From the suspension guys at https://www.fullforceracing.com.au The DR650 finally gets its first stage suspension mods at Full Force Racing Components... a budget job on the front forks and a revalve on the rear shock - much better now. FFRC will do the DR650 suspension in various stages so we can look at the improvements each time. FFRC are sponsors for this series. As we mentioned in the first vid, the DR650 is a brilliant budget bike to transform into the sort of beast you want, once you work on a few major design issues. This is James from Full Force Racing Components, a suspension guru with more than a decades experience in designing, manufacturing and tuning custom suspension components for V8 racing cars, rally cars and all facets of motorbike suspension - motocross, enduro, speedway, flat track, and of course adventure bikes. He'll be modifying the DR650's suspension in various stages, this vid looks at his first steps in making that suspension work properly. The big one is suspension. If you are a featherweight and riding nothing harder than smooth dirt roads, you will find the stock setup okay, but the problem of course is the moment you are in trouble it won't be doing you any favours. The front end dives badly under panic braking, and if you run off the road it will bounce you like a trampoline in the rough stuff. The major problems? The springs are way too soft for most riders unless you are 75kg or less (165lb). The forks are the ancient rod design, have no damping adjustment, and virtually no damping either. And the dual rate fork springs are far too soft for too far into stroke before the stiffer part of the spring comes into action. Soft spring rate is a wimpy 0.38kg/mm spring rate. After seven inches it transfers to the stiffer 0.53kg/mm rate - this should occur at only three inches. If you use heavier oil to get damping, you can't get good performance on both fast and slow fork movements, unlike a modern cartridge fork. Just pause to read more. There is nothing like a huge lump of metal between your legs to make you focus, pick good lines, use your body positioning and get your technique right. And the buzz of getting a big bike through some tough terrain is awesome. It also reinforces the fact that we usually put way too much emphasis on bling, or tyres, or suspension or the type of bike we are riding. Yes those things can make a difference, but in the long run it's far more important to learn the skills. The rear spring does have adjustment for the compression damping, which barely makes any difference anyway. It is underdamped, and the ratio of compression to rebound damping is way out of sync too. First gear on the DR650 is the equivalent of third gear on many dirt bikes so there's plenty of clutch slipping to get the big bush ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTYAwIBX9aQ

http://www.vietnammotorbiketours.com I last visited Vietnam back in 1996 and all I can remember is bouncing around in buses over the worst roads I'd ever seen with motorbike riding across Vietnam. But for several years now I've heard that Vietnam has some of the best road riding tours on the planet, so when I got an invite to join Jason from Vietnam Motorbike Tours for a three days I jumped at it. The plan? A day's ride down scenic coastline then into the central highlands where, in Jason's words, the real Vietnam begins when motorbike riding across Vietnam. VMT website: http://www.vietnammotorbiketours.com Email: info@vietnammotorbiketours.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vietnammotorbiketoursvmt/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFkYPD-8gI1yxmVW7_SECPg Title: Eminence - 2127 iTunes Download Link: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/hollow-mind-ep/id1140511433 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1wlOByiDcotVTfdGky1JlM Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGFqTGR5kCM Our starting point with Vietnam Motorbike Tours? Nha Trang. On my last trip this was a quiet port town but it's now a tourist mecca resembling Miami and Surfers Paradise. Amazing food, great beaches, and the place lights up like a Christmas tree at night. It is interesting, and learning how to ride in Aisan traffic is actually a pile of fun after the tours guys gave us some instruction on how the chaos works for motorbike riding across Vietnam. But I'm keen to escape the tourist stuff and see the real Vietnam. We start with a run along the coastline. Incredible ocean views on this main highway that links Saigon in the south with Hanoi in the north. And the highway has changed so much in the last 20 years. It used to be a narrow pot holed road where you were constantly zig zagging around the rice harvests spread out to dry in the sun. Now it's a road riders paradise, snaking its way up through the mountains and only occasionally going straight and flat across the plains. So why is a dirt bike junkie like me riding road bikes on Vietnam Motorbike Tours? And not just any road bikes, but a Chinese built Harley Davidson look alike with only a 200cc engine? Last year I did a dirt bike tour of Cambodia, and the organiser, Jason Thatcher, uses his tours to fund low cost housing for Cambodian families living in extreme poverty. He also runs road bike tours in Vietnam to raise funds and I've become a volunteer worker for the charity and last time I was over there we popped out for a three day ride. The weird thing is I find road riding boring. I've always disliked Harley Davidsons and cruisers. And the idea of riding a Chinese 200cc version was frankly apalling. And yet this turned out to be an awesome three day ride. These coastal views are stunning, an ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_eME3bncyE

Road riding Vietnam? I pictured rutted dirt roads with the occasional patchy bit of paved road but this place is a road riding mecca, with stunning ocean views along the coast highway, and endless corners as you wind through the highlands for days on end with Vietnam Motorbike Tours. And it is a good morning... a great night's sleep in a very comfortable hotel on the coast in Nha Trang. One thing that kept amazing us was the quality of the hotels in each town and how cheap they were. Your dollar definitely goes a long way with Vietnam Motorbike Tours. Our motley crew saddles up and we head inland. Today's destination? Dalat. A beautiful Vietnam town that is the gateway to the central highlands. The plan is to get us off the beaten track as much as possible, and it happens pretty quickly with the narrowest bridge I have ever ridden across. The adventure with Vietnam Motorbike Tours could start quickly today. Our guide says there was a major landslide in the mountains overnight and traffic is banked up for miles. But apparently roads get fixed very quickly here and overnight they have already cleared the road and traffic is flowing again. All the photos and films about Vietnam led me to believe the whole country was flat as a pancake and covered in rice paddies. That tends to be the case along the coastline, but once you head inland the country is dominated by mountain ranges. Along with the change in terrain comes a change in climate too and hot humid conditions of the coast disappear as we climb into the foothills and enjoy cool air along with the views. I'm impressed but the guides say I ain't seen nothing yet. Everyone loved our Vietnam Motorbike Tours guides. Cheeky, fun, informative. And good cooks too. If there wasn't a decent restaurant stop for lunch we would pull up somewhere in a scenic shady spot and they would cook up a storm. Nice one guys! Everyone loved the Vietnam Motorbike Tours bikes too. There are tough size restrictions in Vietnam but we all agreed you would probably get into trouble fast with too much power on these roads. Vietnam has come a long way since being ravaged by the Vietnam War... or the American was as it's known here. As we get further into the mountains the roads are still paved and in great condition. And even when we get into remote areas later on the roads are still fine. I asked the tour guys if they had thought about getting adventure bikes but it seems the government has done such a good job of paving all the roads that there's no point. I asked about Vietnam dirt riding and they said there is a bit of dirt riding in the far north but most of it is either illegal or riding in questionable areas so they have stuck with the road riding. And I can see why with Vietnam Motorbike Tours. Even though I'm a ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmnqlCspqcw

This is the first training video on our new cross training channel. Subscribe to the new channel to find out when we post each cross training video of about 25 planned over the next few months! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJAvmhgP0h1AEKY8vTEJPJg ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgduFXeDEoY