Rpm?

[mitchp]

I have no tach on my 2001e model. I have 3 thumpers in my stall. The DRZ is the only one with no tach. This motor seems to like high REVs. Ive seen info about TINY tachs. Fill me in with torque/HP numbers if you know. Keep it on one wheel. Mitch ?

[jhondius]

The dr-z400 E model revs up to 10.500 RPM.

Suzuki says it makes 49HP i think.

Dyno'd at the rear wheel it makes 42- ish.

Peak HP is around 7500.

Search for dyno graphs of Eddie Sisneros.

I have an analog tach installed. Love it.

There are some options for tachs.

The easiest way is installing a complete aftermarket speedo unit that includes a tach.

[Ken in Regina]

I have a Tiny Tach. I like it. My first one died but the Canadian distributor was good to replace it without any hassle. The second one has held up fine.

EDIT: Ooops, forgot to mention that it was pretty easy to install if you're comfortable pulling the gas tank.

...ken...

[mitchp]

I had no idea these motors would rev that high. Wow 9000 plus rpms . My race built 2 valve XT 560 only revs to 6500, with horsepower peak is at 5500. Thanks for the info Mitch

[mitchp]

The dr-z400 E model revs up to 10.500 RPM.

Suzuki says it makes 49HP i think.

Dyno'd at the rear wheel it makes 42- ish.

Peak HP is around 7500.

Search for dyno graphs of Eddie Sisneros.

I have an analog tach installed. Love it.

There are some options for tachs.

The easiest way is installing a complete aftermarket speedo unit that includes a tach.

Im back with another inquirey. My 2001e model is running 15/41 gear. If my trial tech indicates 65mph, what kind of rpm do you think the engine is turning? To my ear the motor is starting to sound pretty buzzy. Thanks Mitch.

[topaz250]

google gearingcommander works great. there is a spreadsheet in the FAQ page 3 also.

just enter in your sprocket sizes.

[joop1987]

I have a TrailTech TTO and like it. Just wrap a sensor wire around the spark plug wire. But it's not backlit so you can't see it at night. I never got my DRZ to rev faster than 9600 RPM.

http://trailtech.net/tto_tach-hour.html

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[mitchp]

I have a TrailTech TTO and like it. Just wrap a sensor wire around the spark plug wire. But it's not backlit so you can't see it at night. I never got my DRZ to rev faster than 9600 RPM.

http://trailtech.net/tto_tach-hour.html

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I am familear with no backlite. i just shift by ear. I have a couple of vintage thumper/race bikes, but damn these DRZs are like road race bikes in a dirt frame. Im also a vintage dragbike racer so i race my kaw H1 with no tach, and shift it by EAR. If you overrev a DRZ, does the ignition have a built in rev limiter? Mitch

[joop1987]

I am familear with no backlite. i just shift by ear. I have a couple of vintage thumper/race bikes, but damn these DRZs are like road race bikes in a dirt frame. Im also a vintage dragbike racer so i race my kaw H1 with no tach, and shift it by EAR. If you overrev a DRZ, does the ignition have a built in rev limiter? Mitch

Yes, it has a rev limiter. When you hit the maximum RPM, it feels like it just pulls timing and won't let if rev higher (smooth cut off). It's not a fuel cut off (hard cut off).

[jhondius]

The E cdi box limits rev to 10.500

So go ahead en rev the hell out of it.

Your Z likes it.

Isn't 15/41 a bit tall gearing for nobby size wheels?

The SM model with its 17" wheel use 15/41 stock.

S is 15/44, and equivalent to SM.

E is 14/47 stock if i remember correctly.

15/44 would bring you to about 100 mph in 5th gear at 10.000 rpm

[Ken in Regina]

Im back with another inquirey. My 2001e model is running 15/41 gear. If my trial tech indicates 65mph, what kind of rpm do you think the engine is turning? To my ear the motor is starting to sound pretty buzzy. Thanks Mitch.

My 09 SM (stock 15/41) with 17" wheels is only turning about 6000 at 65mph. With an 18" rear wheel, your revs should be a little lower?

