[PeteW]

Usually it's the clutch slipping, i.e. no free play and in some cases doing things like slogging through soft sand.

That'll destroy clutches on any of the big bikes. Sorry but there are things you simply can't do with these bikes (and I don't just mean DL's) that you might get away with on a smaller bike and slipping the clutch at decent rpms is one of them.

It's something I deliberately avoided doing when I was doing a lot of dirt on DL's and the clutch was noticeably slipping on seal when hard on it at 60,000k's.

From your description of what happened I suspect trying to do something that the clutch simply wasn't capable of was the cause. You can try Barnett components, their friction plates have a lot more meat and the springs are stronger but the result is pretty feral. "Be careful what you wish for".

 

[PeteW]

Saw a KTM 1090 and an Africa Twin out there doing the same trail. I agree with you completely that these aren't dirt bikes, but there are lots of heavy ADV bikes that seem to be able to do it? I wouldn't think that this clutch is any different from those, but I'm not an engineer.

There are a LOT more reports of KTM's with fried clutches than DL's, they have an additional problem with the oil feed to the clutch though. F800's are real prone to this as well. The older GS's with dry clutches you had to be real careful even at low rpm's because they'd smoke the clutch really easily. And yeah, 'smoked' is the right description there, very memorable and a very distinctive smell as well.

You can slip the clutch just fine at low rpm's, but once the rpm's go up a fried clutch is pretty typical on any heavy bike.

I got used to just sticking it in gear, concentrating on line and being brave on the steep ones. It did help having really good suspension because having the wheels not bouncing around makes that a lot easier.

 

[PeteW]

Very likely it has essentially the same problems, this isn't unique to DL's. It's slightly lighter but slipping at elevated rpm's will probably do similar. Use Mr Google and check.

 

[PeteW]

Same design. You can burn out dirt bike clutches. It's the weight V size of clutch that does the damage. There's a LOT of power going into those plates when they slip.

 

[PeteW]

If you haven't worked it out. DL650 probably has ~50HP going through the clutch when the rev's get up (I'm assuming you weren't at full throttle, just up there). With it slipping only ~10HP make it to the rear wheel, the rest ends up in the oil and clutch plates. That's a very small space in which to dump 50HP.

That's why I'm saying any of the large bikes can have this happen and the larger the bike, the more likely it is, it'll also happen on smaller bikes but with say 12HP and maybe only 5 ending up in the clutch slogging through soft sand or mud it takes longer. And yes, we did that to small bike clutches back in the day, not as spectacularly as your effort but it still happened.

It's technique, changing bikes won't change the physics other than bikes with better suspension behave better and you can keep the speed up without slipping the clutch.

 

[PeteW]

I've used Barnett clutches in two DL650's. They certainly don't slip . Be prepared for 5000k's of misery being unable to change into neutral when stopped.

If you do go that way, I'd suggest using three Suzuki springs and three Barnett springs for quite a few k's.

 

[PeteW]

Same issue as WingVetteStrom above. I adjusted my clutch once on my 2012 DL650, hit exactly the same problem, came up with the same solution. Next time it needed adjusting, dropped in a Barnett clutch pack. That has it's own issues. It works and has far more bite than the Suzuki clutch, problem is it also has far more drag than the Suzuki clutch as well.