean) and did not drill the slide. I was also running the stock exhaust at the time. The jet kit eliminated the lean condition at 1/4 throttle while simultaneously making the bike too rich. It created an off-idle stumble I wasn't able to correct and fuel mileage dropped to about 40 mpg.

I was not satisfied with the situation so I searched some more and found this thread on ADVrider. After digesting it, I decided to follow motolab's advice. I went back to the stock main jet and installed the adjustable needle Suzuki makes/sells for the BST (purchased from motolab). That did the trick. The off-idle stumble disappeared, the surging problem did not re-appear, and fuel mileage went up to around 48 mpg.

I have since added an aftermarket exhaust in order to get a little more mid-range, to offset some of the weight I added to the bike, and to make it sound less like a sewing machine. I did not re-jet when I added the exhaust and haven't noticed any changes in fueling that would suggest a too lean or rich condition.

My guess is the stock bike is too lean on the needle and about right on the main jet. For my bike, following motolab's advice resulted in a noticeably better running bike compared to the stock carb or the Pro Cycle jet kit.

Good luck with your build. The DR is a fine platform for building a custom dual sport or lightweight adventure bike.

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Here's mine in the Texas hill country.

2023033109123399-2618516838600529539-M.jpg
 
Trail Boss said:
In regards to the carb on the DR650, here's my experience (for what it's worth).

I bought a new 2022 DR last year. I could tell it was lean around 1/4 throttle range because it would surge when riding at steady throttle at around 35 mph. Aside from the surging (which was only an annoyance) the bike ran fine and I averaged about 52 mpg riding it on a mix of county roads, dirt roads, and a few highways in the Texas hill country.

Following the standard DR carb advice on ADV rider and elsewhere, I bought the Pro Cycle stock BST Carb jet kit and installed it. I did not open up the airbox (the bike was already too lean, I didn't want to make it even more lean) and did not drill the slide. I was also running the stock exhaust at the time. The jet kit eliminated the lean condition at 1/4 throttle while simultaneously making the bike too rich. It created an off-idle stumble I wasn't able to correct and fuel mileage dropped to about 40 mpg.

I was not satisfied with the situation so I searched some more and found this thread on ADVrider. After digesting it, I decided to follow motolab's advice. I went back to the stock main jet and installed the adjustable needle Suzuki makes/sells for the BST (purchased from motolab). That did the trick. The off-idle stumble disappeared, the surging problem did not re-appear, and fuel mileage went up to around 48 mpg.

I have since added an aftermarket exhaust in order to get a little more mid-range, to offset some of the weight I added to the bike, and to make it sound less like a sewing machine. I did not re-jet when I added the exhaust and haven't noticed any changes in fueling that would suggest a too lean or rich condition.

My guess is the stock bike is too lean on the needle and about right on the main jet. For my bike, following motolab's advice resulted in a noticeably better running bike compared to the stock carb or the Pro Cycle jet kit.

Good luck with your build. The DR is a fine platform for building a custom dual sport or lightweight adventure bike.

View attachment 360545

View attachment 360546

Here's mine in the Texas hill country.

View attachment 360547
Click to expand...

The procycle jet kit is designed to with with an opened up air box, so stinking rich is what is expected if you installed it with a stock air box. Cut the box and it'll work properly.

Your assessment of the leanness on the needle when stock is correct, a little washer to shim it is usually enough to fix it. The overseas needle works too. The main jet is fine.

Overall, the stock air box is more restrictive than the stock exhaust. If you change the exhaust, but not the air box, the air box is still more restrictive. Hence why you didn't notice a need to change jetting.
 
Thanks William. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about tuning carbs and appreciate your comments.

I didn't realize the Pro Cycle kit required cutting the airbox. That would certainly have helped with the rich condition.

I would also note these comments from motolab (from the link above):

"The runs show that the 6F19 non-USA adjustable jet needle not only works, but works well with a modified airbox, and that increasing the slide lift hole area is a bad idea. They also demonstrate that modifying the airbox top increases cylinder filling enough to raise the NOx levels high enough for portions of WOT to present detonation risk, which I suspected might be the case before these tests were performed. I learned that a muffler such as the FMF with the quiet core removed would not flow well enough to reduce the increased detonation risk from the cut airbox back down to a safe zone."

