Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

148 | JANUARY 2018 http://www.adbmag.com.au

HERITAGE I SUZUKI DR650

The old

and the

beautiful

Martyn

Blake’s DR

km

While not the trickiest DR around, you would

be hard pressed to find a harder working

one than Marty’s. It’s done many thousands

of kilometres as Dualsport Australia’s

mapping bike, checking out tracks

throughout northern NSW to help produce

his GPS track logs and printable route

sheets for adventure riders on CD-ROM.

But it’s also done lots of singletrack and

had “a holiday” in the Simpson Desert. This

bike has seen very little tar in its four-year

life. No commuting, pampering or café runs

for this girl.

“This is my third VSM DR and, as usual, it

has been rock-solid reliable despite serious

dirt use,” he says. “Besides wheel bearings,

brake pads, air fi lters, chain and sprockets

and enough oil to soak an Alaskan beach the

only thing it’s needed was a camchain

tensioner gasket and a set of spark plugs;

the plugs because they came in a Suzuki

maintenance kit with an oil fi lter and I fi tted

them just in case.

“Even the valves remain untouched. The

top chain roller has been removed from new

[a common fi x to prevent the frame tube

from cracking in that area]. Issues with

earlier models (like third-gear breakages and

leaking base gaskets) have been fi xed by

Suzuki despite the bike appearing unchanged

and if I can’t break it no-one can.”

WK

2013 trix

• VSM modded suspension at
  front and rear


• B&B Off-Road bashplate and
  rear carrier


• ProTaper handlebar


• Acerbis handguards


• Ballards hand covers


• IMS 20L tank (as shown) or 30L
  Safari for desert rides. The latter
  often expands to 32L


• VSM low footpegs (WR pattern)
  
  
  • VSM windscreen and headlight
    protector
  
  
  • VSM sprocket guard/case saver
  
  
  • VSM rear chainguide support
    plate and frame guards
  
  
  • Andy Strapz Soft-Bag Frames
  
  
  • Marty scored a prototype set of
    SM Pro wheels from JTR in
    Cleveland, Qld, which he has been
    unable to break in 40,000km. He
    says he’s just done the basics,
    with the bike running the stock
    motor (with rejetting), pipe,
    brakes and seat.
  
  
  
  

(^0650644)
Handwarmers instead of grip heaters Convenient ballpoint for nav work Motor is completely stock Marty runs a Safari tank in the desert