The unique Suzuki DR 800 was built in the Frateschi Garage workshop. Further from the words of the author.

This project came to us by our social networks. The owner of the 1996 Suzuki DR 800 used to follow the garage Instagram account and did admire our work. So, one day he showed up with the idea of convert the bike into a scrambler. At a first moment, in any way, he wanted to put a Suzuki GN 250 fuel tank.

But taking a good look at the bike and his general lines like frame, height, and other details I have realized that the Intruder fuel tank would end up out of proportion.

I already had a flat tracker rear here. Looking at it I decided to propose a new approach and a new style, a flat tracker. The client never has heard of it about the style but gave me green light to go on with the challenge to project a new design assumed by me.

The general conditions of the bike were not so good. The bike was with everything in place but many things in awful conditions. The engine was not working because the bike stayed without use for many years. With this scenario the first step was replace almost everything in the bike. The only thing that remained original was the engine that received new spark plugs, new oil, filters, valves adjustments, a new paint job and a good and deep carburetor clean job. The exhaust system was remade in stainless steel and now ends in two exits on the same side.

All the original wheels, brake systems and suspensions were not used. What remained basically was the frame, engine, and the swing arm. Almost forget, the rear caliper and wheel hub stayed.

The front suspension now is upside down 43mm WP with 230mm of travel. The rear suspension was replaced by adjustable 215mm travel by Sacks with easy access for the rider, even in motion. By the way, the position of the rear sock was modified.

The front has received a BMW F800GS wheel hub. The wheels are aluminum 19x250 in the front and 17x350 in the rear. The brake system was replaced by Brembo systems and disks.

The fuel tank was built modifying an old one from a Honda CB400N.

Finally, the end of the frame was modified to accommodate a single seat.

In the middle of the project we decide to take a step further. Why not project a fuel injection?

I was studying the theme and have commented with the client. He liked and even with the bike technically ready to roll out we decided to project from scratch a fuel injection for it. So, we enter a second stage of the building work. And that for sure was the most difficult part of the all project. I knew the basics to build a simple system. So, I did take a deep breath and dive in the classes and books to project all using 3D print, Arduino and even a smartphone app to control and remap everything when needed.

We put multi maps, Bluetooth control, lambda sensors and many other things. We printed in 3D a box to put all the electronics in only one place in the bike.

Still talking about the electronics, we maintain the original CDI and the wiring harness and the ignition system as well. But all the lights were replaced by LED systems and the dashboard was replaced by a digital one with all the functions displays in one place. All placed under the rear fender.

The new ECU commands the fuel injection and is able to communicates with the app in the smartphone displaying things like velocity, rpm, GPS, fuel consumption and gives the possibility to choose and adjust many different fuel injection maps in real time.

The paint job was made with the candy technic using a polyester base. The decals were made without embossment with the paint itself using mask techniques.

The seat is leather and some details in the bike was made yellow anodized.

Photos: Gustavo Epifanio

#Bike #Moto #Suzuki #DR800 #FlatTracker