Great progress man. I appreciate the attention to detail and doing it right! You should investigate a RSC clutch lever and lubricate your clutch cable to improve clutch lever pull force. I did this on my wr250r and it made a estimated 20% reduction in pull force. I'm now able to one finger clutch the bike all day when in the aggressive tight trails. Well worth the money for my application. By friend did this on his DRZ and also experienced great results.
My 2007 Suzuki 400 S bent a valve stem at 12,000. I gave it to my son. My dealer quote me $2,400 for the parts! My son sold it for $500, because his dealer also told him parts only was $2,400!
Watched this DRZ serie a few times now, learned a lot. I bought a DRZ a few months ago to use as my trail bike and buy a cb500x or v strom 650 as my "adv" bike. But I like the DRZ so much that I might turn it into a lightweight ADV bike and ride the "BDR's" of Europe (TET). Gotta gear it up a bit as 14/48 is way too low for highway rides.
Heck yah man! That sounds like a good plan. Perhaps just try going one tooth bigger on the front sprocket so you don’t have to switch chain length and you can swap them fairly easily for trail riding. Take care!
@@JohannesDalenMC I've always been a big fan of the Dunlop D606's for off road riding. This bike had some tires on it already and they were good so I didn't swap them out.
By the way, did you attach a heat shield? Currently looking for a luggage system on my DRZ, but people seem to recommend getting a luggage rack to keep the bags away from the muffler..
Sorry about the tank but the reason the owner used the vacuum petcock the first time you drop your bike the fuel will flood the engine and you’ll be stuck on the trail. I had this issue and got stuck. So acerbic petcock is garbage.
For sure the is a a very small risk if you leave the bike on the ground for more that 30 seconds after a down. I prefer less weight and less complexity and not going down. LOL cheers and happy new year!
@SourceADV I live in Florida and it's alot of soft sugar sand so dropping the bike is kinda normal, but for very short time. I put the stock petcock on and I don't even have to worry about it.
Why did you go with the DRZ400 for the BDR adventure and not the KTM 500? Love the bike builds though keep them coming. I am hoping to do the same kind of mini adventure bike build for my KTM 500.
Doug, the goal of this build was to do a BDR bike for under $5K all in including the luggage system, the KTM's are too pricy for a lot of people. The 2020 500 is the next build, I'm going to try and do it as a do-it-all bike. Basically, it will be my singletrack bike, I will race it a couple times and I want it to be able to convert into a mini ADV bike with a rack, luggage system and mini dash that can be removed really easily. We shall see!!! Thank you for the kind words, please subscribe! Take care!!
Maybe a tiny bit, if you left the bike on its side for minutes maybe, l because the petcock does no stop when the engine stops. But all carbed dirt bikes are like this and it’s not a regular occurrence. Just turn the petcock off whenever you park it.
@@SourceADV it doesn't sound like you set the race sag and damping correctly. "Tried a bunch of stuff" im not sure what that meant but there's a lot of room for adjustment in the stock suspension. I set up my drz for adv riding just fine and I've seen a multiple of them done. If you "tried a bunch of stuff" why didn't you put it in the video
That’s the point, it’s fine, not great. It’s still a very outdated bike, that is very heavy with sub par suspension compared to modern day bikes. I race dirt bikes and know how to set up suspension. Go ride a KTM 500 and get back to me.
@@SourceADV geez man I was trying to help you with the suspension and your inflammatory comments show your true nature. It honestly sounds even more like you don't know how to set it up or you would have put what you did to set it up in the video or comments.
Not inflammatory, direct. The DRZ is a severely outdated bike that Suzuki needs to do something about. I’m not here to defend it and have no bias to any bike, I like bikes that perform. The DRZ is an ok bike, but I’m not going to get on the bandwagon that it is more than that in today's landscape. It is a decent bike that is very reliable. Race sag was set to 100MM loaded, this was a budget build that I knew I was going to sell right after the AZBDR I was not going to swap springs. By the end of the adventure I was running full stiff on comp settings and still bottoming the forks and shock regularly. I’m sorry it’s just not a great bike in stock form.
