Skips new bike - DRZ400S

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I know its not an SV - but at least its a Suzuki

specialone asked what I thought of it in the EAR section so I thought I would give it its own thread

Originally Posted by specialone

Have fun on yours, I love mine

Be interesting to find out what it's like on the supamoto wheels, will the speedo over read?
The S model has longer travel suspension, different gearing etc, so I'm interested what differences you find.

After a weekend in Wales last year at the BMW Offroad School that Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman did before their "Long Way Round" trip - I was hooked on off-roading (I would recommend the World of BMW - Off Road Skills to anyone even remotely interested in off-road - totally superb!) and decided that the SV1000S needed to go to make room for some sort of dirt bike. In all honesty I had only used the SV for commuting in 2010 and covered a measly 3200 miles (my lowest since passing my test 6 years ago) - so thought an enduro/supermoto dual purpose bike would be a great way to not only scratch that off-road itch and still have a bike to use on the road.

Luckily for me Mrs Skips Uncle wanted the SV so no hassles there - a hunt started for either a DRZ400S or SM, CCM 404DS or something similar. Typical for me though I bought the first bike I looked at only 15 hours after getting my hands on the money from the sale of the SV!

Its a 2006 DRZ400S with 2 owners from new and only 4,000 miles on the clock - the chap I bought it from had used it for light green lane work but over the 4 years he owned it had also bought the seat and wheels from the SM version and only used them a couple of times. With a years MOT and tax it was too good to pass up

This was the picture that sold it to me - great condition and with those oh so expensive wheels ready to go



4 hour round trip to Milton Keynes to get it was well worth it as it is in great condition - in all honesty if he told me he had never used it off-road I would have believed him! Not only did it come with the SM wheels and seat but a spare chain to take the smaller SM rear sprocket, 2 sets of Acerbis hand guards, 2 full sets of knobblies - 1 set of which is brand new (and as agressive as knobblies can be and still be road legal, apparently), 2 different rear and front sprockets and loads of other spares - I thought £2300 was a fair price.

Trailered it home and when we got back just had to go for a test ride.



Tyres as you can see are very aggressive and a 60 mile road test on them just on tarmac was interesting to say the least! Gearing is 16F/47R and the top speed with the throttle pinned was 88mph! It was great fun to ride though - its the slowest bike I have ever owned but its got a certain charm that had me grinning all the way

Fitted the supermoto wheels this morning - just couldn't wait to see what it was like!





The rear sprocket on the SM wheels is a 41t so had to use the shorter chain provided - other than that no real dramas during the swap - a special orange bracket was provided to mount the standard "S" caliper on the larger disk and the correctly geared SM speedo pickup was also included.



Did another 40 miles on it this evening - wow - thats more like it on tarmac!! The Dunlop 208 "SM" tyres allow you to chuck the bike about with loads of confidence - only slight downside is the bouncy "S" suspension - so hopefully firming everything up (where you can on the limited adjustment on the Showa forks and the rear shock) will help a little - but its fine as it is really - saw 90mph on the speedo but to be honest its happiest at about 65-75mph.

Its certainly like no other bike I have ever owned (SV650, Z750, Blackbird and SV1000S being my previous steeds) - but with the ability to use it both on and off road using the correct tyres for each discipline - I am sure it will give me plenty of fun this summer

Sorry for the long post - just thought I would get my initial thoughts down for my own memories

Nice
Not sure i could be bothered to change all the chain etc just to run supamoto wheels.
My tyres at present are brilliant on road, I chuck mine about loads, I can keep up with a lot of bikes in corners upto reasonable speeds.


Couldnt you match the sprockets so your standard chain would work ?

Mine will do an indicated 90mph at a push, but I've sat on the mway at 80 for 50 miles with no problem.
They do use a bit of oil if you thrash them btw, check it regular.
I check mine after every ride before putting it away and carry 200ml with me all the time.

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What tyres do you run? Gearing too? I could swap the 47t sprocket over but to be honest this will be my commuting bike as well as a fun machine so I am happy to stick with the 41t rear.

Cheers for the heads up on the oil - didn't know that - luckily the chap gave me the rest of the Silkolene oil he had changed it for. Checking it is a bit odd being oil-in-frame - I assume its accurate enough though looking at the stubby dipstick.

Loverly bike sir I'm looking for a nice clean one myself trouble is I'm spoilt and I want to keep the gsxr aswell I can't really afford 2 bikes so maybe when common sense kicks in I my just let little gixer go and get the DRZ as my everyday all purpose steed

As long as the oil checking procedure is followed consistently, it's pretty accurate.
My tyres ATM are still the avons it came with off LP, not brilliant off road tbh.
I'm thinking about some dual use tyres like the standard fit on the BMW GS's etc, ralph has some and he gets on ok with them.
I'm running standard gearing as well, can't remember off the top of my head what it is, mike did try a different front sprocket I think but changed it back.

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Originally Posted by kwak zzr

Loverly bike sir I'm looking for a nice clean one myself trouble is I'm spoilt and I want to keep the gsxr aswell I can't really afford 2 bikes so maybe when common sense kicks in I my just let little gixer go and get the DRZ as my everyday all purpose steed

Cheers

Wasnt realistic for me to keep the SV as well (but would have loved to) and to have this as my only bike is a bit of a shock as it has so little power - but the grin factor is there definitely - I would say try one first though!

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

Loverly bike sir I'm looking for a nice clean one myself trouble is I'm spoilt and I want to keep the gsxr aswell I can't really afford 2 bikes so maybe when common sense kicks in I my just let little gixer go and get the DRZ as my everyday all purpose steed

Daz, they are a cheap 2nd bike to run tbh once you have outlaid for the actual bike, tax is £35 a year, cheap insurance etc.

They have power upto 80mph, if you thrash it, they go well and will keep up with the average bike, after 80, they don't have a lot

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Originally Posted by specialone

They have power upto 80mph, if you thrash it, they go well and will keep up with the average bike, after 80, they don't have a lot

From my short 100 miles on it - I would agree with this - which is fine if you want to keep your license clean

My father-in-law is more of a 60-80mph rider on his Bandit 1200 so no longer will I keep leaving him behind when we go for a ride so its a bonus for me in some ways

I love my DRZ, so with that I mind I have include a pic of mine ...