DRZ400E conversion to supermoto advice required

[fazersteve]

Hi

I am new to this forum so please go easy on me!

Have just recently purchased a DRZ400E 2001/2002 and where I live in England UK, they have closed a lot of the green lanes making riding my bike more difficult.

I was thinking about converting it to more road use by adding some supermoto wheels.

What type/size should I be looking for and will they slot straight in or need spacers, will the existings brakes work etc,etc

Any helpful advice or pitfalls to look out for would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

[headster]

Hi

I am new to this forum so please go easy on me!

Have just recently purchased a DRZ400E 2001/2002 and where I live in England UK, they have closed a lot of the green lanes making riding my bike more difficult.

I was thinking about converting it to more road use by adding some supermoto wheels.

What type/size should I be looking for and will they slot straight in or need spacers, will the existings brakes work etc,etc

Any helpful advice or pitfalls to look out for would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

If your buying a set stock suzuki DRZ SM wheels then they will bolt right on with existing brakes and spacers.

Talon/excel are a common source of wheels, they use their own spacers.

If your going supermoto, you might as well upgrade the brakes to 320mm on the front, as the 210 doesnt have a great stopping power.

Tyres depend on the application being used for.

Where in the UK are you??

[suzukiac]

I have an S model and bought a set of RAD SM wheels. Superb quality and looks, plus I got them pretty quick ( though I live in NJ) for a good price. Also got the big rotor from EBC which came with a spacer needed to mount the caliper out further to fit the bigger disk ( just make sure you tell them what you're doing - SM wheels on a E or S model). You can use the stock disk, but its a non-floater and on my bike it howled and screeched when I grabbed the front brake. Plus the EBC one looks cool. I ride it to work every day (for at least the last 3 months) and I couldn't be happier!

Purchase an extra rear rotor and leave it bolted to the SM wheel, and leave the stock one on the stock wheel. Plus get a SM rear sprocket and leave it on the SM wheel - you and the bike will be much happier on the road, otherwise it'll be screaming on the highway.

Now that I've got all my stuff set up, it takes me only 20 minutes to convert back to dirt mode when my buddies call. Unbolt SM rear wheel, slide dirt wheel in, tighten bolt - 7 minutes. Unbolt front wheel and caliper, remove spacer, then toss on dirt wheel and put caliper back on - 13 minutes. Go have fun tearing it up!!

[aspencop129]

Hi

I am new to this forum so please go easy on me!

Have just recently purchased a DRZ400E 2001/2002 and where I live in England UK, they have closed a lot of the green lanes making riding my bike more difficult.

I was thinking about converting it to more road use by adding some supermoto wheels.

What type/size should I be looking for and will they slot straight in or need spacers, will the existings brakes work etc,etc

Any helpful advice or pitfalls to look out for would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

Steve, Are you going to convert permanently, or have two sets of wheels?

The least expensive route for you would be to but 17" SM rims on your stock hubs. The stock rotors will be fine for commuting duties, but you may find that you want to go bigger on the front rotor if you are being more aggressive. Stock Suzuki SM wheels will fit, but the front and rear rotors will not. They are different sizes than your E model rotors. You will want a smaller sprocket than you currently run on your E wheels. Talon/Excel is a nice set-up. SMPro is another nice set-up, and made in the UK! Warp9 is another option, however they are not DRZ specific hubs (not necessarily an issue, just pointing it out). The next question is what kind of speedo do you plan on ruunning? If going with an aftermarket computer type, you don't need to worry about the drive tabs in the front hub.....if you want to go with a stock S/SM speedo, you will need to be sure the hubs have the speedo drive tabs (some do not).

Hope this helps, you will love the SM setup! ?

[iowaBClivewire]

is this "E" a street leagl bike as it sits rite now ???

becouse over hear in the states (IOWA) the "E" is a offroad only bike and if I was trying what your doing it would be cheeper to go buy a new SM bike

becouse around hear you have to buy bikes with street leagl VIN #s from the factory

[fazersteve]

Thanks for your inputs guys that has given me some food for thought.

