If Only Suzuki Would....?

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Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

EWR wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 9:15 pm I've been thinking very hard recently about exactly what it is I want from motorcycling now, having got to a certain age (50) where my energy, risk appetite, crashworthiness and need/wants aren't what they once were. My big tour days are over, I don't commute by bike and and it's mostly day trips and gentle green laning now.

I've had a GSA, Super Ten, new AT (my DCT had a psychotic mind of its own) but, as a rose-tinted spectacle-wearing, serial owner of 90's Honda trail bikes (XRs, Dominators, Africa Twins etc.) and the occasional Yamaha DT, what I'd buy now if I could would be a southern hemisphere market Honda AG bike or something of that ilk maybe: low-tech, low seat, low power, low price but offering a huge amount of simple pleasure .

Of course, you can't buy that short of stuff in the EU anymore but you can buy the Beta Alp 4.0 and I pick mine up next week - a bit of a brave decision but as soon as I saw it and sat on it, I knew I had to have one. Great dealer experience so far too.
Good choice.
Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

daveuprite wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 6:19 pm
Nick_2112 wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:21 pm
Richard Simpson Mark II wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:21 pm
boboneleg wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:31 am I was talking to one of the guys on the Suzuki stand at the ABR festival and even he said that they have a huge hole in their range. I was actually bemoaning the fact that you can still buy a DR650 in Aussie and USA but not in Europe :roll:

Suzuki is struggling a bit with its motorcycle range. They were very reliant on the GSX-R range and let the rest wither away...
Agreed, without the GSX-R's and dare I say it, the 650 V twin in it's different guises, Suzuki would really struggle.

Suzuki seem to come to the party late, V strom 1000, GSX-S/F, Katana etc. and end up reducing prices.

For eg. I test rode a V Strom 1000 a couple of times, liked it. it was over 10K, in a short space of time they were 2 grand off??

As someone said the DR350/650 are just about the only old bikes they haven't stuck with.

The gap between KLX & CRF 250 and the 600+ enduros could be filled with a DR350 or DRZ.
Suzuki seem to be about where Kawasaki was in about 2001, with many bikes in need of a radical update and lagging behind the others. By 2004 Kawasaki had launched the awesome 03 ZX6RR and ZX636R, and the amazing ZX10R - which transformed how they were seen by sportsbikers. Suzuki needs to have a big re-think asap. Quality-wise too, they always seem to sit somewhere behind Honda and Yamaha.
Suzuki has filed patents for a single-cylinder sohc engine with a second con-rod...along the lines of the old Ducati Supermono race-bike, according to Motor Cycle Monthly.
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by minkyhead »

id take the drz over the dr350 ...if they swapped gearboxes :!: that was the drzs real downfall for me
its a pity there no longer in production and good ones are becoming rarer

if they were newer and less boshed about id bite the bullet stick a nova gearbox in one to address its major drawback as a duelsport ..i had a similar situation with the ccm gear it for the road and its too tall off road ..gear it off road and its too buzzy ..

id aggree that its pretty expensive at the outset but ....i can now say 5 years on ..ive been renting a great duelsport gearbox for 200 quid a year
and everytime i ride it im so glad i did the swop ..so long term its a good investment and im sure i could get 500 quid now for the gearset if i ever took it out
. its a pity its needed but my point being that if i waited for somthing to come out 5 years agp id still be waiting now ?
i wish they were available back when i had me drz :?:

id be on a new dr350 like shot ..but its never gonna happen ..theres soo little uptake for these models ..go to any bike meeting and there is a a zero duelsport presence
crfs are cheap and cheerful but the suspension can be made adaquate for pretty much any legal trail in the uk and there is honestl;y not many
i havnt done on it ..and the engine can be boosted to pretty much match the dr350s 30odd horses ..with the aded bonus of being massivly more fuel efficiant modern and reliable ....

i dont buy into the ccms long service intervals and treat it like you might a beta or a 500exc ...a good weekend warrior ...but the workhorses are the crfs ...30k on the 300l .....13k on the rally ....... and9k on the ccm ... tells its own story


when i heard of the crf450l i were delighted ..as me crf300s have been great for me ..so here comes the silver bullet ..the unicorn ..very excited ....the rest they say is history its so far removed from the intial crfL concept in terms of price and pracicality that it was a big dissapointment

so here we have to mend and make do ..the huge gap between the crfs /klx and the 701s and 690s has tumbleweed blowing ..the 500ecs betas and ccms dare i say bring with them there own problems in terms of long distance ability and costs ...a certain fragility but some staggering performance figures ..50odd horses and maxxis rear do not a trip make ???..

drives yer nuts .....so yes mr suzuki the 6 grand 6 speed FI 135kgm 2020 drz duelsport .........

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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by chunky butt »

I for one would certainly be interested in minkys proposal, you'd think one of the major manufacturers would of come up with a bike, ticking the boxes by now ?
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by Nick_2112 »

To reply to an earlier comment ''if they were that good we all would have one'' thing is you can't get a good one, and thats the reason you don't see many now.
I've had DR350 x2 and ridden the DRZ extensively, and yes the DRZ was a great bike, for me it's not about DR v DRZ.

But what is needed is a simple, cheap to buy and run, solid, bulletproof trail bike inbetween 250cc and 700cc.

Suzuki may not consider it viable, and if so we accept that, but many models they did flog on past the sell by date, for no apparent reason other than they could sometimes didn't do that well.

