DR650 for the dunes?

[Jedmys]

Has anyone ridden a stock DR at the dunes? I checked the past posts to see and did not find any. I've had a Honda XL500s and Yamaha TT500 at the dunes both with success, running knoby tires. The Honda was much better and could climb the "shute" at sand mountain (in Utah) in 3rd gear. The 2-strokes would alway blow past me... I'm wondering how a DR would do as all three bikes would be about equal in weight. I'm not looking to install a paddle, just use the Kenda 270's tires I run for all around use. I'd like to ride to the dunes, install the flag and go; then ride home at the end the day. Jed

[pnwdr350]

I think you'll do fine. Bring or find and air pump and air down your tires when you go on the dunes, air them back up before you head home

as for the 2 strokes, modified cr125's put a whooping on my stock dr350

[ProCycle]

DR650s suck in the sand. Both the XL500 and TT500 are considerably lighter. You can ride anything you want in sand if you have enough determination but nothing will work as well as a big bore 2-stroke.

[lowercasee]

nothing will work as well as a big bore 2-stroke.

+1

A CR500, KX500 or any other 500+ 2-stroke destroys the sand. God I miss my CR500.

[DIRTEE1]

I have run a paddle on my dr650 at Glamis and does just fine but go with a 14t sproket in the front. Will never go back to Glamis as to many knuckle heads. Would rather ride Gorman on a holiday weekend.

[iceman8]

Been in a little sand with my DR and would say it's marginal, but for sure the 14T would help...a bit. My sand "bike" is a 450R quad w/Sand Star paddles. I went down a tooth on that one and it climbs anything. Still cannot really hang with the two strokes though if the rider is any good at all.

Weekends...yeah. Even the Oregon Coast dunes now suck on weekends. So many wild azz "adults" and kids on the ragged edge of control, it's really irritating. Middle of the week is much better...what's Glamis like mid-week?

So as not to totally hi-jack...I'd like to hear back if in fact you do any mods and get some serious time on the dunes with your DR. I gotta believe you could make it OK for exploring around some worm trails and the beach but for climbing, not so much.

I gotta believe ProCycle has in fact "been there, done that" and knows. He's just a stones throw from some great sand riding.

[trailrider383]

DR650s suck in the sand. Both the XL500 and TT500 are considerably lighter. You can ride anything you want in sand if you have enough determination but nothing will work as well as a big bore 2-stroke.

+1. They do suck in sand. You can do it, but it's not much fun. You will burn a lot of calories though. ? I like riding in the sand with my CRF450X. It is light enough and revs quick enough to get on top of the sand quickly. The DR is heavy and slow revving. No good.

[NVDESERTKID]

I've never taken mine to the dunes but I've ridden lots of deep-sand washes with it and and all I can say is it's a good challenge, not a fun challenge necessarily. It really likes to dig in, you gotta keep alot of weight back. The one good thing is when cruising through other riders parallel tracks, the DR plows straight through them instead of being swished/pushed around.