On my SM, 6000 is just at the lower edge of the meaty part of the powerband and beginning to feel properly responsive.

I put a 14t front sprocket on it in October for a week in the mountains on logging roads and ATV trails. I left it on when I got home. It's running right around 6500 at 65mph and I think I like it a little better there. A small turn of the throttle makes it pull like a freight train. ? As others have mentioned on here and I have discovered, spinning the stock engine past 8500 is a complete waste of time. But 6000 to 8500 is where all the fun happens.

...ken...

[ptgarcia]

Im back with another inquirey. My 2001e model is running 15/41 gear. If my trial tech indicates 65mph, what kind of rpm do you think the engine is turning? To my ear the motor is starting to sound pretty buzzy. Thanks Mitch.

You're just getting into the meat of the powerband at that point, probably around 6000 rpm. Don't be afraid to twist that throttle!

[mitchp]

:ride:This train of thought about gearing is something i have wondered about. I bought the bike with this 15/41 set up. Previous owner claimed he only rode the bike on the street. I am going to drop front sprocket to a 14tooth, hoping to make it a bit more trail worthy. But this doesnt seem right because the bike seems very revvey at just 65 to 70 mph. This is why i would like to get some kind of tach. So if i go back to the stock gearing 14/47, will this bike be comforable at 70mph? Is 14/47 a good comprimise for a bike that will see about 70/30 street/trail use. This bike is very fun and i love riding it. I own four bikes, XT 560 Yam, ZRX1200 Kaw, 350 Royal Enfield, and the DRZe. I think the other three bikes are getting jealous as i have been riding the Suzuki so much. Mitch.

[mitchp]

My 09 SM (stock 15/41) with 17" wheels is only turning about 6000 at 65mph. With an 18" rear wheel, your revs should be a little lower?

On my SM, 6000 is just at the lower edge of the meaty part of the powerband and beginning to feel properly responsive.

I put a 14t front sprocket on it in October for a week in the mountains on logging roads and ATV trails. I left it on when I got home. It's running right around 6500 at 65mph and I think I like it a little better there. A small turn of the throttle makes it pull like a freight train. ? As others have mentioned on here and I have discovered, spinning the stock engine past 8500 is a complete waste of time. But 6000 to 8500 is where all the fun happens.

...ken...

Im thinking my ear makes a piss poor tach. MItch

[ptgarcia]

:ride:This train of thought about gearing is something i have wondered about. I bought the bike with this 15/41 set up. Previous owner claimed he only rode the bike on the street. I am going to drop front sprocket to a 14tooth, hoping to make it a bit more trail worthy. But this doesnt seem right because the bike seems very revvey at just 65 to 70 mph. This is why i would like to get some kind of tach. So if i go back to the stock gearing 14/47, will this bike be comforable at 70mph? Is 14/47 a good comprimise for a bike that will see about 70/30 street/trail use. This bike is very fun and i love riding it. I own four bikes, XT 560 Yam, ZRX1200 Kaw, 350 Royal Enfield, and the DRZe. I think the other three bikes are getting jealous as i have been riding the Suzuki so much. Mitch.

I wouldn't run 14/47 for that much street use. I suggest you try stock S gearing (15/44) and give that a go. If I remember right, with my 15/47 gearing I'm turning a bit over 7000 rpm at 70 mph. 14/47 will be 7% higher.

[Ken in Regina]

Im thinking my ear makes a piss poor tach. MItch ?

Me too. That's why I got the Tiny Tach.

I think the first good sign is that you are finding the bike to be really fun to ride just as it is. That means you haven't encountered any situations where the current gearing is horrid for your purposes.

It helps a lot if you are comfortable with revvy engines. I've been riding Japanese bikes and Japanese automobiles for decades, so I'm quite comfortable with engines that love to spin fast. The DRZ is definitely one of those!

Regarding your gearing concerns, I've already mentioned the higher speed factor .. 6000rpm @ 65mph with SM stock gearing of 15/41 and 6500rpm @ 65mph with 14/41.

