My transition into Dual-Sport motorcycle touring.

Since I moved to Boise, ID I have discovered that it is a Mecca for Dual-sport motorcycles.  About a year ago a joined a club whose members provides a support network for one another, and who put together rides throughout the year, and it has been a great experience.  In that same year I have transitioned from a somewhat antiquated 20 year old Yamaha XT 350 to a much newer, and more capable Suzuki DRZ-400E.

The new Suzuki was an offroad model when it came off the assembly line, but previous owners had modified it to be street legal.  But at its heart it is still much more of a dirtbike than a capable dual-sport touring bike.  So since so many people in the IAMC like to do multi-day rides, I decided it was time to start modifying my DRZ to be more of touring bike, without losing too much of that dirt-bike performance.

The first steps were to get it geared properly.  It still had the stock gearing which gave it a top end of about 65 MPH.  Sounds fast enough, but it was way too low to make the bike bearable anywhere but on nasty trails.  Next step was to take care of all of the little nit picky maintenance items that this model year had.  This included repairing a water pump issue, putting a new manual cam chain tensioner on the bike, and beefing up the protection factor by adding a skid plate and case gaurds.  At this point I had taken care of all of items that were cheap and easy to fix, from here on out things got a little more pricey.

After several rides it became apparent that the stock 2.6 gallon fuel tank, with its 80 mile range (to hit reserve) was not going to cut it on rides where it might be 150-200 miles between fuel stops.  So I upgraded to an IMS 4.0 gallon desert tank, which had the added benefit of providing good radiator protection, and not seeming really fat. 

Now I had the range to go on these rides, but I didn't have any way to carry all my gear.  Hearing my plight, my buddy Ryan was a huge help getting me all set up with a set of tank bags and saddle bags on the cheap.  The saddle bags are modified horse saddle bags from the local farm supply, and only cost 13 bucks.  The tank bags are actually fender bags designed for ATVs, but they work great as tank bags with very little modification. 

So thinking this would be enough space to carry most of my gear (and what I couldn't fit in the bags could go in a backpack), I set out on a nice easy overnight ride with the club.  Well, I quickly discovered that even a relatively light backpack is still murder on your body when you are riding a motorcycle.  I also realized that for long distance, the seat was going to need some modifcation, or else my butt would be miserable. 

These realizations lead to the next step in the process; putting in a new rear subframe that can will allow for carrying gear on the fender, and modifying to seat to be more comfortable on long rides.  I was able to get a subframe off of ebay for a halfway decent price, and despite the looks, it was pretty easy to get the new rear subframe swapped in, although I did have to take a hacksaw to the fender and to a lot of cutting and fitting to get the original fender to work.  I also discovered through the club that there was a local guy that rebuilt motorcycles seats for about 1/3 the cost of an aftermarket Corbin seat.

So with the new seat, new rear subframe, and rear rack, I am finally ready to do some touring the right way.  I will leave tomorrow afternoon for my first multi-day trip which will involve a circumnavigation of Hell's Canyon, and about 700 miles in 3 1/2 days. I am really looking forward to it, I think it will be a beautiful ride, and a great bunch of people to ride with.  If I am not lazy, I will get some pictures posted up here when I get back.