We all know you can throw tons of money at almost any bike and build something amazing, but with the drz that defeats the purpose of cheap/reliable fun. That said some mods really transform the bike. After 4 years, and currently owning 5 of them, here’s my list of recommended and mandatory mods for the drz. There’s a million more out there, but here’s where I’d start.
Mandatory: Zeta rubber killers. They’re cheap, and completely transform the bikes handling. Stock the front end feels super vague, and everytime the bike is dropped the bars twist in the mounts. These are only $16 or so and solve both problems immediately.
Mandatory: Thumpertalk locktite fix. Just do it, and save yourself a lot of hassle down the road.
Mandatory: MOTYdesign 2×2 lithium battery. The stock batter weighs a ton, and is positioned all weird in the back left tail of the bike. The moty batteries are tiny, last forever, never require a battery tender, and slip right in. I’ve abused the hell out of my bikes for years and have broken near everything, except these batteries. Buy one now, you’ll love it.
Mandatory: Dunlop Q2! The stockers are near impossible to get heat into. The q2’s warm up quick, feel super stable on the brakes, give excellent feedback, and have near slick levels of stick. BUY THESE NOW. We did out tire comparo here.. The q2’s were the clear winner.
Recommended: Handguards. Zeta and cycra seem to be the best, but even those will bend. If they do and start to interfere with the levers just put a large nut as a spacer between the guard and the handlebar. Also the tripple clamp side mounts are the way to go!!! If you don’t have the cash I’ve had some decent luck running these chinese cheapys
Mandatory: Quick turn throttle. The drz feels like it has no power. 1) because it doesn’t really and 2) because the power it has you can’t get to without cranking your arm around and down. Solution is a quickturn throttle. You can mod a 05 r6 throttle to get this done for only $9, or you can order one up. The ones I modded will sometimes stick once in a blue moon so now I just order one up like this.
Mandatory: Front steel braided brakeline. The stocker will work on the street, but on the track it boil and you’ll find yourself heading towards a barrier in no time. No fun. Get one, put it on, wait til you see god, then brake…
Recommended: 3×3 mod and a dyno jet kit, k&n filter. You can get a lot farther with a full pipe and fcr, but this will get your bike in the ballpark running better/cooler. Just google it, it’s all over the internets.
Recommended: Suspension: Our suspension approach is super scientific. I max the compression and rebound adjustments front and rear, and add a few spins of preload in the rear. Whammo, bike no longer rides like a noodle!
Recommended: AMRracing.com graphics. Our bikes with stock graphics looked tore up after 6 months. I installed the amr kit, the bikes were dumped another 800 times, and they still look great. Here’s a pic from last week.
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