Bali is known as “the island with a thousand temples” but there’s only one temple most moto monks will be interested in visiting on their spiritual pilgrimage to Bali, and that’s the ‘Deus Temple of Enthusiasm‘ – it’s the place of worship for those that bow their helmet to the ‘God in the machine’. And the latest machine from the Bengkel boys is this dirty back track Suzuki DR650. Compared to most countries like Australia and America, the DR650 is not a very common bike in Indonesia. As the saying goes ‘they are rarer than rocking horse poo’, thanks to the strict Indonesian import laws making the importation of larger displacement bikes a very expensive venture due to the huge import taxes. So when one comes up for sale, Deus try to snatch them up.
Over to Dustin from the temple of grease and wax. “This is a tale of all the bits coming together for the greater good. More often than not we are in our own little orbits, each working on what is available in our own backyards. But sometimes there is a bike that is so special that it’s small wonder that we share it as a common goal. The Suzuki DR650 is one such bike.
“When you have a bike with a well designed, low-stressed engine and an excellent lubrication system. That also possesses quite the big name on the block when it comes to a long, trouble-free service life. And it’s also a remarkably friendly bike to work on, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand why, collectively, we think she’s an ideal candidate for a Deus rebuild…
Sounds too good to be true? Well the DR650 is not without issue. The main being that there are very few after-market parts available. Shy of building the bits all by hand, making her a rather expensive option in the western world, there isn’t another option. Until now…
“You know when just as it all seems lost, something unexpected happens? You guessed it, a 1998 DR650 became available locally and we wasted no time snatching it up, not so much for our own sake (well maybe a little) but rather for our brethren in the US and Australia as part of a R&D collaboration. The transcontinental scuttlebutt we’d been having suddenly became a reality. To be able to build different kits for the DR and ship them off. And you know what? We are just about there.
That’s where our Bengkel boys come in. Purveyors of the hand built, who rally at the first chance to show us how they can fashion & fabricate, this new found friend gave us them, the physical they needed to wrap our ideas around. Of course there’s a custom tank and nice new fenders. We got our fly fiberglass seat and battery box in there. They cut the frame here and welded it there. Added a nice Ventura handlebar, a custom header and exhaust. Pulled the electrics and came back with new indicators, tail light, switches and speedometer. KNN filter and grips by Posh. Some black wrinkle on the metal bits and the tank sporting a super slick spray job.
It wasn’t “hey presto” fast, as this was one we intended to take our time on. What we got though is one of the worlds best all round bikes all nicely wrapped up in a tight custom package.”
Deus Bali have turned this clunky and plastic looking stock trail bike into something you would be proud not just to ride the back trails to the local surf breaks, but also down to the town bar for a cold Bintang or two. We can see the DR650 being a popular choice for builders wanting a more affordable donor bike. Might even check out ebay now. Hmmm…