Then the wheels came off

[Robin Brown]

Up until 53 000km my DR, which has been carefully maintained and no expense spared, plus as an oldie it is not ridden as hard as my younger companions was a great reliable machine.
Then after a 1 000km odd trip into the Karoo it started making funny noises and the clutch lever would vibrate, which I put down to a well worn clutch and confidently took it to a knowledgable mechanic.
First diagnosis was a possible clutch basket needing replacement.
But once opened he found the main shaft bearings totally totalled.
And I thought a Suzuki DR was practically indestructable.
The final diagnosis is to split the motor and then - maybe, maybe, maybe not only the two bearings need replacing but oil pump, main bearings, possible piston and on and on and on as the filings from the shattered bearings may have scored the whole insides.
Possible guestimate anything from R15 000 upwards, "depending on what we find".
So for R55 000 less VAT R47 300 (thanks to being a VAT vendor) it was cheaper to buy a new and last model available and strip the old one, keep my IMS tank, steel brake lines, front and back wheels as offroaders and sell off the frame with progressive springs, new swing arm bearings etc.
Now this latest DR I will sell off at R30 000km.
And they are not indestructable.

[Dux]

Maintenance and riding behaviour definitely do make a difference , but that is not to say that there aren't faulty bearings and suchforth inside the engine , there are just so many things that can cause engine failure .

[ChrisL - DUSTRIDERS]

Robin what oil did you use in your bike?
Not that it would have made any difference just curious.

[Robin Brown]

Castrol Act-Evo for the first 30 000 odd kms and then I went on to Ravenol.

[lecap]

I had a perished crank shaft bearing after 40 odd thousand kilometres on one of my DR's.
It was caused by the shaft being 0.15mm undersize and the shaft moving inside the inner race of the left main bearing (it's supposed to be a light press fit).
The niggling eventually killed the bearing.
I was lucky and caught it early. No collateral damage. Only the left main bearing running rough. Disassembled the crank, hard chromed and ground to size the shaft, fitted 2 new main bearings and all fine.

Monday bike, shite happens.

I would not say you have to sell a DR after 30,000km. My black DR is on 122,000km and counting and does not even use oil.

The choice of engine oil would in Robin's case not have made any difference.

Roller bearing damage is the result of:
lack of lubrication & cooling (no oil)
exceeding design limits (over revving, big ends are vulnerable)
FOI
Corrosion
Normal wear (obviously not in this case)

[Grumpleton]

Just done my DRZ for the same fault, all new bearing and oil pump, cam chain and guides  as well all for about R 10000.00

 the symptoms I had was, could not select gears ,

 when we opened the clutch cover and removed the clutch we found the bearing basket on the main gearbox bearings had collapsed, the main bearings were also blue from overheating,

 we got all the bearings bar the two main crank bearings from bearing distributors on Vredenburgh and the rest came from Suzuki , bearings from bearing supplier R 560, 00, two main bearings from Suzuki R 585.00 each was an expensive undertaking but now the bike runs sweet,

 I got the bike on 8000 km, I have done 15000 on it, I have serviced every 3000 with Castrol actovo and new filter. I don’t know what the motor was run on before but there was some evidence of bad maintenance and some bolts loosening with a chisel from the previous owner,

 The mechanic  that put it all together for me was a stickler for doing things correctly, everything was properly washed including the oil tank with 25 flushes of diesel before we got all the metal out of the tank, so If you are going to rebuild let me know I have a great mechanic friend who now knows the DRZ motor intermit.