Wayyyy off subject: DRZ 400 question.

[jgas]

I am slowly turning my Suzuki DRZ 400 (E, the off road model), into a purely DS/Adventure bike. I'm getting too darn old to muscle it around on singletrack.

I have had several problems with the stock Keihn flatslide carb. Due to sitting and not riding it for a couple years, in which the gas tank got sludge or varnish or whatever in it, which stopped up the carb, even after filling it to the top with 93 octane Exxon gas and Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer. Then another time, probably just bad gas from a country gas station, dirty carb again, required work on a ride. Then again, recently the carb got dirt in it. I've checked for air leaks, keep the filter pretty clean, etc. I think maybe the issue is simply that that carb has so many air/fuel circuits that it doesn't take much to get a little trash in it and it won't pass it through. There is never what seems like a lot of dirt in the carb, but it doesn't take much. With a DS bike you can't always pick your gas station or octane, and I have a huge tank on it, so some of the fuel inside is sometimes several months old. It is not really practical to treat it like a race bike and drain the fuel after a month if not ridden, etc. The big tank causes problems getting to the carb too, but it's gotta stay for range.

I want to change carbs. I tried a stock DRZ CV type carb with larger jets as recommended by Thumper Talk, (from the S model), but the bike lost several horsepower, and even worse the throttle response was very sluggish. I've ridden other E and S models and all the S models are much slower than the E models. Some of that is due to internal engine differences, but many S model owners switch to the E carb for more power, and get it. I want all the power I can keep, but more reliability and ease of maintenance. The Keihn flatslide on that particular bike is pretty big and hard to get to. It has about 4 large and several smaller vent lines and vacumn lines. I want to make this bike as simple to work on as possible on the trail or roadside. I'd like to try another carb, but don't know what to try. Maybe an old XR 400 or 600 carb? A KTM carb? I know there are advantages and disadvantages to CV type carbs, would a larger CV carb from maybe a DR 650 or XRL 650 do well?

I've tried asking this on Thumper Talk, most of those guys say I should be happy with the stock flatslide. Yes, it is probably the best for power, it is excellent when it works, but after 4 times of being stuck with a poorly running bike I'm giving up. I can't relax and have fun 200 miles from nowhere worried about the next time. I don't think many of the Thumper Talk DS guys understand riding by themselves in the Arkansas boonies. The bike has to be reliable AND easy to work on with tools from the tailbag. I'm giving up on Thumper Talk. I used to get good advice, now I get a little good advice and a lot of people just wasting both our time telling me there's nothing wrong with he carb and it's my maintenance lacking, bad fuel, (yes, can't help that in rural Ar. little mom and pop stations.). I've ridden bikes for many years and I know how to keep my air filter clean, but DS riding is not racing. You can't stop and clean a filter every day, and you don't want to.

Any ideas?

[c337b]

I have DRZ400S and I put the flat slide on it at 8000KM it now has 18,000KM
Has never missed a beat or let me down I use Chevron 94 90% of the time I also have a Husaberg 450 / Gas Gas EC250 & TXT280 I can leave them for 6 months with gas in them and they start no problem Gas has a lot to do with it in my opinion My nephew workede as a service writer for Mazda They had a bunch of cars that had problem's starting due to bad gas It was traced back to a local service station
Frank

[MBevans]

I had this same problem only once on my CRF450x, letting it sit way too long...

I suggest taking it off, completely cleaning the entire carb, tank and installing a filter.... The vents are really no issue.

Then moving forward, keep a better eye on how long it sits not being used...

You got the best carb out there, I'd pony up and do the labor involved in complete disassembly and cleaning, you should be fine...

Enjoy
M