Trevor rides a black on black 2009 Suzuki DR650. Mileage at the start of the trip is approximately 22,000km or 13,500miles.
Kyle rides a white on black 2007 Suzuki DR650. Mileage at the start of the trip is approximately 9,000km or 5,500miles.
Trevor purchased his bike around November 2012.
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Kyle purchased his Yellow 2003 DR650 in August 2012. He ended up selling it and buying the 2007 mid summer 2013.
Suspension:
Suspension is an area where the DR is really lacking... up front the forks are ancient and there is a serious problem with brake dive. The rear is just not set up for heavier loads that come with long distance traveling.
In the rear we installed Ricor Inertia Valve rear shock rated for 270+ (rider +gear). Very nice product, very easy install and outstanding customer service.
We decided to try something different up front. We swapped out the front forks and triple trees, installing 2003 RM250 dirt bike forks with 0.50 weight Factory Connection springs. These new forks are inverted dual cartridge style and full adjustable. The ride has significantly improved.
The downside to the fork swap is that we lost our speedometer gear. To solve this problem we installed a Trailtech Vapour with Highway Dirt Bikes top clamp and alum vapour surround.
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Luggage
Lighting
Kept it simple and hopefully we wont be riding in the dark much. Purchased and installed Advmoster Model 30 LED off-road lights. We mounted them off the hand-guards. These are incredibly bright and only draw 15W.
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Kyle's bike came with an upgrade 55W headlight bulb... but its pretty useless.
Considering LED taillight bulbs.
Tires and Wheels
Did some major changes here as well. Due to the front RM250 forks we are both running RM250 front wheels.
Trevor is running a brand new 18" rear wheel made by Warp 9 with heavy duty spokes.
Kyle is running a 18" 1994 Dr350 rear wheel.
Why the 18" rear wheels? We have heard of the nightmares people have getting flat tires on a trip like this. We decided to run Tubliss set ups in both wheels. (Tubliss is not made for a 17" wheel). Tubliss has many benefits, including being able to plug a tire without even removing it from the bike, run low air pressures off road and even run flat for a small distance (emergencies).
