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Driving on domestic motorcycles and going through the “school of mechanics” with them, I realized that I had enough - it’s time to change to an import one. For what exactly? Hesitated for a long time: I liked both sportbikes and endurics. The speed, dynamics and power of plastic rockets were mesmerizing - and I got a push-pull Honda NSR250. Riding a “ring” bike, in fact, was more like a slalom between potholes and bulging “stumps” of sewer manholes. Once the slalom ended badly: from one of the holes did not have time to dodge - and cracked the rear wheel. That incident overflowed the cup of patience, and I felt that it was time again in this life to change something.
There was enough money for an enduro with an engine capacity of 250 cubes and the release of the first half of the 90s. Here are only 28-30 "horses" and 120 km / h of maximum speed - clearly not enough. And then I got an older device, but with a big motor. At first, the "shaggy" year of his "birth" alerted. I compared the technical characteristics with the data of his “six-hundred-year-old brothers” five years younger - and was pleasantly surprised: the bike is quite light (141 kg of dry weight) and powerful (45 hp). That, in my opinion, should be a universal motorcycle on which it is possible - for me it is important - to ride even in winter.
I became the owner of the 1989 Suzuki DR600R Dakar. I didn’t have to get used to it and “roll on”. It was made as if specially for people of my physique: I’m not midget - it’s a little less than two meters tall, it’s very convenient to sit and climb on the steps. Legs reach the ground. Landing - classic, with fairly stretched sides of the triangle "steering wheel-saddle-steps". For stunted drivers, it is inconvenient - the motorcycle is quite high in the saddle (870 mm), and even the saddle is very wide. The seat, by the way, turned out to be comfortable and moderately soft: neither in racing mode, nor in cruise, the fifth point does not get tired, even if you go on cross tires … Looking ahead, I will say: the most serious minus that I noticed right away is in the front fork: it’s ancient designs, without adjustments, with a funny diameter of the bearing pipes (only 39 mm). And as a result - disgusting torsional rigidity. I did not wait for all this to kill me - I put the whole “in front” of the cross Honda CR250. And the motorcycle changed: handling became 216 percent better, a bunch of settings made it possible to "play" with the hydraulics. And outwardly everything is more beautiful - the old plug looked simply wretched.
Unlike a regular DR600, there is no electric starter on my engine to start. Looking for a kickstarter equipped with an automatic decompressor. The first time was unusual, but got used to it and looking for some from the first, maximum from the second “kick”. The previous owner installed a tuning "pipe" silencer. Although it is not straight-through, it also sounds bass and not very loud with it.
Its power is more than enough to "plow" off-road. The engine has an enviable elasticity and plague torque - it pulls like a tractor from the very “bottom”, and when moving from medium to high speeds I feel a mild pickup. Because of him, in first and second gears, the motorcycle rises to the rear wheel. For dynamic acceleration, the motor does not have to spin above 4000 rpm (according to the sensations).
Due to inexperience, several times at a low speed with an increased gear, the engine was shut off, and it is almost impossible to start it on the move even in fifth gear. I had to stop and start the engine with a kick. What is this talking about? The fact that in 16 years it’s not known what kind of life the engine has not passed a little and will pass another tens of thousands of kilometers (with its working volume and low level of boost, it will survive three “250s” of later years of production three times).
The gears are switched clearly, without errors. I’ll complain about the clutch: I have to make a considerable effort to squeeze the lever: after the first week of active driving, I noticed that my left hand was “pumped up”. This is because the clutch has to transmit tremendous torque. But I think this: it does not fit to save on the spring stiffness on the "Dakar" motik!