G'day mate, really enjoyed your vid. I have a 400s and wondering where you sourced your kick start kit from? I can find them here in Australia but they all say they're not for the "s" or "sm" models - just the "E".... Any help much appreciated. Keep up the vids - really good work. Cheers
Hey man! I actually got it on eBay. www.ebay.com/itm/172210464231?epid=1723328841&hash=item28188b25e7:g:xV0AAOSwPndc3rC5 I believe I got it from this seller. Cheers!!
are you sure you have an s model in aus they only sold them for a couple of years and they didn't sell many as the E model is street legal lighter and more powerful. but to answer your question all kickstart kits for the drz are e model kits, the kickstart lever fits the s and sm models just the same as e but s and sm heads aren't machined for the manual decompression lever. which is not a big deal as you only need it to get the motor on tdc compression so it will start first kick.
No sir, I had plus 2 teeth on the rear sprocket when i bought the bike and I didn’t change it for budget reasons. In hindsight for adventure riding I would have probably stayed stock or even done -1 tooth. Cheers!
@@SourceADV Just returned home from work on my SM. What a great City bike. I'm use to big liter bikes. So much fun to not worry about stringent throttle control (or at least it won't blow the tire off with a heavy hand). My first thought when I walked through my front door with a smile on my face was "ripper". I'm guessing this one has a big bore kit because it pulls pretty good over 80mph. Makes good power for a 400. I'm a little surprised actually. 👍
I'll never buy a used bike again. Every used MX bike I had when I was younger blew the engine within two races so from then on I only bought new bikes. Especially bikes I need to rely on to get me where I'm going and back home
Great progress man. I appreciate the attention to detail and doing it right! You should investigate a RSC clutch lever and lubricate your clutch cable to improve clutch lever pull force. I did this on my wr250r and it made a estimated 20% reduction in pull force. I'm now able to one finger clutch the bike all day when in the aggressive tight trails. Well worth the money for my application. By friend did this on his DRZ and also experienced great results.
Awesome! Thank you for the heads up! I did lube the cable on this pup and it smoothed it out a lot. Great tip, take care!
My 2007 Suzuki 400 S bent a valve stem at 12,000. I gave it to my son.
My dealer quote me $2,400 for the parts! My son sold it for $500, because his dealer also told him parts only was $2,400!
Damn! That stinks man! Next time find a local non-dealer engine shop to do it for you, dealers are a joke
Watched this DRZ serie a few times now, learned a lot. I bought a DRZ a few months ago to use as my trail bike and buy a cb500x or v strom 650 as my "adv" bike. But I like the DRZ so much that I might turn it into a lightweight ADV bike and ride the "BDR's" of Europe (TET). Gotta gear it up a bit as 14/48 is way too low for highway rides.
Heck yah man! That sounds like a good plan. Perhaps just try going one tooth bigger on the front sprocket so you don’t have to switch chain length and you can swap them fairly easily for trail riding. Take care!
@@SourceADV That’s a very good suggestion, the front is such an easy swap. Can’t recall which tires you went with, got any suggestions?
@@JohannesDalenMC I've always been a big fan of the Dunlop D606's for off road riding. This bike had some tires on it already and they were good so I didn't swap them out.
@@SourceADV Thank you!
By the way, did you attach a heat shield? Currently looking for a luggage system on my DRZ, but people seem to recommend getting a luggage rack to keep the bags away from the muffler..
Sorry about the tank but the reason the owner used the vacuum petcock the first time you drop your bike the fuel will flood the engine and you’ll be stuck on the trail. I had this issue and got stuck. So acerbic petcock is garbage.
For sure the is a a very small risk if you leave the bike on the ground for more that 30 seconds after a down. I prefer less weight and less complexity and not going down. LOL cheers and happy new year!
@SourceADV I live in Florida and it's alot of soft sugar sand so dropping the bike is kinda normal, but for very short time. I put the stock petcock on and I don't even have to worry about it.
@@jonwsin0014 cool man, makes sense! Enjoy and happy new year!!
Why did you go with the DRZ400 for the BDR adventure and not the KTM 500? Love the bike builds though keep them coming. I am hoping to do the same kind of mini adventure bike build for my KTM 500.
