The Project Bike arrives - Suzuki DR650!

Since I sold 2 of my motorcycles this past 4 months my wife was worried that I didn't have enough to do to keep me entertained and suggested that I get a project bike and work on it in the winter.  In preparation for this we installed heat in the garage to make it tolerable in the winter and I set out looking for the perfect bike.

I decided on finding a Suzuki DR650, a motorcycle that has been built since 1996 with little to no changes.  The reason that it hasn't been updated is that if they change any aspect of the bike then the whole bike has to be updated to the current standards, EPA and all that!  It is a bullet proof bike with easy availability of cheap parts.  So the hunt was on.  It is not an easy bike to find because it is like a do everything bike and few people are willing to sell theirs.  But finally after 3 months I found one in Greenville, NC.

It's a 2017 with 8900 miles on it.  It also comes with worn out tires, worn out sprockets, oil leaks, electrical problems, clogged air filters and a number of other issues for a bike that has been treated poorly.  It did run while I was looking at it and the prior owner assured me that it was rock solid, a significant overstatement.  So, what the heck, it's a project bike and it was a cheap purchase for this bike.

I spent my first 2 months taking stuff off the bike and replacing the immediate things that had to be done to get it on the road again.  New tires, sprocket and chain.

Parts kept coming off and new ones replacing them. There was also a little secondary air filter that was totally clogged and I was amazed that the bike even ran.  I was developing a close relationship with the parts supplier - Procycle, Inc.