Stevie’s French '98, Mid-90's WR/YZ/DT (An idiotproof guide to building your own DTR)

[Stevie Wonder]

Yes my FZS600, a great bike with plenty of power. Very Rev happy, very reliable too. I’d definitely own one again. Unfortunately I had to sell it. My only complaint isn’t really so much a complaint but more personal preference and that’s that it felt like riding a two stroke, the power was very linear yet flat at low revs but increased more and more with the revs. It makes for a lot of fun but personally if I wanted that feeling I’d just experience the real deal by riding a two stroke. If I’m riding four stroke I like bottom end and not having to constantly be on revving the tits of it. It gets annoying after a while, that is unless it’s a two stroke.

Update with the bike, I’ve sourced some parts for the DTR thanks to a certain someone (forget their @). I’m getting rid of the 200r headlight, making a second rear plate holder and at some point I might buy some replica OEM indicators. The 19” rear will eventually go but I’m not replacing it with anything other than an excel 18” so that’ll take time and $$$. From the parts I sourced was a headlight frame to put the original back on, quite looking forward to putting the original back on to be honest!
I do need to somehow sort out a mount for it. I also replaced the rear mud flap as my one got eaten by a whopping great big knobbly that I put on my bike when I first got it. 140/80-18’s aren’t for your bike is what I’d tell myself if I could .

So far so good with everything really, since being rebuilt I’ve only rid her around a couple times, she’s yet to go on any proper outings though.

On my list of jobs to do was to change the pads as the right side of my EBC pad had literally just fallen off. What was meant to be a quick job turned into a bit of a nightmare though as the calliper wouldn’t come away from the hanger. Many hits and a lot of heat made absolutely no difference at all. When it finally did budge it was just the thread of the pin coming loose

I’ve since disconnected the calliper from the hose and left it to soak in methylated spirit as the Aussie’s on fb said that remedied their issue with the calliper fusing/seizing to the pin to their 200r’s.
I’ve been told it’s a common problem, if any one has any advice for this then let me know.

Id noticed the seals of the piston protruding out too, so whilst I am tempted to push the piston in give it all a thorough clean and then Chuck it back together so it’s sorted, I know it’s only going to be a temporary fix and it’ll need to be done one day.

Plus knowing that my callipers seized to the hangar bucks the shit out of me because everything else on my bike has been perfect,

[Calum]

Uuuhhmmm, two strokes aren't linear power. I think you've misphrased that.

A lot of road going four strokes I've ridden are gutless and you have to wring their necks to actually make them fast. I don't see that as being akin to a two stroke.

ZX6R

Where as an RD350LC, or two stroke will have a much more erratic explosive powerband.

Bear in mind on the RD, you're talking about something which makes DTR power just above idle. So they are very rideable, but the real fun/power is up at those higher RPMs.

You really need to be up there (750cc+) on four strokes for them to actually be fast IMO.

[Stevie Wonder]

A lot of road going four strokes I've ridden are gutless and you have to wring their necks to actually make them fast. I don't see that as being akin to a two stroke.

That’s exactly what I mean, I’m not talking about the literal powerband but the way the bike feels and is ridden. That revvy in-line four akin to the DT is begging to have its necks wrung because you literally double the amount of power high up in the revs and like said that’s how you make them fast

[Calum]

@Stevie-Wonder Yeah, I see what you're saying. With a bigger 4 stroke it's not like that so much. I haven't yet ridden a super bike however.

[SpookDog]

@Stevie-Wonder

I had an old Suzuki gn/dr 400 single cylinder mongrel that I put a sidecar on so I could ride it on L plates. It was like riding a tractor it was so torque’y. Uphill or down, pull away whatever gear, it just loved to pull
Gotta love torque!

I lost a lot of brake power to having a worn slide pin. The calliper just kinda tilted sideways for a big part on the levers throw. I was going to drill out the calliper (the hole was oval-ed) and put an oversized pin in, but couldn’t find one.
Failing that put a brass sleeve in it and a standard size new one, but couldn’t find one! Got a titanium one that turned out to be too small diameter. Gave up and just stripped it and replaced the rubbers and seals. Grease the pin!

Apart from major heat I’d soak it in vinegar or washing soda, or even caustic soda to try and release it. Also, if it’s that corroded I’d replace the piston with a stainless or titanium one…

Good luck bud, nice to know you’re still about…

[Stevie Wonder]

@Calum when I rode a CBR900rr fire blade it still produces that same style of power but was no where near as revvy as the fazer.