Here's what I discovered when a friend and I did some single track out in the Rockies in October. I dropped a tooth on the CS (15 to 14) in preparation for that trip. It helped in slow speed situations. But even 14/41 was too tall for slow speed donking when the terrain gets uneven and you need to climb over things at very low speed.

The engine has nothing for you at anything under about 1800rpm. At 1500rpm it will stall instantly if you encounter the slightest resistance to forward motion ... even a small rock or hump in the trail. So lots of clutch slipping is required to keep the engine running at slow speeds.

To put this into perspective, if you want to avoid stalling on even the most minor obstacles like loose rocks or small branches, AND you want to not have to slip the clutch, you need to be running the engine at at least 2000rpm. Without slipping the clutch, that's just over 8mph with the 15/41 gearing or

just under 8mph with 14/41. On tight single track with the occasional small rock ledge to climb over or rocky stream to get into and out of, that's just too fast.

My plan for my next trip to the Rockies is to change to a 47 or 48 tooth rear. 14/48 will get the stall point (1500rpm) down to closer to 5mph. That's significant.

You said 70/30 street/trail. What kind of "street" and what kind of "trail"? It matters.

For instance, if most of the 70% "street" you want to be hooting down the highway at 70mph, you need to be comfortable spinning the engine continuously at a little under 7000rpm (14/41). Or else you will need to change the CS sprocket to 15t to get back to 6500rpm or 16t to get to 6000rpm.

It's not a question of the engine's comfort: it's happy to do that all day. It's a question of whether you can, too. It's a little bit buzzy. A little too buzzy for some. Others simply aren't comfortable operating their motors at that speed for more than a short burst, even though the motor is right in the juiciest part of the power band.

On the other hand, if you are doing a mix that includes a fair bit of time on city streets at slower speeds, something like 14/41 will be fine, no matter what your comfort level is for spinning the motor.

As for the "trail" part, if that's mostly roaring around on gravel and dirt roads and maybe following the occasional easy cowtrail, you may be very happy with 14/41 gearing or even 15/41 gearing. Especially if you're a good enough rider that you don't mind having to do a bit of clutch slipping from time to time.

But if you plan to do anything that requires riding and maneuvering at very slow speeds over moderately tricky terrain, continuous clutch slipping gets old really fast and you'll want to explore a much bigger rear sprocket for those times when you plan a day with some of that stuff in it.

At this point, if you're having fun with it, I would suggest you just keep riding it and try a few of the things you think might give you difficulty. You might be pleasantly surprised that it handles it well, or at least good enough for as often as you might do it. Or you might want to change something to compensate.

For deciding whether, and how, to compensate, I can't say enough good things about a tach to see what's really happening and the Excel spreadsheet linked above for seeing what different sprocket combinations will do for the road speed at different engine speeds. Some people are good with the spreadsheet alone but I need to also have the physical experiences combined with knowing the engine speeds to make the numbers in the spreadsheet real for me. Without knowing, say, that the engine flat out stalls with the tiniest resistance at 1500rpm and how fast I'm going at engine speeds that will prevent that stalling without a lot of clutch slipping, it's really hard to appreciate any of the different sprocket combinations that might resolve that problem.

And it's double the problem if I don't also know what it means to me if a sprocket combination that will work great for slow speed donking will end up pushing the engine speed up to 7500rpm @ 65mph.

Sorry for the novel. Hope it helps.

...ken...

[Motor7]

Ken...excellent post. I am also looking at sprocket swapping & that info helps a ton.....thanks!

RD

[Ken in Regina]

Y'er welcome. Glad it was useful.

...ken...

[mitchp]

Me too. That's why I got the Tiny Tach.

I think the first good sign is that you are finding the bike to be really fun to ride just as it is. That means you haven't encountered any situations where the current gearing is horrid for your purposes.

It helps a lot if you are comfortable with revvy engines. I've been riding Japanese bikes and Japanese automobiles for decades, so I'm quite comfortable with engines that love to spin fast. The DRZ is definitely one of those!

Regarding your gearing concerns, I've already mentioned the higher speed factor .. 6000rpm @ 65mph with SM stock gearing of 15/41 and 6500rpm @ 65mph with 14/41.