Must admit I hadn't even thought of the speedo bit.

The bike has a daylight MOT which means it doesn't need any lighting on it, but can obviously only be ridden in the daylight and I had planned to get the wheels in addition to the existing ones, so I take onboard the extra sprocket and rotor ideas to save time and also the bigger brake disc

I will keep looking on ebay to see what turns up.

Might need your advice again later!

Thanks again

Steve from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, SE England

[SavageSS]

Hi Mate,

I have an E model which in Aus are completely Street Legal ?

I too went to a Motard setup.

I got Talon Hubs and Excel rims, and also a bracket for the bigger wave disc I have on the front.

Takes me about an hour to swap over to dirt wheels..

I also got the Acerbis Super Moto front fender, looks good but sucks in rainy weather, the water spins off the front wheel, hits the lip of the guard and splashes over the light surround and me, I'm going to try out the Cycra front fender.

Have no issue with the brakes, and this is my daily ride, although I'm going Stainless Steel lines as I'm getting the 470 kit.

[fazersteve]

Hi

I have finally got some SM wheels off a 400SM (07) but because of the weather have not yet got around to trying them out yet, just looking at them.

Anyway, I have measured the max width of the front tyre as I was worried there was not enough room between the gaters of the front forks.

The tyre was 4 1/2 inches max and the gap between the gaters is less than that.

This means the tyre will rub the gaters. Is there anything I can do to get around this? I have also fitted the standard smaller front disc to the wheel as I didnt want to faff with relocating the caliper.

Any help/useful tips would be greatfully received.

Fazersteve

[matt_____400E]

Hello

The standard width of the front is 120

your tyre will not rub on the gaters because they are higher than the tyre.

Matt

[fazersteve]

Thanks for that Matt,

I hadn't factored that in. I thought something wasn't quite right.

Don't worry I will be back with somemore silly questions soon!

Fazersteve

[matt_____400E]

Hello fazersteve

Your not to far away from me, i have got the same type of set up just done it all, when you get up and running and the weathers a bit better prehaps we could meet up ? I have been out with these a couple of times.

http://www.trailridinginkent.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Good luck Matt (Dartford)

[rowpikable]

Hi Mate,

I have an E model which in Aus are completely Street Legal ?

I too went to a Motard setup.

I got Talon Hubs and Excel rims, and also a bracket for the bigger wave disc I have on the front.

Takes me about an hour to swap over to dirt wheels..

I also got the Acerbis Super Moto front fender, looks good but sucks in rainy weather, the water spins off the front wheel, hits the lip of the guard and splashes over the light surround and me, I'm going to try out the Cycra front fender.

Have no issue with the brakes, and this is my daily ride, although I'm going Stainless Steel lines as I'm getting the 470 kit.

Good to see another aussie Z'E rider on here and doin the supermoto convert im in the process and have some Warp 9 Rims to suit my E model DRZ 08, they came with free inner tubes, so i went to buy tyres to suit and i was told they would fir the rim i had. i explained that my rims had inner tubes, and the tyres they sent say tubeless? can i still use the tyres with tubes in them? or do i need to thread a valve into the rim?

[pilbaradrz]

Good to see another aussie Z'E rider on here and doin the supermoto convert ? im in the process and have some Warp 9 Rims to suit my E model DRZ 08, they came with free inner tubes, so i went to buy tyres to suit and i was told they would fir the rim i had. i explained that my rims had inner tubes, and the tyres they sent say tubeless? can i still use the tyres with tubes in them? or do i need to thread a valve into the rim?

Just put the tube in them.

[pilbaradrz]

Here is my SM conversion done a few Months ago.

Glen.

[rowpikable]

ive just done the DRZ E model supermoto transfer. i purchased a Trailtech Vapor computer to find the speed of the new 17" wheels. when i removed the stock speedo i saw lots of wires and none looking like the points on the Vapor. Im not exactly an electrician but have done some before. Has Anyone else replaced the standard computer with a Vapor? and what did they do?