The fazer wanted to be ridden past 8k everywhere, by all means you could ride it under but it just didn’t feel like you was using it properly

[Stevie Wonder]

@SpookDog thank you mate. I hope you’re well. I had a lot of plans this year but life decided otherwise

I’ll keep everyone posted with things coming

[Hark_Ptooie]

Good looking thing! Love the decals in front.

My bike got stolen and smashed to pieces and I was sick of the sight of it, hence why it went and got modified.

Both my previous DT125's were stolen, smashed up, and found in a ditch. First in 1991, second in 1999. What it is with DT's and sadistic thieves?

The second one had done a thorough job, there were wooden sticks protruding from holes in the expansion chamber and headlight.

[HOTSHOT III]

@Hark_Ptooie said in Stevie’s French '98, Mid-90's WR/YZ/DT (An idiotproof guide to building your own DTR):

Good looking thing! Love the decals in front.

My bike got stolen and smashed to pieces and I was sick of the sight of it, hence why it went and got modified.

Both my previous DT125's were stolen, smashed up, and found in a ditch. First in 1991, second in 1999. What it is with DT's and sadistic thieves?

The second one had done a thorough job, there were wooden sticks protruding from holes in the expansion chamber and headlight.

@Hark_Ptooie I think it's jealousy. When you're 17-18 yrs old and rock up on a flash 125, it really gets people's backs up, specially if they're the kinds of teenagers who aren't capable of anything more than sitting in a bus shelter, drinking two litres of cider and endlessly complaining "there's nothing to do round here".

When I got my 1st DTR at 17 it changed my life, we lived somewhere pretty remote by UK standards but suddenly I was able to ride out 7 or 8 miles to the nearest town and see some mates. So I unwittingly came in for rather a lot of this because I had a nice DTR, plus the fact I was faced with the petty-minded attitude of people who realised I didn't grow up on their street, go to the same school as them etc. This included:

My bike being vandalised several times when parking it in the middle of town.

An endless supply of bozos flicking the kill switch to "off" when I wasn't looking.

On one occasion I parked the bike outside a pub full of "local people" and someone pulled the 2T oil feed pipe off the reed block which resulted in the engine seizing solid at nearly 70mph. AC lighting + seizure = the lights go out when the rear wheel locks in pitch darkness. I saved it with the clutch but this was a terrifying experience and extremely spiteful, whoever did that knew what they were doing with two-strokes and fully intended to cause harm. I never found out who did it.

I went to school in the 80s where we had it drummed into us that we were very lucky to live in the free world. The Berlin Wall came down when I was 15 and I'll never forget watching the people streaming across the border on the news, it was the 1st political event I ever paid attention to. Looking around at all the beautiful consumer products we're able to own in industrialised western countries, it's a great shame that jealousy, cowardice and fragile egos conspire to mean one has to be careful. If you read the chapter in Animal Farm where one of the younger pigs comes up with some new ideas to run the farm more efficiently, and the senior pig urinates all over them before storming off, that is basically the mindset you're coming up against with such people. In the USSR they could send you off to the gulag but in a free society, they have to be content with fucking up something owned and enjoyed by you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znb_X48WXUg&t=3s

Please don't consider this a negative post. Individualism is a lonely and difficult journey but 100% worth it.

[Hark_Ptooie]

Yeah, I suppose. I went back to uni when I was 30 and had a CBR929RR. The rest were all like 19 year old and didn't even meet my gaze, least of all talked to me. And one day I found a hole in the saddle.

[Calum]

@Hark_Ptooie oohh lovely bike that!

[Hark_Ptooie]

It was nice, but after four years I developed chronic neck and wrist problems from the seating position. These days I ache if I so much as look at a sportsbike.

[Stevie Wonder]

New set of clocks has arrived

I’ve got the speedo drive working with the WR450 / 250 setup

All that’s left to do is make a new frame / bracket for the clocks then hook them up.

A small victory knowing I’ve managed to do the USD swap and get the original clocks working. I’m very pleased with this.

I’m putting the original headlight back on, I just need to hook up and attached to the headlight frame and write down what have gone missing in the time it’s been off and order on fowlers.

I’ve also stuck the original front fender on.

I’ve noticed some leaking from underneath at the bottom the engine around the casing gasket and water pump (right side). Not good but it’s been sitting since being rebuilt a year ago.

Lots lots more to be done before she’s properly done but I’m back in business and getting my arse in gear again. Peace. Hope all of you are doing well and always thank you for your help and being a part of this journey Ride on.

[Stevie Wonder]

As for the leakages this is more then likely my water pump needing some attention as I seem to remember it leaking slightly before.

Failing that it’s possibly because most of the casing bolts weren’t tightened properly or to spec as per the manual

[Calum]

I was wondering where you got to?