Here's what I discovered when a friend and I did some single track out in the Rockies in October. I dropped a tooth on the CS (15 to 14) in preparation for that trip. It helped in slow speed situations. But even 14/41 was too tall for slow speed donking when the terrain gets uneven and you need to climb over things at very low speed.

The engine has nothing for you at anything under about 1800rpm. At 1500rpm it will stall instantly if you encounter the slightest resistance to forward motion ... even a small rock or hump in the trail. So lots of clutch slipping is required to keep the engine running at slow speeds.

To put this into perspective, if you want to avoid stalling on even the most minor obstacles like loose rocks or small branches, AND you want to not have to slip the clutch, you need to be running the engine at at least 2000rpm. Without slipping the clutch, that's just over 8mph with the 15/41 gearing or

just under 8mph with 14/41. On tight single track with the occasional small rock ledge to climb over or rocky stream to get into and out of, that's just too fast.

My plan for my next trip to the Rockies is to change to a 47 or 48 tooth rear. 14/48 will get the stall point (1500rpm) down to closer to 5mph. That's significant.

You said 70/30 street/trail. What kind of "street" and what kind of "trail"? It matters.

For instance, if most of the 70% "street" you want to be hooting down the highway at 70mph, you need to be comfortable spinning the engine continuously at a little under 7000rpm (14/41). Or else you will need to change the CS sprocket to 15t to get back to 6500rpm or 16t to get to 6000rpm.

It's not a question of the engine's comfort: it's happy to do that all day. It's a question of whether you can, too. It's a little bit buzzy. A little too buzzy for some. Others simply aren't comfortable operating their motors at that speed for more than a short burst, even though the motor is right in the juiciest part of the power band.

On the other hand, if you are doing a mix that includes a fair bit of time on city streets at slower speeds, something like 14/41 will be fine, no matter what your comfort level is for spinning the motor.

As for the "trail" part, if that's mostly roaring around on gravel and dirt roads and maybe following the occasional easy cowtrail, you may be very happy with 14/41 gearing or even 15/41 gearing. Especially if you're a good enough rider that you don't mind having to do a bit of clutch slipping from time to time.

But if you plan to do anything that requires riding and maneuvering at very slow speeds over moderately tricky terrain, continuous clutch slipping gets old really fast and you'll want to explore a much bigger rear sprocket for those times when you plan a day with some of that stuff in it.

At this point, if you're having fun with it, I would suggest you just keep riding it and try a few of the things you think might give you difficulty. You might be pleasantly surprised that it handles it well, or at least good enough for as often as you might do it. Or you might want to change something to compensate.

For deciding whether, and how, to compensate, I can't say enough good things about a tach to see what's really happening and the Excel spreadsheet linked above for seeing what different sprocket combinations will do for the road speed at different engine speeds. Some people are good with the spreadsheet alone but I need to also have the physical experiences combined with knowing the engine speeds to make the numbers in the spreadsheet real for me. Without knowing, say, that the engine flat out stalls with the tiniest resistance at 1500rpm and how fast I'm going at engine speeds that will prevent that stalling without a lot of clutch slipping, it's really hard to appreciate any of the different sprocket combinations that might resolve that problem.

And it's double the problem if I don't also know what it means to me if a sprocket combination that will work great for slow speed donking will end up pushing the engine speed up to 7500rpm @ 65mph.

Sorry for the novel. Hope it helps.

...ken...

Thank you Ken, your reply to my question was very informitive, not to mention a great post. Keep it on one wheel. Mitch. ?

[Motor7]

Rocky Mtn has RMA rear sprockets closeouts for for $16.75:

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/vehicleFilter.do?webCatId=9&webTypeId=124&navTitle=&navType=&uri=%2Fcloseouts.do&prevVehicleType=&prevMake=&prevModel=&keyword=&vehicleTypeId=&make=&model=&year=&applyFilter4196=Search

I ordered it & a 14T front......aaaaand a few othere things to get the free shipping:thumbsup:

RD