RE: Anyone get a DRZ?? NKLR-Long
> Message: 25
> Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 20:44:53 +0000
> From: Eric Jasniewicz
> Subject: Anyone get a DRZ??
>
> Anyone out there get one yet or know someone who has one?
> Looking for real
> world "review".
>
> TIA,
> EJ
Hey Eric,
I just went for a ride with a friend that just got the DRZ S, the street legal one. We did about 130 miles, mostly gnarly trails and logging roads. We did hit the roads to connect to the riding areas, including some highway stuff. He's a pretty good rider, and his bike did fine in the dirt. He did have a pair of MT 21's put on and he said it was like night and day in the dirt. He said the MT 21's were no problem on the road.
We hit some trails that I wasn't sure I could handle (I'm just getting back into trail riding, haven't ridden in the dirt since I was a kid, I'm basically a rookie), but his bike did just fine. The magic electric start button is clutch. He was using it a lot. :^) Oh yeah, he was pulling 1st and 2nd gear wheelies at will, without slipping the clutch, all throttle and body english. Makes it great for getting down the trail. He did smash one of the rear blinkers, for some odd reason its not on a flexible stalk. And he had broken his tail light lens on a previous ride. But smashing parts it not unique to the DRZ. On the roads and highways it did fine too. He said 70 mph is no problem on the highway. I just read a review in one of the rags and they had this same model up to 90 in the dirt, so cruising at 70 should be no problem.
His 2 complaints: small gas tank = limited range (can't remember how big it is, but we all gassed up in the morning together and he was the first to go on reserve, followed by the XR250L, my KLX 650 R made it to the gas station without going on reserve. :^) However, larger aftermarket tanks will be available if they are not already.
The other complaint is that it has a hard seat. When I mentioned that maybe it wasn't broken in yet, he said he had about 600 miles on it and it was still hard, so who knows. Again, this is easily remedied by the aftermarket folks.
I didn't ride it, but from what I saw I think it rocks. I think Suzuki is going to sell a ton of these bikes.
Ed
Duvall, WA
'96 KLX 650 R
'82 Katana 1000
PS: The fasted guy of the three of us? The guy on the XR250L. He smoked us all day. He was the first up the roughest trails, and we hit some trails that I didn't even think a bike could do. Think big, wet rocks, on a serious incline, like going up a small creek, from one huge rock to the next. He didn't fall once. I went down twice, the guy on the DRZ went down once. The DRZ guy and myself both got stuck in a mud bog, the XR250L guy went through it first, got off his bike, watched us get stuck one at a time, and helped pull our bikes out of the mess. The moral of the story? A skilled rider on a lesser bike will always smoke a less skilled rider on a better bike. (Nothing against the XR250L, I'm now a believer that less can be more!). We had a great time and my off road riding skills improved 100%. We kept hitting trails where I was thinking, "oh s**t, we're not going up there are we?" But since we were so deep into the woods, I really had no choice but to keep going as I had no idea where I was or how to get back to civilization! Trial by fire for sure. I loved it.