hotrod wrote on 03/26/18 at 09:46:56:


’90 to ’95. Bolts right up with the Savage sprocket. DR sprocket is different.

That camshaft you linked to on partzilla works? It’s about half the price of the stage three.

the Lancer stage 3 cam makes the bike fun to ride. I've had one in  for 3 months with no problems.

batman wrote on 03/26/18 at 11:00:39:


 Okay, that does sound logical. But there is more to it than that. The DR uses the same valves as the LS, so why doesn't that hurt the performance of the DR engine? Wouldn't that destroy the wave tuning of the DR just as much?

I agree with Dave , and there are other differences in the motors ,bore and stroke for sure , that would  change redline ,and  maybe exhaust header length ( that would  effect wavy tuning). I'm not a student of the DR650 , but we know the head design is much better ,doesn't the DR put out about 45-50 horsepower? Lancer's  stage 3 cam is designed to work in the Savage the lift is .274 just a bit higher than the stock .254 and this follows what I said above ,it is just slightly more than stock, and is designed to lift higher only to compensate for the area that the valve stems take up in the intake and exhaust ports , showing the makers knew what they were doing. The bike shown above is using a 40mm carb , yet Dave and others use only a 36mm carb to obtain nearly the performance /horsepower claimed of the DR cam ,I would think with smoother running an less problems tuning. So the question is do you want to save a couple of bucks and try the DR cam hoping it will work ,or buy a stage 3  from Lancer knowing it will work ? With the DR cam I would bet mileage to be poor ,the fuel leaving the exhaust pipe unburned ,because the slow speed it is traveling into the head it fails to atomize (swirl) and doesn't burn.

Stock is .254"/,244" with 224 degrees@ .050.
Stage 1 is .264"/.264" with 239 degress @ .050.
Stage 3 is .273"/.273" and 238 degrees @ .050.
DR is .345"/.355" with 238 degrees @ .040.

I thought a bit last night about my riding style, and my current engine setup.  I am currently running the Stage 1 in my engine, and I have been doing that for the last 10,000 miles.  The engine starts and runs great, I generally get around 52 - 56 mpg, and the bike has been up to a 100.1 mph on 3 separate tries as confirmed by my GPS speedometer......the bike just doesn't want to go any faster than that and the bike gets really light and wiggly once I get over 95mph.

The majority of my riding is done at speeds under 60mph as I ride the local twisty backroads, and I am riding at less than 1/2 throttle most of the time.....and I suspect I am at 1/4 throttle or less  as I negotiate the curves.  I don't accelerate much on the straights between curves - I try to hold 50mph on the straights and in the curves and hold a steady speed and corner smoothly.  The excitement comes from the fact that the curves are often very tight and it may not be possible to take all the curves at 50mph.

So......my riding style really doesn't need  lot of additional HP or valve lift for 95% of my ride.  The bike runs very well, and I have plenty of HP to pass the slow cars and trucks and tractors, and the bike and tall gearing make it possible to cruise at 70-75mph easily with engine rpm around 4,000.

I do need to replace the head plug on my bike....the Versy plug was not yet available when I built this engine, and last summer I had a leak at the first day of the Kick Stand Lodge trip - luckily the plug decided to stop leaking and I was able to ride the rest of the summer.  I may put in a Stage 3 cams to see how it compares to the Stage 1 cam.    

So.....the reason for this long winded post - is that you may not need or want a DR650 cam and the high lift it provides.  The Stage 1 cam provides a power boost....and likely the Stage 3 is even better.  Lancer has tried all three of the grinds....and has determined that the Stage 3 is a better cam than either the Stage 1 and Stage 2 - so currently he is only getting the Stage 3 cams made.

I've only found this:

The rpm at which the engine gets "happy" can be predicted by the closing point (angle) of the intake valves. The angle is expressed as the number of degrees After Bottom Dead Center (ABDC) that the valves reach .053" from being fully seated.

30 degrees = 2400 rpm
35 degrees = 3000 rpm
40 degrees = 3600 rpm
45 degrees = 4000 rpm
50+ degrees = 4500 rpm

These relationships are approximate but should hold true to within 200 rpm or so. They also assume that all other tuning factors, exhaust, ignition, etc., are operating correctly.

If you have one of the late-closing cam designs installed, say one that closes the intake valves later than 40 degrees, then you cannot expect excellent performance at 2000 rpm. No carburetor adjustment, ignition adjustment or exhaust system can change this.

LS650 stock
Int Open 22 BTDC
Int Close 59 ABDC
Exh Open 64 BBDC
Exh Close 14 ATDC
Lift: 0.254" In / 0.244" Ex
Duration: 224° @ 0.050" lift

DR650
Int Open 9.5 BTDC
Int Close 47.5 ABDC
Exh Open 51.5 BBDC
Exh Close 9.5 ATDC
Lift: 0.364" In / 0.367" Ex
Duration: 237° @ 0.040" lift