I have really enjoyed this four part series. I have taken a deep bath in Charlie's Creek after a week of rain and it was no fun. I live over in Franklin so I do ride that part of the SM500 often. Safety Travels.
Thanks for the Video John. I'm kicking myself watching your series and how great the weather was. I planned to ride the 500 that weekend also, but East of Asheville we were drenched in rain and i backed out thinking it would reach there as well. Enjoyed the Scooter series as well! Take Care
Hey, total appreciation from a fellow (noob 2023 May purchase) Dr650 rider. Love watching other Dr650 owners doing all the rides that I wish to do. The whole, proof is in the pudding deal... Anyway, thank you for putting together this vedio series... Before seeing this, I was planning on the MABDR and the NEBDR...now seeing that there is something much closer to Savanah GA and maybe not quite as rugged, I think this would be a better first for popping the bikebacking ADV bug. Thanks again, and I see you have several other rides... Will be following those shortly. Cheers
I have not ridden the MABDR or the NEBDR but I have close friends who have - the MABDR is comparatively easy, light gravel and dirt roads and lots of backroad paved scenic roads. The NEBDR is supposedly pretty technical in places. For comparison, I'd guess the SM500 falls in between the two in difficulty. I definitely recommend it. My other big trips on my channel are the SM500 the year earlier in Himalayan's, the Great Continental Divide on my Himalayan, the Scooter Cannonball on my Vespa GTS, and some clips from the TAT trip - but for the TAT I recommend you watch it on my buddy @SomeGuyRides channel for the whole epic, ridiculous TAT trip on our Honda Trail 125's. I do have the "Team CT125" reunion ride on here as well, which was a year ago when we got together on the little Hondas again to shred for a day. I had two big trips lined up for this year, but a recent bad crash has put any riding in question for the foreseeable future as I am recovering from shoulder surgery. I have a trip to Italy with a group this summer, and was also going to do the MABDR on either my Scrambler or my DR650. It's possible all my riding for this year is now out the window. Will see how the recovery comes along. Thanks for checking out my channel.
Beautiful jacket, John. And very visible as well. Very nice trails around Suches, North Georgia. I had mentioned about an EFI modern version of the DR650. As you likely already know... that doesn't exist. They are still making them with a single carburetor. Even Yamaha updated their old XT250 to EFI several years ago. I assumed that all manufactures had done that. My bad... Gord
Yeah the DR is old school. They can’t sell it in Europe anymore. There are rumors the bike is going to be discontinued pretty soon. Apparently Suzuki’s motorcycle business is microscopic compared to their other lines - such as outboard boat motors.
@@JohnnyPowRides Thanks John. Yes, if they knew they were going to discontinue it, then they wouldn't put any further development into it. Too bad... it's really the only one in it's class.. especially at that price point. It's stupid to discontinue something that's been around that long because of ongoing demand. Better to sell the design parameters and the name DR650 to one of their competitors to update and continue that model. Gord
We all have Klim mesh gear. I really don’t like the fit of my gear to be honest. The jacket is huge I could stuff a pillow up inside of the torso it’s very bulky and cut weird. My Klim pants are aggravating also the legs are really baggy and heavy and the waist was so large they would fall down, so I went to a size smaller and the button broke off they were too tight. Klim stuff seems well made but I don’t like the fit. I can’t find anything I like. On this SM500 trip I wore riding jeans that I prefer much more but the ones I have don’t have a ton of protection. Also on the SCB I wore a “riding shirt” which is really like a lighter weight jacket with shoulder elbow and back pads. Again it’s not the beefiest protection but at least it fits
Great series John. Love the sound of that DR thumping through the trails!
I have really enjoyed this four part series. I have taken a deep bath in Charlie's Creek after a week of rain and it was no fun. I live over in Franklin so I do ride that part of the SM500 often. Safety Travels.