Doug, the goal of this build was to do a BDR bike for under $5K all in including the luggage system, the KTM's are too pricy for a lot of people. The 2020 500 is the next build, I'm going to try and do it as a do-it-all bike. Basically, it will be my singletrack bike, I will race it a couple times and I want it to be able to convert into a mini ADV bike with a rack, luggage system and mini dash that can be removed really easily. We shall see!!!
Thank you for the kind words, please subscribe! Take care!!
@@SourceADV Sweet look forward to the KTM 500 build.
Thanks man!
Is that front fender the Polisport yz250/450? Looks so much better. I have a drz400s that Is close to your build.
I believe it’s an Acerbis front fender, not Polisport. From the 2017+ YZ450f. Cheers!
i've heard that those acerbis tanks can flood your engine if you drop the bike, any truth to that?
Maybe a tiny bit, if you left the bike on its side for minutes maybe, l because the petcock does no stop when the engine stops. But all carbed dirt bikes are like this and it’s not a regular occurrence. Just turn the petcock off whenever you park it.
I skimmed the video for a suspension section but I don't see one. Did you set race sag and damping for the extra weight?
Yes, tried a bunch of stuff.
@@SourceADV it doesn't sound like you set the race sag and damping correctly. "Tried a bunch of stuff" im not sure what that meant but there's a lot of room for adjustment in the stock suspension. I set up my drz for adv riding just fine and I've seen a multiple of them done. If you "tried a bunch of stuff" why didn't you put it in the video
That’s the point, it’s fine, not great. It’s still a very outdated bike, that is very heavy with sub par suspension compared to modern day bikes. I race dirt bikes and know how to set up suspension. Go ride a KTM 500 and get back to me.
@@SourceADV geez man I was trying to help you with the suspension and your inflammatory comments show your true nature. It honestly sounds even more like you don't know how to set it up or you would have put what you did to set it up in the video or comments.
Not inflammatory, direct. The DRZ is a severely outdated bike that Suzuki needs to do something about. I’m not here to defend it and have no bias to any bike, I like bikes that perform. The DRZ is an ok bike, but I’m not going to get on the bandwagon that it is more than that in today's landscape. It is a decent bike that is very reliable.
Race sag was set to 100MM loaded, this was a budget build that I knew I was going to sell right after the AZBDR I was not going to swap springs. By the end of the adventure I was running full stiff on comp settings and still bottoming the forks and shock regularly. I’m sorry it’s just not a great bike in stock form.
G'day mate, really enjoyed your vid. I have a 400s and wondering where you sourced your kick start kit from? I can find them here in Australia but they all say they're not for the "s" or "sm" models - just the "E".... Any help much appreciated. Keep up the vids - really good work. Cheers
Hey man! I actually got it on eBay. www.ebay.com/itm/172210464231?epid=1723328841&hash=item28188b25e7:g:xV0AAOSwPndc3rC5 I believe I got it from this seller. Cheers!!
are you sure you have an s model in aus they only sold them for a couple of years and they didn't sell many as the E model is street legal lighter and more powerful.
but to answer your question all kickstart kits for the drz are e model kits, the kickstart lever fits the s and sm models just the same as e but s and sm heads aren't machined for the manual decompression lever. which is not a big deal as you only need it to get the motor on tdc compression so it will start first kick.
and you can buy the kit cheaper from suzuki australia
Did you leave gearing stock?
No sir, I had plus 2 teeth on the rear sprocket when i bought the bike and I didn’t change it for budget reasons. In hindsight for adventure riding I would have probably stayed stock or even done -1 tooth. Cheers!
👍😎
She did great on the BDR! Fun Bike!
@@SourceADV
Just returned home from work on my SM.
What a great City bike.
I'm use to big liter bikes.
So much fun to not worry about stringent throttle control (or at least it won't blow the tire off with a heavy hand).
My first thought when I walked through my front door with a smile on my face was "ripper".
I'm guessing this one has a big bore kit because it pulls pretty good over 80mph.
Makes good power for a 400. I'm a little surprised actually.
👍
Nice! Sounds like fun
I'll never buy a used bike again. Every used MX bike I had when I was younger blew the engine within two races so from then on I only bought new bikes. Especially bikes I need to rely on to get me where I'm going and back home
Makes sense, especially in MX. Those bikes get beat up.