"I think the FCR carburetor together with the cut airbox will be too much. The last DR650 I had on my dyno, with a BST40 carburetor, cut airbox, an FMF slip-on with the insert removed, and the mixture tuned correctly, had NOx values that I would consider to be out of bounds in terms of detonation risk."

Assuming motolab's dyno results are accurate (and I am not aware of any conflicting dyno results), it makes me question whether opening the airbox is the best choice for the DR.

Carbs, tuning, and dynos are outside my wheelhouse, so I'm not recommending anything. I'm only sharing what I did to my bike and the results produced.
 
I wouldn't mess around with an FCR when the TM40 kit is available from procycle. It's great. I ran an adjusted BST40 for years and wish I had switched to the TM40 sooner. Using it involved cutting the air box. I never had any problems with detonation and I've never heard of anyone having any either. I'm active on the big DR thread on advrider daily, so I think I've a reasonable chance of hearing about it. Derek does know his stuff though, even if he was horribly obnoxious on the forum. I wouldn't discount what he's saying, but it doesn't match up with real world reports.

Honestly, the best thing you can do with DR questions is gut the big DR thread on advrider. Don't search, just ask. Great bunch of guys there with a huge amount of knowledge on tap. It regularly goes off topic, but don't mind that. It keeps everyone around for when there are actual DR issues.
 
Update: When I picked up the bike new, in the bag with the owner's manual was a dozen or so pieces of hardware. I thought that was odd but didn't think much of it until I started to tear into the bike. The hardware were pieces that were not installed from screws in controls to the license plate holder to the hand guards. The throttle assembly was loose and moving around. Some of the hardware that was installed was wallowed out like the mechanic used a 1/2" impact on a small machine screw. It made me nervous that I could not find where about 10 pieces of hardware were missing from and notice the way the levers were installed did not look right at all.

I took pictures and got in contact with the dealer I purchased it from. I was a bit pissed the more I thought about it. Not only was I forced to pay that 'assembly fee' but had the throttle come loose in traffic, that would not have been a good situation. A hand guard was broken from overtightening, and the license plate mount was flopping around. I decided to play it from a point of understanding that people make mistakes, training was needed and as long as they made it right, no harm and no foul. The dealer took it very seriously and offered to pick up the bike, go though it top to bottom and bring it back to me. I agreed and they picked it up yesterday from my house. The situation is not ideal but the dealer staff, up to now, have put a strong effort into correcting it. I respect that and up to now, am satisfied with their response.

In the process, I explained the bike was not running right, had stumbled off idle from the beginning, and I wanted any hardware missing installed and any damaged hardware replaced. I figured I would give it a shot for their mechanic to get the carb adjusted right so at least it ran normally even though we know the issues with the stock carb. I told them I didn't really care what he did as long as it ran right, lol. The outcome is pending.

Parts yet to install
- Pro Taper CR High bend bars (thanks to Mr. Wolfen) and 1-1/8" x 7/8" adapters
- Acerbis Skid Plate - I have had good luck with these in the past despite them being "plastic". They are **** for stout and don't introduce frame vibrations like some metal ones can
- Acerbis 5.3 gallon tank - natural color or "piss color" as my wife calls it, lol
- Inline fuel filter to replace that tiny stock one when the tank goes on
- Pro Cycle's tail tidy kit with 250 tail light. More weight loss and the stock stuff looks terrible.
- Pro Cycle's footpeg lowering kit and upgraded pegs. Once I installed the lowering seat I felt like a praying mantis on the bike.
- Quiet baffle for the stupid loud DG pipe
 
The TM-40 kit from ProCycle is fantastic. I've done all the stuff to my DR (790, big valve head, cam, ProCycle header, Leo Vince can, and on and on). I have both a TM-40 and a TM-42. Currently have the TM-42 on the bike. It has been a challenge to tune, even with a wideband. I have it all dialed except my 1/8-1/4 throttle is still rich. I have a buddy turning me some custom needles as we speak.