Thanks. There might be a part five. I need to scrub through it and see if there’s anything worth publishing
Thanks for the Video John. I'm kicking myself watching your series and how great the weather was. I planned to ride the 500 that weekend also, but East of Asheville we were drenched in rain and i backed out thinking it would reach there as well. Enjoyed the Scooter series as well! Take Care
Keep them coming John
Great video! Congratulations on the Scooter Cannon Ball!
Thank you!
Hey, total appreciation from a fellow (noob 2023 May purchase) Dr650 rider.
Love watching other Dr650 owners doing all the rides that I wish to do.
The whole, proof is in the pudding deal...
Anyway, thank you for putting together this vedio series...
Before seeing this, I was planning on the MABDR and the NEBDR...now seeing that there is something much closer to Savanah GA and maybe not quite as rugged, I think this would be a better first for popping the bikebacking ADV bug.
Thanks again, and I see you have several other rides...
Will be following those shortly.
Cheers
I have not ridden the MABDR or the NEBDR but I have close friends who have - the MABDR is comparatively easy, light gravel and dirt roads and lots of backroad paved scenic roads. The NEBDR is supposedly pretty technical in places. For comparison, I'd guess the SM500 falls in between the two in difficulty. I definitely recommend it.
My other big trips on my channel are the SM500 the year earlier in Himalayan's, the Great Continental Divide on my Himalayan, the Scooter Cannonball on my Vespa GTS, and some clips from the TAT trip - but for the TAT I recommend you watch it on my buddy @SomeGuyRides channel for the whole epic, ridiculous TAT trip on our Honda Trail 125's. I do have the "Team CT125" reunion ride on here as well, which was a year ago when we got together on the little Hondas again to shred for a day.
I had two big trips lined up for this year, but a recent bad crash has put any riding in question for the foreseeable future as I am recovering from shoulder surgery. I have a trip to Italy with a group this summer, and was also going to do the MABDR on either my Scrambler or my DR650. It's possible all my riding for this year is now out the window. Will see how the recovery comes along.
Thanks for checking out my channel.
Great footage, heading over there in September for the sm 500
👍💪✔️
Beautiful jacket, John. And very visible as well. Very nice trails around Suches, North Georgia.
I had mentioned about an EFI modern version of the DR650. As you likely already know... that doesn't exist. They are still making them with a single carburetor.
Even Yamaha updated their old XT250 to EFI several years ago. I assumed that all manufactures had done that. My bad...
Gord
Yeah the DR is old school. They can’t sell it in Europe anymore. There are rumors the bike is going to be discontinued pretty soon. Apparently Suzuki’s motorcycle business is microscopic compared to their other lines - such as outboard boat motors.
@@JohnnyPowRides Thanks John. Yes, if they knew they were going to discontinue it, then they wouldn't put any further development into it.
Too bad... it's really the only one in it's class.. especially at that price point. It's stupid to discontinue something that's been around that long because of ongoing demand. Better to sell the design parameters and the name DR650 to one of their competitors to update and continue that model.
Gord
Another great video....thanks John. Btw what's the intro music called??
It’s called “JPR Theme”. I made it about 12 years ago on my Korg Electribe
Hi John: >Its getting hot here. Which summer pants & jackets do u recommend? How about Ange? Which does he use? Thanks.
We all have Klim mesh gear. I really don’t like the fit of my gear to be honest. The jacket is huge I could stuff a pillow up inside of the torso it’s very bulky and cut weird. My Klim pants are aggravating also the legs are really baggy and heavy and the waist was so large they would fall down, so I went to a size smaller and the button broke off they were too tight. Klim stuff seems well made but I don’t like the fit. I can’t find anything I like. On this SM500 trip I wore riding jeans that I prefer much more but the ones I have don’t have a ton of protection. Also on the SCB I wore a “riding shirt” which is really like a lighter weight jacket with shoulder elbow and back pads. Again it’s not the beefiest protection but at least it fits
Do you wear any armor under the Rak pullover?
I was wearing Rak over my Klim Baja jacket. It was a very tight fit
What app do you use for navigation?
GAIA GPS. It’s great