I'm certainly not anti Suzuki, i've had more of them than any other maker. I just don't think the reason you don't see many DR350 is because they wern't popular.
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by scoobydidler »

daveuprite wrote:It was a beaten up old DR350 that got me into greenlaning after years of sports bikes and race-bikes. Knowing no better, I just thought that all dirt bikes must be vague-steering and fairly unpleasant to ride. Then I flogged it for what I had paid out a year later and bought a DRZ400E. Much much better. The Beta 450 I have now was another big step up again.

But 'if only Suzuki would...' revive and market a great all-round trail bike it's the DRZ400 they should update IMO. A nice clean 40bhp fuel injected liquid cooled single with a wide 6-speed box, proper subframe for luggage, 13-15 litre tank, probably about 125kgs, 900mm seat and some proper suspension borrowed from recent RMs - would all add up to a winner. Lots of DRZ owners wish they would do it and feel they missed a trick in allowing the old DRZ to die out rather than evolving the bike as Yamaha has done with the WRF. The Beta 390RR is kind of a modern day DRZ, but it has more enduro credentials and is probably not quite what drzedders are looking for.
That's what a lot of us have been saying for a long time and eventually honda produce the 450l! Wtf is that all about? They obviously know something we don't.
Until it changes we've got the 250rally, gp450 or an old proven. Image

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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by scoobydidler »

minkyhead wrote:id take the drz over the dr350 ...if they swapped gearboxes :!: that was the drzs real downfall for me
its a pity there no longer in production and good ones are becoming rarer

if they were newer and less boshed about id bite the bullet stick a nova gearbox in one to address its major drawback as a duelsport ..i had a similar situation with the ccm gear it for the road and its too tall off road ..gear it off road and its too buzzy ..

id aggree that its pretty expensive at the outset but ....i can now say 5 years on ..ive been renting a great duelsport gearbox for 200 quid a year
and everytime i ride it im so glad i did the swop ..so long term its a good investment and im sure i could get 500 quid now for the gearset if i ever took it out
. its a pity its needed but my point being that if i waited for somthing to come out 5 years agp id still be waiting now ?
i wish they were available back when i had me drz :?:

id be on a new dr350 like shot ..but its never gonna happen ..theres soo little uptake for these models ..go to any bike meeting and there is a a zero duelsport presence
crfs are cheap and cheerful but the suspension can be made adaquate for pretty much any legal trail in the uk and there is honestl;y not many
i havnt done on it ..and the engine can be boosted to pretty much match the dr350s 30odd horses ..with the aded bonus of being massivly more fuel efficiant modern and reliable ....

i dont buy into the ccms long service intervals and treat it like you might a beta or a 500exc ...a good weekend warrior ...but the workhorses are the crfs ...30k on the 300l .....13k on the rally ....... and9k on the ccm ... tells its own story


when i heard of the crf450l i were delighted ..as me crf300s have been great for me ..so here comes the silver bullet ..the unicorn ..very excited ....the rest they say is history its so far removed from the intial crfL concept in terms of price and pracicality that it was a big dissapointment

so here we have to mend and make do ..the huge gap between the crfs /klx and the 701s and 690s has tumbleweed blowing ..the 500ecs betas and ccms dare i say bring with them there own problems in terms of long distance ability and costs ...a certain fragility but some staggering performance figures ..50odd horses and maxxis rear do not a trip make ???..

drives yer nuts .....so yes mr suzuki the 6 grand 6 speed FI 135kgm 2020 drz duelsport .........

.form a orderly que
Image

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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by OB1 »

I would have thought that the simple answer to why Suzuki hasn't updated the 350 is due to demand: in the big scheme of things, those who want a 350 trail bike are in a very, very small minority. Unlike the last century, bikes are viewed as toys or a hobby that one does at the weekend when the other half allows us to. Gone, for most, are the days of commuting on a 250 Superdream and those that do want to ride the diminishing trails of the British countryside would much rather have a new KTM than a reworked DR350 because that's what the marketing bods tell them they need. I remember a time when a bike with fewer than 20,000 miles was classed as desirable, whereas today, it would need to be below 2,000 miles and that would be for a 5-year-old bike! We're also told that you need something above 1,000 ccs in order to tour comfortably: I once heard someone asking if an 800 had enough power to tour two-up.

Back in January, I was at a travel event in London and went to hear a talk hosted by Austin and Lois. Austin mentioned that, at one time, he thought that the best bike that you could do an extended tour on was the trusty old Suzuki DR350. However, in recent years he has changed his mind and prefers the Honda CRF250L as it is just as simple to work on as the DR but has been improved over the years into such a reliable, go-anywhere bike that just keeps on going. Steph Jeavons can also testify to this having covered 52,000 miles on a standard CRF250L with just basic maintenance. The little Honda seems to have taken over the mantle of the trusty old DR.
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Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Need to adjust the valves on DR350...you'll need a feeler-gauge and couple of spanners. You just need to take the rocker covers off. All done in 30 minutes while drinking a cup of tea.

Same job on the Honda...strip the cam out, and get your micrometer and factory shim set out. Bugger about, put it back together and hope you got it right first time. Repeat if necessary. What's that...oh, you've dropped a shim down the cam-chain tunnel. Ah, this may take some time...

Progress?
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Re: If Only Suzuki Would....?

Post by OB1 »

Richard Simpson Mark II wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:24 pm Need to adjust the valves on DR350...you'll need a feeler-gauge and couple of spanners. You just need to take the rocker covers off. All done in 30 minutes while drinking a cup of tea.

Same job on the Honda...strip the cam out, and get your micrometer and factory shim set out. Bugger about, put it back together and hope you got it right first time. Repeat if necessary. What's that...oh, you've dropped a shim down the cam-chain tunnel. Ah, this may take some time...

Progress?

Ah... okay... didn't know that. I've only had mine for 6 months and 3,500 miles. :lol:
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