Bike is now registered, took it for a spin:
The headlight crapped out almost immediately and it desperately needs a chain and sprockets. Ordered the latter, can fix the former with the parts stash.
This aftermarket headlight saved about 1.5lbs but was terrible at actually being a light:
Stock headlight reinstalled:
The stock lights on these aren't great but at least they don't just poop the wires out like that aftermarket junk that was on it did. This will most likely not be the final iteration of the headlight but should be fine for now.
Hang on a second here. You went from needing a plate on 6/19 to plated and riding on 6/20. How on earth did you make that happen?
In reply to paranoid_android (Forum Enabler) :
Street title! I just had to get Ian to dig it out and transfer it- I rode the Buell down to his local tag place this morning.
I had hoped to get it up to him sooner, but work didn't cooperate. Despite WFH, I was putting in 10-11 hrs most of the week and by the time I was done the tag places are closed.
The title for the yellow bike has made progress. I'm now in contact with the holder again. Except she's on deployment somewhere in the middle east (Air Force Reserve). Hoping to return in July.
To transfer a title and get tags here it's still by appointment only. As of this moment the soonest I could get in is July 14 at 1 pm.
That's why I was surprised it happened so quickly.
In reply to paranoid_android (Forum Enabler) :
That's the upside to PA having their auto tags/title transfers handled by pretty much any notary business. The downside is that they can turn you away for pretty much no reason if they want- but then you just go down the road to the next one!
Long time no update! I've been riding the black DRZ, and it has been excellent. Yesterday, Sara and I went to the Pine Barrens with it and her NX250 to find the treasure that Simon (Adventure Piggy on the forum) had hidden there:
It was an adventure for sure!
The treasure was hidden right by here:
Sara had a little bit of an oopsie getting up the hill by the purple tree and bent some mirrors and broke a clutch lever, but otherwise both bikes made it without issues:
And here's me looking like an idiot with the prize (I failed to take a picture of it unwrapped, but it's "Soviet Bus Stops Volume II" and it's awesome):
Life tip- have the sort of friends who make you a treasure map to the middle of the woods for your birthday!
As far as the DRZ, I'm super happy with it- even on old crusty tires it felt great, didn't have any issues, and did everything I asked of it. It has a little noise that I think is the cam chain tensioner getting floppy, easy enough to throw a new one on.
Nice! I vaguely remember mtn biking in that that area 30 years ago, or something similar. What park is that?
On the other DRZ, I've received some updates. Unfortunately, with NYS being on lock-down it's been a slower process than we had hoped.
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
It's Brendan T. Byrne state forest- if you choose your route well you could have fun mountain biking there, but if you choose poorly you'll have to pedal through miles of relatively deep sand with big ruts from Jeeps and dirtbikes and that sort of thing.
I'm curious to see how my DR rides on 15+ year old knobbies around town.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
That's what I thought - the park used to be called Lebanon State Forest and I did some of my first mtn bike rides there back in the late 80's. The ride started from the Pakim Pond parking lot, then meandered through the area on double track fire roads and whooped out fire cuts through the woods. Eventually it ended up at the old moto enduro area with all of the short ups and downs. I think it was known as the "Poker Course" as the moto guys would do laps on it and collect a card. The fire cuts were fun because on a bike it was essentially a never-ending pump track. Long before pump tracks became a thing. I do remember getting caught up in deep sand once in awhile, but that's just part of riding in SNJ. We usually only rode there in the winter.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane...
More Pine Barrens! The bike clicked past 300 miles since repairing it during this ride, still no issues to report other than a bit of timing chain noise- I'll stick a manual tensioner on it since the stock ones have been known to fail on occasion.
Fun side note- a number of the spare DRZ parts have made their way onto Sara's NX, which now sports Suzuki footpegs, a clutch lever, and mirrors.
Foot pegs are on order for my Dr, they where made for children feet on them
In reply to Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) :
The DRZ ones aren't bad, they have a removable rubber section that leaves you with a decently large serrated platform once you take it out.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
The drz ones are a upgrade for the dr. I have been looking at options
What tires are you running on the bikes? Curious to hear thoughts on them.
In reply to paranoid_android (Forum Enabler) :
The DRZ has Shinko 540s on it which are perfectly fine in sand but not great on pavement- I'll replace them with Kenda Trakmaster 2s when they wear out because I like the cost/performance ratio of those in most conditions.
The NX has a Continental TKC80 up front, which is great as a 50/50 tire (it's Sara's only bike so needs good road manners) if a little vague in sand. The rear wheel is a 16" which limits selection, it currently has a Duro Median which is fine for pavement and light duty offroad but totally out of its' element when the surface gets soft.
Got the title to the yellow DRZ a little while ago so decided to see if I could get it running today.
A carb cleaning, oil change, spark plug, tank swap (boy that was rusty, glad it came with a spare), hooked it to a car battery and:
Nice! It still needs a thorough going through before it's rideable but it sounds healthy. The odometer only shows about 2500 miles and I believe it, most of the damage looks like it's from sitting rather than riding.
Eager to see what solution you come up with for that headlight. Always on the lookout for good ideas for my xr.
Does that carb have an electric choke on it?
In reply to paranoid_android (Forum Enabler) :
No, it's a manual choke although it does have a throttle position sensor for some reason. I think it interacts with the ignition system.