As anyone will also tell you, suspension mods really are great. Cogent DDC up front, Mojave rear, done. I went with the Mojave Pro, but I suspect it was overkill.

I think a stock engine, with a TM-40, a ProCycle header, and whatever aftermarket exhaust is a great place to be for someone who doesn't want to get into the engine itself. Enjoy the ride, and the mod madness!
 
Here’s the state of my DR now. I’m doing a bit of a fall makeover. Just added the Yenkro tower, and she’s getting a fresh set of Shinko 804/805 tires. Also my starter button has been acting up every time it gets dusty so I’m replacing it with a 2 button setup from Highway Dirtbikes. The fun never stops!
 

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sweatmachine said:
Here’s the state of my DR now. I’m doing a bit of a fall makeover. Just added the Yenkro tower, and she’s getting a fresh set of Shinko 804/805 tires. Also my starter button has been acting up every time it gets dusty so I’m replacing it with a 2 button setup from Highway Dirtbikes. The fun never stops!
Click to expand...
It's that the new unconnected Yenkro I've heard about?
 
William Wolfen said:
It's that the new unconnected Yenkro I've heard about?
Click to expand...
Yes. Side panels are optional. They don’t work with the 5.3 gal tank I have, which is fine by me.

I had a Britannia Lynx fairing on here previously. Good bit of kit, but all 7lbs of it was mounted to my bars. This Yenkro weighs about the same but it’s frame mounted so the steering is nice & light. It also feels far more durable than the Lynx. Basically it’s made similar in materials and process as a kayak hull.
 
Personal preference, but I don't like the look of fixed fairings without side panels. KTM has done it on several bikes and it just looks goofy to me. Still, nice piece of kit.
 
The DR is a bit of a goofy looking bike to begin with. I gave up a little bit of form for a lot of function. That being said, I'm considering making my own side panels out of 1/8" kydex or HDPE.
 
My bike is still at the dealership (I know) so I dropped by to talk to them today. I explained to the foreman what I was looking for and my intentions. He said his mechanic owned two DR650's and knew all there is to know about the bike. I figured it was worth leaving it there and having the mechanic 'work his magic' and tune the carb while it was there with the understanding I am basing my build on reliability and smoothness of operation primarily over power additions. My budget is tapped out so the TM-40 will have to be a spring or summer project next year.

I am tentatively planning on taking the bike to New Mexico and Colorado in 16 days and much to do and there is elevation to consider on the jet sizes.

I hate carburetors, but love the pig.
 
The only thing I regret about the TM-40 was all of the time I wasted on the stock carb. I must have rejetted that thing 100x and it was still never right. I think cutting the airbox is a bad idea with a CV carb.
 
Thank you William.

I had another conversation last night with the shop to confirm my plans for Bushpig. This person knew his stuff with regards to these carbs, down to each detail, and how to tune it, and this gave me a confidence to move forward. I will not be doing the air box mod (have reasons but another discussion), so this will be a mild tune with the goal of smoothing everything out. He is going to install a new needle, jets, mixture screw mod and received a new hardware kit from Suzuki. It has been a bit of a bumpy road, but can be a patient man and find things often turn out for the best with this attitude. We shall see, but I am optimistic.

On another note, I found a killer 'flash deal' on Amazon for Nelson-Riggs Trails End Dual Sport tail bag and saddle bags for Bushpig. I have used their products in the past and was happy with the quality for the price point. I love that they are light, don't require a frame and have expansion zippers. The tail bag has a molle panel and I have two, soft bottle holders attached. One for hydration, and the other for a backup fuel canister, or more hydration.

The bike budget is spent this year, but I have a box of parts to install and miles to eat up this fall. Colorado is in two weeks and Big Bend NP is on the books for December for Jeeping and camping. Hopefully Bushpig can tag along.

BushPig4.jpg


BushPig5.jpg
 
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