Van Islander's DR650

[TX650A Van Islander]

Fwiw, the cargo strap used to be my method of choice seating the beads. Now I just use liberal amounts of soapy water and repeated airings all the way up to 60-70lbs if needed.
Air it up, bounce it off the ground, let the air out, add more water and then bounce the tire off the floor repeatedly all the way around to perimeter.... more soap and air it again. Even stubborn tires will succumb to that.

View attachment 339552

That's essentially what I ended up doing. I ditched the strap and then just aired it up and took the valve core out a few times over, while lubricating the tire again. Will definitely get some proper tire lubricant and pack a small amount in my tool kit. The front got up to about 70 psi. The rear seated with that great thunking sound quickly, but had to go up to about 70 psi to do it. I didn't take a picture of all of the patches I had to put on my otherwise new rear tube.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

The new vs old rear sprocket, and following up on Vincenthdfan's recommendation, I took the signal lights off and will consider modifying the original mounting brackets to fit where I want them. They're in the photo too. I may have to modify the top front brake line guide though to do that, so still may make some other brackets. The Acerbis hand guards I have are pretty big and they restrict where the huge signal lights can go.

 

[JAX71224]

That's essentially what I ended up doing. I ditched the strap and then just aired it up and took the valve core out a few times over, while lubricating the tire again. Will definitely get some proper tire lubricant and pack a small amount in my tool kit. The front got up to about 70 psi. The rear seated with that great thunking sound quickly, but had to go up to about 70 psi to do it. I didn't take a picture of all of the patches I had to put on my otherwise new rear tube.

Also when mounting tube type tires, a dusting of talcum powder between tire and tube helps to prevent wrinkles and so on in there.

 

[Vincenthdfan]

 

[Vincenthdfan]

The new vs old rear sprocket, and following up on Vincenthdfan's recommendation, I took the signal lights off and will consider modifying the original mounting brackets to fit where I want them. They're in the photo too. I may have to modify the top front brake line guide though to do that, so still may make some other brackets. The Acerbis hand guards I have are pretty big and they restrict where the huge signal lights can go.
View attachment 339588View attachment 339589View attachment 339590

Yeah, sorry...I should've been more specific...see my pics above.

 

[willis]

Apparently a common practice by many. I’ve seen vids where guys arid on the edge of the tire and were literally launched when the fluid was ignited. I’m too chicken to do this.

It’s not that big of a deal. Those videos are of old split rim semi tires. They killed many men who fucked around and found out. It used to be common practice seating a semi tire bead with starter fluid. Sometimes they just wouldn’t seat with the proper tools, or sometimes on roadside repairs it was a quick way to reseat the tire bead. The key is to make sure the valve core is out when you ignite it. It does a nice WHOOMP sound though.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Yeah, sorry...I should've been more specific...see my pics above.

Thanks. I'll try again tomorrow. It first appeared that if I did that, the signal light would impact my hand guards.

 

[dave_a]

https://www.advrider.com/why-the-dr650-still-makes-sense-for-2025/

 

[Vincenthdfan]

Thanks. I'll try again tomorrow. It first appeared that if I did that, the signal light would impact my hand guards.

Yeah, Im still running the stock factory fly style guards...they provide great coverage and keep the cold winds off my hands as well when the temps dip back down.

 

[JOHNDADDY]

Last time I mounted tires I used spray silicone, it worked very well.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Last time I mounted tires I used spray silicone, it worked very well.

Good idea. I have not tried that but I always put baby powder in the tires before installing the tube as jax71224 noted.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Shame on me. I've been a bad poster of photos. The DR is almost ready to go back on the road. Front turn signals: I followed Vincenthdfan's advice of exchanging sides for the mounting brackets but ended up cutting off the locating tabs which were in the way. Valve adjust done - had to loosen of the exhaust a bit, intake was OK. Bigger fuel tank mounted fine. Had to do a few tweaks to the mounting hardware for the seat and cut down the tab which secures the seat to the tank as it was a bit wide. New chain installed and master link riveted in place nicely. I also replaced the original air filter with a nice thick UNI filter. Quite the difference in material composition for sure vs original.
This weekend is supposed to be nice so a road test is planned. I'm looking forward to getting this bike back on the road and the TX650A back into my shop for an extensive service and cleanup.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Saturday was a great motorbike day. I rode all three of my bikes as it was sunny and perhaps 7 degrees. I took the DR on a short neighbourhood shakedown run for 15 km and it's so nice to have that running again.