[SpookDog]

@Stevie-Wonder

Hey bud!…

Pics!…

[Stevie Wonder]

@Calum I lost my job a week before my first ever stag do in Spain, had to borrow money for the whole trip, then got made homeless and basically everything went to shit for a while, I had to sell the fazer for £750 despite it running. The guy knew me and my scenario and wouldn’t even budge to £800 despite my position or the fact I’d just installed £100 worth HEL racing braided lines on her. A big kick in the balls that was, goes to show who your friends are. Karma works in mysterious ways, I later found out he got thrown off of it and got hurt badly, he broke 3 ribs amongst other things. I’d never wish anything like that on another biker but karmas a bitch. Serves you right for kicking a man when he’s down.

I then found out a certain very close family member took out credit cards in my name and used my name for bills and direct debits and hadn’t paid them leaving me with a CCJ which prevented me renting privately without a guarantor meaning that after me and my other half managed to get nearly 3k together between us it was all for nothing. This also meant I sold the fazer whatever else I could for no reason.

Speaking of which I lost a lot of friends too, including childhood friends that have been with my entire life. It’s really true what they say that people are never there when you’re down and out. Things like that are a blessing in disguise though. But yeah I basically lost a whole year of my life and was living out of a bedbug infested hostel with 14 people to one shower, no running water or means to make food living next to junkies and pissheads. Police where a regular occurrence and at one point the whole place was turned into a crime scene and someone was being investigated for drugging and neglecting/abandoning their children.

So yeah, I basically lost an entire year of my life. Got fucked over by near enough every one close to me, a lot of my immediate family turned their backs on me. They’d rather I slept on the street then get involved and every possible thing that could go wrong went wrong. I even landed a trial shift with MSS Performance of Kawasaki only for a resident at the hostel to try assault me after calling him out for being a wrongen (i couldn’t retaliate or physically hit him otherwise I’m then the bad guy and the council would’ve stopped providing me accommodation) and then having to leave in an emergency the day before the trial shift. Meaning I turned up using my girlfriend’s granny bike with mismatched clothes and my head filled with everything from the day before. To make matters worse I lost out on the job to one of my girlfriend’s friends. What where the chances.

I also missed out on a one off opportunity to be an apprentice for Betongpark, a very reputable company and skatepark designer thanks to being homeless and not knowing where I’d be staying in a months time.

The lexmoto I had rebuilt, I paid a years insurance on and never got to use, my CBT ran out only to find out renewing one these days is £170 so that had to wait and the DTR despite having the engine rebuilt didn’t get ridden any further then to the end of the road and back the day it was rebuilt. Sad really.

I’m not one for airing out my dirty laundry but like I said, everything that could go wrong was going wrong and didn’t stop for nearly an entire year. It was shit and beggars belief it was actually happening.

I’m very lucky though because throughout this whole ordeal my other half never faltered, left me or stopped supporting me for a single second. I’m extremely fortunate and grateful for her. If things were different and I didn’t have her I’m not sure if I’d be here today writing this. It’s reminder to always cherish what love you have in your life even when you don’t have any love left for life itself. Life can be cruel but nothing worth doing was ever easy.

One last thing to tie all this up is of course my DT, I’d sooner walk the streets then sell that bike. Sad? Maybe. But that bike has been a beacon of hope in my darkest hours on many occasion, a reminder that no matter how bad things get I’ve still got something. You take away hope or something to strive for and you’re left with what? Nothing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that bike is so much more than a bike to me. It’s an educator, a passion project, a healthy distraction but most importantly a reminder that no matter how bad things get to keep going.

[Calum]

Sorry to hear that bud That's really awful. Times appear worse than ever, but try and remember, it's always darkest before the dawn. Yeah, you're better off with one solid mate that'll always be there for you rather than a ton of leaches that would rather use you as a step ladder to achieve their own goals.

I don't have a whole ton of friends, but the ones I do call "friend" I know I could depend on them for anything.

I am sorry to hear about your troubles.

[MadGyver]

It's a sad story with good outcome.
You came out with a solid companion in life (the other half),a beacon of light for the path (the DT) and your health don't underestimate this,trust me.
Hope everything will be better for you.

[Stevie Wonder]

Now back to the bike stuff.

I’ve learned from my mistakes in the past working on my bike and have learned patience is a virtue.

This time around we’re starting from the front and working our way back.

One thing that I’ve noticed is how using the incorrect guides has started to eat at the brake hose.

Being extremely anal Id love to get some hose guides from a ‘03 WR/YZ so it has that factory fresh look, the downside is their pretty much non existent. Drawbacks of using enduro/motorcross parts is parts are extremely limited.

