Any DRZ400 sm owners on here??

[South of Heaven]

So I just bought a 09 DRZ400 sm. The previous owner put a full Yoshi exhaust, K&N air filter and did the 3x3 airbox mod. I've got tons of questions but my most pressing issues are as follows:

1. How important is putting a steering stabilizer on? I'm not sure if I'll take it to Loudon but I'll being riding it aggressive on the street....well, as aggressive as I can on the street. Lol.

2. How is the stock suspension? It's fully adjustable, front and rear but how responsive is it? I'm looking for optimum street settings, I'm not taking this bike offroad. I'm 6 feet and 185 lbs......Should I upgrade the F +R internals??

3. Is it worth it to put in the FCR carb and petcock mods? How much does it "wake" up the motor? The previous owner told me that the 3x3 mod was good but that he wanted to do the carb mod but didn't have the money.....I'm not worried about the money but I don't wanna spend $600 and not achieve noticeable power gains!!

As I said I have lots of questions but these are the "big ticket" items. I may have to join TT and ADVrider now.....Lol

[Chippertheripper]

I had a drz-e model(klx-r) and even with the 3-3 it was still anemic.
After flogging...ummm riding Colin's at nhms, I'd skip this plan entirely. Unless you're picking the thing up for REALLY short money, and can this afford to get the suspension done proper. (And then do motor stuff later)

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (GS3)

Manny did a bunch of work to his. You should talk to him

[South of Heaven]

?? Chipper, thanks for your prompt response but it's not exactly the easiest to decipher! Haha. Let me see if I have this right....You're saying to not take it to the track (which is fine with me because I already have one slow track bike in my stable!). Then basically do the full suspension and carb mods right?

[South of Heaven]

Wirelessly posted (GS3)

Manny did a bunch of work to his. You should talk to him

Thanks SV. Who's Manny?

[Chippertheripper]

Manny is on here as... Manny

If you must do it, do it.
It's a pig no matter what you do.

[388]

+1
Rode a fully modded drz, a stock ktm 450 still has more power after the drz pipe/carb mod but they are bullet proof motors
A friend has 12k plus miles on his and most of those miles are wide open and never had to rebuild

[South of Heaven]

Manny is on here as... Manny

If you must do it, do it.
It's a pig no matter what you do.

Ouch.

[cdovego]

I ran a stock suspension DRZ400sm (no stabilizer) around Loudon without issue. You should be fine as is.

[maxim_X]

Are you planning on racing it at all? They are overweight and underpowered. I bought one new in 07. It's good for kicks and as a street bike but not meant for roadrace duty.

[GixerJockey]

Thanks SV. Who's Manny?

Manny is the keeper of the hot setup.

[tls25rs]

Manny is the keeper of the hot setup.

He and rg500 both had pretty well set up DRZ400 bikes.

[Sheppo]

He and rg500 both had pretty well set up DRZ400 bikes.

So did blacksquirrel....

[xxaarraa]

Are you planning on racing it at all? They are overweight and underpowered. I bought one new in 07. It's good for kicks and as a street bike but not meant for roadrace duty.

I remember looking into the DRZ-400 the same time I went with the KLX250/351 route and this was precisely the consensus - overweight and underpowered. Supposedly also top heavy. But it's got a reputation for reliability, like most suzies, and has good aftermarket support.

[breakdirt916]

1.) do it

2.) sort of sucks, but good plenty for aggressive street riding

3.) not

it's piggy...but for the price, it's good overall

[Manny]

Wirelessly posted

Honestly there are so many options - just depends on how much money you want to throw at a bike that's heavy and slow out if the box.

Your best resource is thumpertalk.

Like any bike suspension work make ms a huge imp if you are riding hard. The carb makes a big diff to.

[South of Heaven]

Are you planning on racing it at all? They are overweight and underpowered. I bought one new in 07. It's good for kicks and as a street bike but not meant for roadrace duty.

No, it's gonna be my street bike.

[South of Heaven]

So thanks guys....I guess?? You brutally honest s.o.b's! Haha..Just kidding. I asked a question and I got honest responses. That's why online forums are cool and a PITA too!

[xxaarraa]

Wouldn't it have been cheaper (and infinitely more fun) to get adjustable forks sprung for you for your Hyper rather than go back to 1997?! LLOL

[dankatz]

Congrats! A supermoto should be a lot of fun on the streets. From what I understand, there are no magical mods and the power gain follows the diminishing returns. The main reason to put a pumper carb or FCR is for the throttle response and not the power gain from that I understand. Keep in mind that fuel economy will suffer as well. If you have the stock fuel tank it is not very big on the drz400. I have seen people go back to the stock carburetor on the DR650 just because of fuel economy and reliability. I would say get to know the bike and you will get used to the anemic power. It is still plenty of power for the city - you just need to adjust coming from your Ducati.

