Audrey drove me up to Frederick, coincidentally almost next door to Josh's Triumph dealer, to go take a look at that 2009 DR650.

I took it for a short test ride and it was a done deal.



I'm thinking of writing more in a blog article once I have some more experience with the bike but I must confess I am surprised how impressed I am with it. Of all the bikes I've test ridden, this one feels by far and away the most "right".

Also, it vibrates less than any of the others. It's impressively smooth and may even be smoother than the R1100S. I do believe this is the right bike for the trip. Any doubts I had about this being the bike are now gone.

It carbureted and thus has all the problems associated with carburetors (cold start, choke) but I confess it's not that much of a problem. It did stall out on me a few times at stop lights but that may just be a break in issue. Under way, it was surprisingly strong.

I have a feeling this is going to be a very fun bike.

More later.

Bought this one from National Powersports...should arrive within about 3 weeks...

Looks like we may want to truck-n-trailer it to the gap this year after all ...bikes in the mix (please edit/add as needed):

-RS: N1K, DR650
-YL: R1100, DR650
-DS: K13, ??
-JC: ?? (a triple perhaps?)
-others I'm missing??

YL: K100RS, R1100S, DR650

although I suspect at least two of those bikes will be ridden down ... unless Ian decides to join us in which case ...

Ian! There are now two guest bikes!

May!

You can do it!

We are going to make quite the pair riding our Yin and Yang bikes ... "Darkness and Light"?

I can't wait until I can do @Ian here to taunt him into joining us ...

February. I'm setting my sights on February ....

You guys, with the black and white DRs, it's like Spy vs. Spy.

Two guest bikes is a good thing! If it looks like there's a chance I could join for the May trip or any other, I'll let you know.

Congrats on the new bike! (Good choice on the color

Nice bikes, you guys will probably have lots of fun.

Considering that the alternator only puts out 200(!?!?) watts, you might want to seriously consider some of the upgrades mentioned here:

Yea, very good point.

one note of caution on a higher output stator
many will put out more total amps at high RPMS but some will actual put out less than the stock unit at lower RPMS.

is there any more info on this unit?

How much power do you need? Surely there's enough extra available to charge up a phone or run a GPS. There's no fuel injection or onboard computer and if you don't plan on riding in the dark you won't need to add extra driving lights, which might just get broken off in a fall anyway.

An electric vest or grip heaters would be nice once you get to the mountains, though.

@mothman as usual you're a fountain of knowledge. I did not know that.

@ian mostly I'm thinking about how to run the epresso maker. well, that and heated grips and vest.

I would agree 200 might be enough. I wouldn't plan on replacing it until you knew it wasn't going to meet your needs.

On my 250 I just ran with my electric jacket liner which was enough and didn't come close to overtaking my electrical system.

An Alternator's output is depended on RPM
peak output will be in the upper RPM range
at idle very little.

the heated grips & vest you'll need to check how much power they pull.
all those toys should have watts or amps listing on them

remember these are all extra stuff above & beyond what the bike needs for ignition, lights & recharging the battery and if your in the middle of the woods having a dead battery would really suck.

I would not have thought that a 250 would have had enough juice to run a vest. That's good to know.

My feeling is also to leave the alternator stock for the time being and see how it performs on a few shorter trips.

I am kind of itching to take the thing out. There are some trails I used to ride some decades ago that I want to go explore again.

Not just a 250, but a 30 year old one. Without all the new fangled gadgets once the bike is running there isn't much drain. I think the headlight is the worst.

Yea, I was thinking it was probably old. Not as bad as an old BMW though. The old airheads had some of the worst alternators out there. Didn't even generate enough at idle to run the light.

I suspect we'll be just fine with the stock alternators. Soon the farkleing will begin.

"if" you did the stator upgrade you also need check the rectifier & voltage regulator for the max amps they can handle.

I agree leave it stock for now & see how it does.

From the article in Web Bike World:

the DR650's headlight uses 55 Watts on low beam and 60 Watts on high.

The brake/tail light draws 21 Watts and the pair of Krista lights use up to 72 Watts on full power. Figure another 5W for the license plate light and 6W for the instrument lights.

Add in the 35W or so to run the ignition and that puts us around 195 Watts.

Yea, I won't be running any additional lights on the thing I don't think. Even then, if I do and it's cold I can always switch off the vest and the lights on or visa versa.

If you read further in the article, you'll see that you can knock the headlight usage down to 35 watts (with an HID headlamp). Keep in mind that the vest will draw somewhere around 48 watts, and heated grips around 35. If you add the upgraded alternator kit, you might be able to swing both and still charge the battery. Staying warm enough also helps you to stay sharp and on top of your riding, so one could argue that it's a safety issue, especially when you could be many miles from help. The kit is a drop in replacement, and costs just under $300. Given the closeness in spec to the stock original, the charging characteristics (rpm range) are unlikely to vary widely from the stock unit--with the exception of additional power capacity.

You're also planning on doing this trip in late August. I realize there may be cold days in the mountains, but most of the time you'll by dying from heat. Hell, if you really are running off-road during the daytime you could pull the headlight fuse and save yourself 55 watts.

You'll be fine....

Since these bikes have racked up literally 10s of millions of miles over the years in every climate, condition, and terrain, stuff like gaining small % of wattage is way down the list for me in terms of mods (although have always been up for replacing regulators/rectifiers with better units). Of course it helps that I've become better at keeping my "inner engineer voice" quieted down; to avoid focusing on the coolest, most electrically focused, or most difficult 2% gain items LoL. It never even occurred to me to think about power clothes for this bike, I can always pack a 0-volt sweater :-)....the only electrical things I'm considering are LED off road lights (small power draw+BIG lumens) because I actually like to ride at night, GPS/iPad/Phone power, and that's about it right now.

Top mods: Seat, Luggage frame (haven't decided on hard panniers or soft yet), bash plates, windscreen

Oh.......and also really considering the change to a 18" rear wheel.