Any help looking for them would be greatly appreciated

I’m gonna be on the hunt for these parts

This little hose clip I bought the very last one of CMSNL only to crash my bike and it go missing. I often wonder if it’s still laying in the grass/street where I crashed.

I also found out I was on the right path with the speedo drive however their must be an issue with them as I’ve bought 3 of them secondhand and none of them have worked, including one which has all the parts and operated perfectly until you put a cable in it.

£100+ pounds later for a brand new 5NG speedo drive (which I knew there was a solid chance might not even work) and I got lucky.

Now that I have a working speedo drive again I’m going to need these bits

The fork guards you can still buy and are widely available, although it’s a shame I can’t find aftermarket ones with the mount for speedo cable. Saying that I also noticed whilst fowlers sell the correct fork guard with built in guide they don’t come with the metal clip that attaches to them as seen here.

So any help finding the correct hose and speedo guides / anything front end related like that would be greatly appreciated!

I’m not sure if I mentioned but I managed to get another set of clocks too, they’re off an ‘01 French DT and are identical to mine. I tried at least 5 different companies to get them repaired but none of them would touch our jap nippon clocks. £170 too, ouch!

As it’s only my Rev side that’s seized all I’ve got to is unplug the original ones that are seized and plug in the new donor ones. Once this is done I’ll have a look at the originals to see why they’ve seized, may as well right? It’s not like I’ve got anything to lose.

Before I do this I first must get rid of the 3ET 200r headlight this meant acquiring a new headlight bracket as the original one got the chop shop treatment and was used to create a bracket for the 200r headlight.

A big thank you to Al for his help with this. Headlight frames aren’t that common and everyone wants stupid money for them.

I also managed to get a few other goodies which are worth their weight in gold, that number plate bracket especially. I don’t even want to talk about how much they’re going for now. I also got a spare front fender meaning I’ve ditched the one year only 96 pastel mineral blue yz fender and gone back to original. Something I plan to continue doing. Rather then trying to change the DT into something it isn’t I’m now going to just try and improve on all the things I don’t like about the bike, like a slightly modernised version / resto mod.

This means that now I’ve got clocks, headlight frame x2 and a working speedo drive all that’s left is to put the headlight, headlight frame and cowel back together and jig a new mount for the ignition and headlight frame to attach too!

Since I took it apart so long ago I’ve lost many of the original bolts and fittings and can’t remember for the life of me how it all goes back together. No doubt an order from fowlers will be required as will lots of time spent staring at these diagrams!

Front end wise the only other thing besides sorting out the clocks/headlight cluster and sorting out some guides is to do to buy a tap and die set / thread chaser and thread chase all of the threads on the lower forks. When I crashed 95% of the bike got away without a scratch but a lot of the bolts in this area got pulled clean out and stripped the threads.

Once that’s all sorted the only thing preventing me getting an MOT is not having a rear brake. I went to change the brake pads on her only to find out the calliper is seized to the hanger and the seals have started to protrude. I’ve tried un-seizing the calliper but had no luck.

This leaves me two options, pay to have the original one fixed or alternatively get that DT200WR swinger that’s been laying around a while now painted and installed. I have the brake calliper and hanger for it (which as far as I’m aware work perfectly), I have the rear wheel spacers, axle blocks and everything else it just needs measuring up. Saying that it would be worth putting new bearings in as well as it’d be a shame to go to all that work only have to take it apart again.

I’m a little hesitant with swapping the swingarm as even putting the original one back on after the rebuild was a total cunt and that was with two people doing it. It’s certainly not a job I want to attempt alone that’s for sure! That and I’ve been told how to measure up the difference between swingarms but for some reason I can’t seem to figure out the maths to it, like it isn’t clicking with me for some reason.

The other reason I’m hesitant is I’ve just spent this long without my bike either because of what’s happened or me modifying it and I’ve realised I’ve robbed myself of one of the most important things. The actual enjoyment of riding the thing!

Anyway, here’s some old photo’s I found of my bike when she was looking “plain Jane”

And here’s some other bikes that have been a source for inspiration

This old bush-wakka DT200 is my bikes aussie big brother



No glitz or glam, just made for one purpose riding trails in the bush.

I can’t remember for the life of me where I saw this photo but I believe the bike to be Sri Lankan, believe it or not DTR’s are popular there. It’s what set a lightbulb off in my head that made me miss my bike as it was before this jackass decided he had to mess with it.

I don’t know why but I just love it, raw rugged, just as ready to be loaded up and driven 100 miles as it is chucking mud on a trail. Even though it’s essentially the same bike as what I began with it’s now my main source of inspiration and why I’ve started hunting duplicates of things like plastics, number plate holders etc etc so I can return her back to this point.