- Jan 30, 2005
- 644
- 0
for years I've been blameing my bike for my riding deficencies, much to the ammusement of my peers. I swore up and down, "it wasnt me, its the bike". "Sure it is" they'd snicker.
Finally I started to think maybe it really WAS me. It got so bad I was ready to thrown in the towel, sell the bike, and never return to the dirt again. them I bought an old KDX, and realized something... it really WAS the bike. So I started a project... fix the DRZ's handling.
Everyone laughed, said I was crazy. "you cant polish a turd". I was determined. it WOULD get better, or I was scrapping the whole bike.
First the forks...
I aquired a set of 47mm Showa USDs from a '01 RM125. nowing full well the need to be resprung at the VERY least, I opted to do it right. I sent them to RG3. the same guys the did all the works forks for the factory DRZ riders (Kedrowski, Pastrana, Smith, Schwantz) if anyone would understand how to make these forks sing on this bike... they would. It was a mod they were intimately familiar with.
Next the shock...
I toyed with the idea of retrom fitting an RM showa to the rear and giving it the same treatment as the forks. Then, a friend sent me the name of a guy that had NOS Ohlins shocks at give away prices. Hed even custom tune them for the application. all this for less than the cost of revalving a showa, and I still need to get a shock. so it was decided. Ohlins for the back.
All this took place with several other mods/upgrades at the same time. some were out of nessessity, since the new parts would not accept some of the old hardware, some were just cuz I could. The finished product came out just as I'd hoped. Maybe better, from an appearence stand point. It daws draw a crowd in the parking lot. Most asking what it is. My DRZ is now a stange mix of custom and aftermaket parts from Suzuki RMs to KTM SMs with some of my own one off weirdness just for grins.
so the real question... was it worth it? does it actually perform, or is it all just flash...
well I got a chance to REALLY ride it today. I did some adjusting, rode. adjusted some more... rode. The verdict?
Who stole my bike???? I hope they never bring it back. this thing is UN-FREAKING-REAL. it's intuitive. I look were I wanna be, it goes there. whoops...what whoops. It just glides over them like they dont exhist. Sand...HAH... never even a bobble.
It's unbelievable. I dont even feel like I'm riding the bike anymore. Im just a passenger and it's running on auto pilot. 50+ miles today and I'm not even tired. To the nay sayers... I was 3rd and 4th gears all day. this was HARDLY a leisurely spin. I wanted to push it, and I found the hard I pushed, the smoother the ride.
I gotta hand it to the supension gurus at RG3 and the Ohlins dealer from Husky club... these guys are magicians. The DRZ may still be a turd in the eyes of some... but it's the slickest turd you'll ever see.
Read it and weep fellas... two trips around Cedar Creek.
Finally I started to think maybe it really WAS me. It got so bad I was ready to thrown in the towel, sell the bike, and never return to the dirt again. them I bought an old KDX, and realized something... it really WAS the bike. So I started a project... fix the DRZ's handling.
Everyone laughed, said I was crazy. "you cant polish a turd". I was determined. it WOULD get better, or I was scrapping the whole bike.
First the forks...
I aquired a set of 47mm Showa USDs from a '01 RM125. nowing full well the need to be resprung at the VERY least, I opted to do it right. I sent them to RG3. the same guys the did all the works forks for the factory DRZ riders (Kedrowski, Pastrana, Smith, Schwantz) if anyone would understand how to make these forks sing on this bike... they would. It was a mod they were intimately familiar with.
Next the shock...
I toyed with the idea of retrom fitting an RM showa to the rear and giving it the same treatment as the forks. Then, a friend sent me the name of a guy that had NOS Ohlins shocks at give away prices. Hed even custom tune them for the application. all this for less than the cost of revalving a showa, and I still need to get a shock. so it was decided. Ohlins for the back.
All this took place with several other mods/upgrades at the same time. some were out of nessessity, since the new parts would not accept some of the old hardware, some were just cuz I could. The finished product came out just as I'd hoped. Maybe better, from an appearence stand point. It daws draw a crowd in the parking lot. Most asking what it is. My DRZ is now a stange mix of custom and aftermaket parts from Suzuki RMs to KTM SMs with some of my own one off weirdness just for grins.
so the real question... was it worth it? does it actually perform, or is it all just flash...
well I got a chance to REALLY ride it today. I did some adjusting, rode. adjusted some more... rode. The verdict?
Who stole my bike???? I hope they never bring it back. this thing is UN-FREAKING-REAL. it's intuitive. I look were I wanna be, it goes there. whoops...what whoops. It just glides over them like they dont exhist. Sand...HAH... never even a bobble.
It's unbelievable. I dont even feel like I'm riding the bike anymore. Im just a passenger and it's running on auto pilot. 50+ miles today and I'm not even tired. To the nay sayers... I was 3rd and 4th gears all day. this was HARDLY a leisurely spin. I wanted to push it, and I found the hard I pushed, the smoother the ride.
I gotta hand it to the supension gurus at RG3 and the Ohlins dealer from Husky club... these guys are magicians. The DRZ may still be a turd in the eyes of some... but it's the slickest turd you'll ever see.
Read it and weep fellas... two trips around Cedar Creek.
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