Commute to work in the
week and hit the trails at
the weekend on the DR-Z
the sand if weighted too much in the turns.
It very much feels like a high seat, sit on bike,
rather than a lower seat, sit in bike.
Later when hitting whoops, the rear felt quite
soft while the forks felt good. Of course, the
Suzuki was brand new, straight out of the
box and in no way set up for what I would
consider to be fairly tough conditions for a
trail bike. If you added some higher, wider fat
bars and did a little suspension fettling with
the clickers and the shock preload, and I’m
sure the DR-Z would step-up significantly. So,
I’d have to say that over all these different
conditions, effectively from open road work
to pretty much light enduro work, the Suzuki
delivered damn well.
60 KIWI RIDER
Having recently tested the all-new Honda
CRF450L which is a brilliant trail bike, I knew
the Suzuki had quite the mountain to climb in
comparison. But you know what? I reckon the
DR-Z400 holds its own extremely well with its
versatility, ease of use and ability to simply
do the job. Sure, the Honda has more finesse,
a modern design and is more exciting to ride,
but it’s twice the price. And the Suzuki gets an
over-sized tank thrown in as part of the deal…
So, you can spend the money for the latest
and greatest, or save your money and still get
a totally functional bike that will do the job
well, but it’s just not quite so polished. Seems
there’s life in the old 400 Dog Rooter yet.