I owned a '93 650L and it was just ok. Now that's a topheavy tallish bike. I used it to commute to work a couple times and with stock gearing it could cruise at 65 pretty well. Being around 320# wet, it was less affected by crosswinds and it was very reliable. Having the same frame\suspension as the xr600, it was more dirt oriented; my brother raced it in a few enduros and could place it in the top 5 in A open back then. A dr650 has a great motor, lower seat height and can cruise also at 65 ish but is a few pounds heavier than the xr....more street oriented.

 

Heck, I can't swing my leg over my 650...

So I simply grab the front brake and step up on the left peg then swing my leg easily over the seat and park my butt.

I'm thinking for even up money I'd do the DRz most likely. As far as the suspension, it is simply just not an inverted fork. I'm not so sure the KLX fork is any big thing since it's pretty much a standard non-cartridge fork. Fact is if the DRz has adjustability on the fork and the KLX doesn't the DRz is probably a better quality suspender. I don't know if the shock is adjustable on the KLX, but most DRzs have adjustable damping on the shocks too.

The main riding you do should rule your choice. A lot of woods and trails do the big inch KLX. If you run a lot of roads do the DRz and maybe step up the countershaft sprocket tooth count or decrease the rear sprocket tooth count. I ride regularly with a friend on his DRz, no problem on any roads we run. On his first one where he did the 17" rims he was constantly doing like 85 mph everywhere on the back roads when we went out playing "joe supermoto"... until he got one of the DRz SM speedo gear drives. Then he realized how fast he was going and backed off. Those engines can take it.

The DRzs are still considered a pretty darn good dual sport by the media - people who pretty much get to ride everything in sight.

 

My buddy just got a like-new DR650 that had been lowered. He had me ride it. I was polite and told him it was nice. You're right about the motor being very nice. But I felt like I was riding a Sportster.

 

Why not both????
I have a CRF250X that is my lightweight bike, pleny of power but, high strung and high maintenance.
I have the KLX351 which is a great middle weight bike with plenty of grunt and virtually no maintenance needed.
Next year i plan on springing for a used DR650, putting her on a diet, and adding the 780 big bore kit. Then i will have a heavy weight dual sport that weighs in at a smidge over 300lbs. again no maintenance.
If you dont care about frequesnt maintenance and have some cash to throw around, get the KTM 690 enduro. I think it's right at 300 lbs. fuel injected, and real fast.

 

You'll end up either doing some work on the forks of the DR or I'd just do a fork swap. The front end doesn't even feel like it tracks right on pavement. The forks on my KLR feel MUCH better even though they're smaller diameter.

 

Add some drz forks and even the shock to the 650.

 

Is this Dave from Browns Mills?

 

Nope.

 

You and I are in pretty much the same boat! I have a 331KLX and a KTM 200XC-W for the light bike. I just sat on a 2010 KTM 690R yestarday and this bike will more than likely be added to the fleet soon. I have a 07 Wee-Strom and it is just not thrilling to ride and it is pretty heavy to be riding in the dirt.

Dennis

 

I too like the idea of the DR650 as more of a long hauler, road oriented bike. It reminds me of the more stripped down, pre-2008 KLR's. Low cost, sturdy motor, and tons of aftermarket to make it the bike you want. It's on my short list for next bike, along with Versys and KLR.

This is a blatant hijack but it's raining out and the reference to the XR650 reminded me of something I saw on a day trip to Columbia in late January that the enduro guys here will recognize.

I saw an enduro looking bike that was a Honda, but the model name was covered. It was older looking and for the life of me I couldn't identify it from 50 feet away which was as close as I could get. I looked at the Honda wiki entry, and the closest I could figure was it was a transalp, but I could have sworn it was either a single or paralell twin, and the transalp is a V. Long story short, I discovered it was a NX650 Dominator, which were only sold stateside for two years in the late 80's.

The XR connection is that I always thought the XR 650 was jist a re-tooled XR 600, with a big bore, but it apparently is the XR 600 chassis with the dominator engine. Reason I thought it was a twin was it had the Honda exhaust with a header for each of the two valves, but instead of merging, there were two cans, one on each side and not stacked on the same side like the Transalp.

I still see some XR 600's on the road, they must really hold up to still be running after all these years, especially as they were often used as a hooligan bike. The Dominator was really cool looking, almost kind of KLR-ish, too bad it didn't sell.