DR350 & DRZ400 FAQ - Wheels & Tires

What are the best rim and spokes?

I was looking over my 1999 DR350SE today and noticed there are 13 loose or broken spokes on the rear wheel. All of the broken ones are broken at the hub side. I want to upgrade to a black or gold rim hoop and get better spokes that won’t break. My question is since I can’t find an Excel rim for my bike, what other company has a rim and spoke set for my bike? Do you know of aftermarket spokes that would be heavier duty than stock?

We can get you an Excel rim drilled specifically for your bike. We build all of our custom wheels with Buchanan's spokes as they are not only much stronger than stock, they are the easiest to work with. The problem with broken spokes has little to do with the strength of the spokes and everything to do with not keeping all the spokes tensioned properly. Wheel spokes need maintenance. Periodic tightening and occasional truing will prevent broken spokes in the future.

Supermoto wheels and tires for my DR350!

I own a 1992 DR350S that I've converted into a poor man's supermoto bike by putting Metzler LazerTech street tires on it. I would like to put on some better and wider rubber, what would you suggest?

For the stock wheel setup, the Metzler's are good choice as are the Dunlop 404's. We've been getting good feedback from folks using the Contiforce SM tires. They are designed around use on a street-going supermoto. They're lighter weight than the typical sportbike rubber. The only glitch is that you would need the 3.50 x 17" front and 4.25 x 17" rear supermoto wheelset setup to run them on your bike.

We build Supermoto wheels for your 1992 DR350S are built with silver Excel rims (3.50 x 17" front and 4.25 x 17" rear) attached to new OEM Suzuki hubs equipped with bearings and seals with new Buchanan's stainless steel spokes with plated nipples. Click here to see what they look like. We will also mount up a set of Continental Contiforce SuperMoto tires (120/70-17" front and 150/70-17" rear) and balance the entire package for $2399. In a package like this we include tubes, rim liners and mounting at no charge. Shipping is extra of course.

Once they arrive on your doorstep, you bolt on your existing rotors, sprocket and hit the road! You may have to trim your chain guard minimally for rear tire clearance. When you do go for that first ride you will notice that your speedo will read fast due to the reduced diameter of the front wheel. One option to correct that is to install a Vapor Speedo / Tach unit. That can be calibrated to work with either the SM wheels or your stock wheels.

If you like, we can also ship your new wheels with brake rotors and a new sprocket so you can leave your originals on your stock wheels, leaving you a complete set of spares.