[nhbubba]

I have one.. sort of. I have a KLX400SR, which is a DRZ400-S rebranded as a Kawasaki. I have converted it to a -SM myself. I posted a bunch about it here.

Chip road my bike at NHMS.
Rada road my bike at NYST this weekend.
I rode my bike at both. I also have nearly 3k street miles on it in less than a year.

I think it's fun as shit. I bought mine to sample the dirt bike world and couldn't resist buying the supermoto wheels when they came up for reasonable money on the bay of fleas. I now have both the dirty and sumo wheels and can swap between pretty easily. In my opinion the DRZ is a hugely reliable, flexible, fun motorcycle.

1) I don't know as I don't have a steering stabilizer. I think the bike would benefit from it. But ultimately I haven't felt it was worth the dough. I get around race tracks just fine without. There is tons of wobble at high speed. Almost poop-yer-pants amounts. But ultimately just let the bike do its thing and it all seems to work out. "Jump" hill at NYST run down-town is both terrifying and mind-blowing awesome at the same time.

On the street it really isn't an issue unless you really wring its neck. There is an interstate interchange not far from here. I was doing about 85 indicated on it one night when I hit a huge pothole at the bottom of it. I saw geezus! Don't do that and you'll be fine.

2) I outweigh you by almost 50 lbs. I find the stock suspension soft. I describe it as jello. I believe upgraded springs would help a lot. Chip gave me some pointers told me which knobs to turn one time at Loudon and I haven't touched it since. Still jello. If you do track it, be careful with your body position and brake release. It is easy to upset the chassis being abrupt. In this respect, I think it has been a good training aid. Any screwups in bp or brake usage and the bike will let you know right away. It's a DRZ, so you can do almost anything with the throttle and it won't hurt you.

3) I have not been able to justify either a hot exhaust or the FCR. I did the 3x3 because it's basically free. I also did the CVK40 carb swap (tons of info on thumpertalk). I believe this gave it a touch more power and throttle response. But it isn't substantial. For the <$100 I have into it, it was a good move. Mine taps out at higher RPMs. Experts on the interwebz claim that the exhaust is the big bottleneck causing that. I'm too cheap to bother anymore.

Are you a racer, or a track day rider? If you're a track day rider, you have to drag it to the track at least once just 'cause you can. Getting it through tech is painless. And it is SOOOO much fun to creep up the ass of an R6 mid-corner on a 400cc shitbox dirt bike. I was hanging with an experienced intermediate rider on an RC51 yesterday at NYST. I don't know if he was checking up on the straight. But I promise we both were having some fun.

[breakdirt916]

You had a hyper?

Why would you want a drz?

I test rode the bigger hyper, immediately followed by the 610sm, and a street bike, hated the feeling of the downgrade...braking being the first testamnt to this

[B440]

If you're going to drop $600+ on anything, get the 6th gear mod. That was my biggest bitch when I had an E model. Check Chumpertalk for the mod.

[South of Heaven]

You had a hyper?

Why would you want a drz?

I test rode the bigger hyper, immediately followed by the 610sm, and a street bike, hated the feeling of the downgrade...braking being the first testamnt to this

Oh, lets see.....Hmmm. Maybe the first reason why I wanted to get rid of the hyper was when I was stranded 2 hours from home and the odometer read only 200 miles on my VERY FIRST ride. Dealer fixed the fuel sensor and I didn't have my brand new bike for over a week. Fast forward to about 2,000 miles on the odometer and the bike keeps going into limp mode and 75% of the power is cut while I'm riding....Dealer then fixed that. Twice....
Yeah, I can't think of any good reasons that I would buy a low mileage, gas sipping, mega fun DRZ that is dirt cheap on insurance and has a reliable/bulletproof engine....

[xxaarraa]

Oh, lets see.....Hmmm. Maybe the first reason why I wanted to get rid of the hyper was when I was stranded 2 hours from home and the odometer read only 200 miles on my VERY FIRST ride. Dealer fixed the fuel sensor and I didn't have my brand new bike for over a week. Fast forward to about 2,000 miles on the odometer and the bike keeps going into limp mode and 75% of the power is cut while I'm riding....Dealer then fixed that. Twice....
Yeah, I can't think of any good reasons that I would buy a low mileage, gas sipping, mega fun DRZ that is dirt cheap on insurance and has a reliable/bulletproof engine....

Any brand new Italian bike in the first (and second) model years is going to need plenty of care to sort out bugs.

"low mileage, gas sipping...that is dirt cheap on insurance" That's funny, coming from a guy who had an RC8R and a Hyper In that case, did you consider the Honda rebel? LOLL