what he said about the 400s only the engine is stronger mainly due to the fcr carb the 400e is lighter and geared down so better off than on .Easy to get spares easy to work on

big bangs for your bucks/pounds

I bought this bike as I wanted a bike that was good off and on road. At the time I owned a Yamaha DT125R which was fine off road but very slow on road and a Honda Hornet 600 which was brilliant on road but little more than unsuitable off road. The DR-Z proved to be a good compromise, more than able to do both jobs.

Off road the bike is quite good, it probably won't win any enduros but is more than capable of tackling really tricky trails. Its a little heavy compared to more modern trail/enduro-type bikes but the torquey engine gives good, tractable power from down low in the rev range so its more than able to propel itself along when the going gets slippery and/or sticky. I think the weight actually lends a bit of stability that has been lacking in some smaller bikes I've ridden off road but as a counter-point its obviously not as agile. Although its still quite spritely being a relatively waif-like 132kg dry.

On the road the bike is fine and more than able to keep up with more road-oriented bikes (600cc+) at travelling speeds although for fun rides it will lag behind a little. Its weight gives good stability at speeds in excess of 70mph and it will happily cruise on the motorway at 70-75mph, with no problem, for hours. I always felt a little mean for making it go any faster for long periods of time so kept at those speeds out of mechanical sympathy. The maximum speed I took it to was 92mph but I don't think it would go much faster. It gives a lovely 50-52mpg on average, no matter how you seem to ride.

Mechanically these bikes are known to be really reliable and strong, with major issues of reliability being very rare. My bike suffered from a faulty automatic cam chain tensioner which is apparently one of the few faults a handful of owners have found but this can be rectified by fitting a manual one and actually improves cam chain life considerably, and is very cheap/easy to fit. The engine has an electric start, which is a gift from heaven when stalled on the side of a slippery hill or in a deep rut, and an automatic decompressor which enables easy starts from hot. The bike is also very tough, having dropped it several times off-road and once on the road (knobblies, thin layer of mud and emergency braking do not a good combination make) with no problems what-so-ever and only a slight scratch on the plastics and rear suspension reservoir to show for it. It is also relatively easy to pick up for my 5'6” female frame with its light weight. The tall bars providing good leverage for lifting too.

Unfortunately the bike I owned was cursed with a faulty balance shaft which led to a really loud engine sound. This was replaced once but the noise soon returned and I sold the bike on cheaply to a friend who wanted to fix it. This is apparently a one off problem. I took the bike to two Suzuki dealers who had never heard of the problem before and one Suzuki motocross dealer who also had never heard of it, so I don't think it would be likely to affect another bike. My friend rode it too much before fixing it and the engine gave up.

Maintenance is easy on these types of bikes, and the DR-Z400S has easy access to air and oil filters. Take the seat and tank off and pretty much everything is accessible, like most single cylinder bikes. Laying the bike down to change tyres/tubes and lube the chain is easy and a J.I.B. stand will easily fit underneath.

Accessories-wise there are: luggage racks, gel seat options, kick-start kits, larger fuel tanks and a plethora of tuning parts and also supermoto conversions are easy (although not cheap). As standard it comes with a nice digital speedometer with a clock, odometer and two trip odometers but strangely no tachometer, which I eventually got used to. The lights are really good on these bikes, easily better than the ones on my Hornet 600, giving a clear, bright light in a nice spread where you need it.

There are two downsides I can think of with the bike. The first is the tall seat height. At 5'6” tall the 935mm seat is quite tall. Getting on and off wasn't so bad and I managed to get used to stopping by slipping off the seat slightly to get one foot flat on the ground with the other still on the opposite peg. However, I did have to develop a leaping dismount technique for situations off road when you put your foot down, it sinks into the ground, the weight comes off the suspension and so the bike rises. It isn't ideal to do that though but its really only an issue when you're going slow and it doesn't hurt either the bike or yourself to fall “in a controlled manner” on soft mud. I would consider lowering the suspension through replacing the internals of the forks and a link on the rear shock, but I'd be loathe to reduce the ground clearance too much.

The second downside is the pillion carrying provision. The seat at the back has only a couple centimetres padding at most, even the gel version, so short trips only for pillions. It's a surprisingly comfortable pillion seating position though, as far as ergonomics are concerned.

I would definitely buy one again, as a matter of fact I am currently considering one as my secondary/trail/adventure bike once I have sold my YBR.