quick advice needed pls re viewing Cheap DR350 !

[The Sarge]

Well, as a former owner, I can confirm that the kick-start DR350S was rubbish.

But I'm a kind-heated guy, so if you've got one in good condition you want rid of, there's £100 waiting for you here if you'd like to deliver it. Honestly, they aren't worth any more than that

Re the big-bore kit....they shouldn't need rejetting as the fuel/air ratio will remain the same. But I recall an article in Dirt Bike saying that 'every time we ride a hopped up DR it blows up five minutes later.'

A number of reasons for this, I suspect: insufficient crankcase volume to cope with the increased pumping from a bigger piston being one, but most critical of all being that the Suzukis of the time (including the DR) were air/oil cooled. There was a jet pumping oil directly onto the underside of the piston crown, not to lubricate it, but to cool it.

Add a bigger piston, and the peak heat of the piston crown will increase, the volume of the piston crown will increase but the volume of oil reaching it will be the same. So the piston overheats. Bear in mind that people were increasing the capacity to as much as 441 cc in the USA.

Richard, you surprise me, I can't accept that just because it doesn't have an electric boot its a rubbish bike ? for me the things peole on here clearly deem as must haves for a bike to be good are superflous to me. In fact the things they lack are what appeals to me most. I know I can walk into my garage in France in a months time, (having been i the uk for 3 months) and after a couple of kicks it will fire imto life, I am never looking for the damn keys, never worried about a discharged battery and know it will perform as well if not beter than its heavier and over sophisticated brothe. Mine has has the better TM33 pumper carb which gives it a sharper performance than that CV carb. But thats only my opinion having had one now for 2 years and DRZ before that plus 2 DR650's and an XF650 a CCM 644 ...................................


Sarge

[ggp59]

Mine was the e (for enduro I once heard ) which might explain why it was a decent enough starter?

And might be a bit biased against the DRZ due to it treating me to an air ambulance ride because of a throttle cable problem, that Suzuki redesigned the following year with a routing tube thing for it

But suppose we all ride and enjoy different stuff, because we're all different with different needs!

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Well, as a former owner, I can confirm that the kick-start DR350S was rubbish.

But I'm a kind-heated guy, so if you've got one in good condition you want rid of, there's £100 waiting for you here if you'd like to deliver it. Honestly, they aren't worth any more than that

Re the big-bore kit....they shouldn't need rejetting as the fuel/air ratio will remain the same. But I recall an article in Dirt Bike saying that 'every time we ride a hopped up DR it blows up five minutes later.'

A number of reasons for this, I suspect: insufficient crankcase volume to cope with the increased pumping from a bigger piston being one, but most critical of all being that the Suzukis of the time (including the DR) were air/oil cooled. There was a jet pumping oil directly onto the underside of the piston crown, not to lubricate it, but to cool it.

Add a bigger piston, and the peak heat of the piston crown will increase, the volume of the piston crown will increase but the volume of oil reaching it will be the same. So the piston overheats. Bear in mind that people were increasing the capacity to as much as 441 cc in the USA.

Richard, you surprise me, I can't accept that just because it doesn't have an electric boot its a rubbish bike ? for me the things peole on here clearly deem as must haves for a bike to be good are superflous to me. In fact the things they lack are what appeals to me most. I know I can walk into my garage in France in a months time, (having been i the uk for 3 months) and after a couple of kicks it will fire imto life, I am never looking for the damn keys, never worried about a discharged battery and know it will perform as well if not beter than its heavier and over sophisticated brothe. Mine has has the better TM33 pumper carb which gives it a sharper performance than that CV carb. But thats only my opinion having had one now for 2 years and DRZ before that plus 2 DR650's and an XF650 a CCM 644 ...................................


Sarge

I was being sarcastic mate...the daftest motorcycle thing I ever did was sell my kick-only DR350S so I could buy a Husky TE610E...which was the biggest pile of rubbish you could imagine.

When the DR350S first launched in America, either Dirt Bike or Dirt Rider did a test on it which concluded with the words: "Hands down, this is the best four-stroke trail bike ever to come out of Japan."

In my view, that's probably still true today.

I had once of the first in the UK...and am still kicking myself for selling it. It was quiet, capable and you could do long hauls on the road too.

[daveuprite]

Seat's not an issue for me because I stand up most of the time, but yes I guess the 350's seat was probably squishier. As to gearbox, I can't remember an issue with either bike. The DRZ could do with a 6th gear of course, but I rarely get up to top speed on any of my off-road bikes anyway.

Of course it's all relative. My current 2012 Beta 450 makes both the DRZ and the DR350 look like ancient piles of crap. And no doubt at some point in future my next bike will make that seem shit too. It's called progress...