Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Suzuki DR350ES and Honda XR650L The . . .cle . . . . . . . . Not so long ago, it was thought traveler who visits the site. In the middle of the pile sits the monument which tells of the events that took place on the lake in 1897. It reads, "On this site in..." Know what? It's so outrageous that we've decided not to' tell you what it says. You just gotta see it to believe it. It was about 4 p.m. when we made our way through the sand dunes near Afton Canyon. There were no more cairns, the road now marked with wooden posts to guide us the rest of the way. After a brief moment to explore a radical, winding cavern that wound through the cliffs near the railroad tracks, we followed the rail tine before coming upon a pair of rather deep water holes that remain in the canyon year-round. It was early enough in the year that the holes were still deep, and so Jones suggested tha t we ride through a few times so tha t he could snap some photos. It wasn't long before a few wheelies were attempted, and that's when Rousseau managed to smack up the Husky pretty well, as he stepped off the back, walked on water behind the wildly revving machine and then threw it toward the opposite bank, wa tching it do a wingover before hitting the ground on its left side and totally wasting the front brake on some rocks. 01' Freebird managed to ink the Baja XR at the next water hole just up the road, and it took several minutes of precious sunlight before the big beast acquiesced and started running again. It was 10 more miles to Field Road, and we were soon racing across the fla ts that would lead us to 1-15 and the chase truck. It was dark when we reached the truck, and several machines were, by now, missing some of the equipment that had made them street-legal - orne headlights didn't work, one bike lost its turn indicators and license plate - so we received a headlighted escort as we took the frontage road through Yermo and then hopped onto 1-15 and back into Barstow. Then, to our delight, and sadness, it was over. We learned a of couple things along the way, however. First of all, there are few things better than riding what is essentially a "cloaked" race bike in the that the only way to build a proper dual-spon motorcycle was to start with a dirt-only machine. The "dual-purposeN quadra-stroke lunkers that evdved from the Big Fours two-stroke "enduros" uemembel' those?) were nothing more than in-handling sln!et bikes jazzed up with hip fenders and the occasional racy mmtberplate/ heaclJight combo. Oooh. Frankly, few were ~y, and even fewer were dirt-worthy. Thank God that the times have changed. While the manufacturers were slow in addressing the needs at this segment of the marketplace, they have responded in the '90s. Starting with Suzuki's benchmark DR350S in 1991, the Japanese have continually worked toward building motorcycles that truly deserve to carry the "dual sport" moniker. We rode two such examples, a '99 Suzuki DR350FS and a '99 XR650L, on our trip through the Mojave desert. The DR was actually the personal mount of ace moto photog Kinney Jones, who had put only 200 miles on the machine before our flog into the wasteland. Despite our offers to set him up with one of our desert specials, Jones insisted on bringing the bike, which had seen only a pair of modifications in the form of a Stroker Inc. spark arrestor and a pair of Dunlop tires. They say that )'ou are judged by the company that you keep. So how did these two stocks fare against their more volatile blue-chip cousins? Quite well, in reality. First of all, neither the DR nor the XRL gave uS a hint of trouble, save for a mirror that shattered out of its housing as the XRL tackled a section of Mojave moguls at ramming speed. The suspension on the XRL was too soft, the bike could have used better treads, and it was definitely top-heavy, forcing the rider to keep a death grip on the bars a t higher speeds. Weighed against such desert, just like it used to be done, but remember this: High-performance motorcycles are high-performance motorcycles. Putting lights and a horn and a license plate on them does not make them as reliable as the more-mundane machines that are offered by the OEMs for dual-sport riding. The bikes that we rode were race bikes, and as such they should be prepared like race bikes every single time before you go out for a luxuries as an extremely comfortable seat, excellent ergonomics and that Wondedul electric-start feature, the XRL came out pretty dose to even by our staBdards. With a few mods to increase power and upgrade the suspension fOl" places like Mojave, the XRL could do it if you could. As foI' the DR. Jones seemed to have 110 trouble leading the pack even at higher speeds on the nimble macbiDe. A former Intermediate-level. motocrosser and Baja 1000 competitor, his oif-road riding prowess was clearly evident, but there was simply DO way that he could have maintained such a spirited pace if the DR wasn't up to the task. The Stroker muffler added a welcome pony or two up top, and the Dunlops wet'e unquestionably better than the stock dual-sport rubber. }ones also commented that the electric start was so nice that he actually felt sorry while watching the rest of us deal with the more finickystarting bopped-up bikes in our ranks. The addition of stiffer springs would be welcome, but other than that, the DR350FS, like the XR65OL, was definitely a dual-sport bike. Just get on it and ride, Jones said. There are certainly other makes and models in both Japanese and Euro trim that could have just as capably replaced the DR and the XRL on our ride. We suggest that you go to your dealer and check 'em out. These days, the stock market looks good indeed. long ride. With a couple of exceptions, we all agreed that we would never, ever even consider going it alone on one of these bikes - that's a bad idea regardless. Second, we learned that we could have taken three days to ride the Mojave Road and still not have seen everything there is to see out there, wheUler it be the historical or topographical sites that tum you on. TIl Mojave Road and the Mojave SceItic Area .offer plenty of both in spades, mak- ing a trip such as ours a worthwhile adventure at least once a year. But third, and most importantly, we found out that while there's a lot of good riding land in Southern CaliforItia that has since been swallowed up by the Washington establishment and the bureaucrats, there is still a whole lot of great riding land that is available for use if you're willing to go find it. So what are you waiting for? [['s out tJwre. CN Upt,te Racing Husqvarna 350CR As.r __ Uptife Racing's George &1 is one of those guy's who has been keeping the Husky faith for years. As a longtime dealer and pet'formance guru for the Swedish-bom, now Italian-made motorcycles, Erl has developed a selid reputation as the go-to guy for Husky-philes in search of more performance from their mounts. The original game plan was to have Erl supply us with a preproduction '99 Husky 610 dual-sport model that he had, but that fell through after the distributor requested that we hold off until we could get a production unit, as all of the final changes had yet to be made. Instead, Ed burned the midItight oil to add a scratch-built dual-sport kit to one of his own play bikes, a 1998 250CR chassis that houses a '91 350WXE engine. Of course, the engine has been seriously "Uptited" with extensive cylinder-head work, an Uptite cam, an Uptite exhaust and a 36mm Mikuni flat-slide carburetor. Chassiswise, the bike is basically stock with the exception of a slightly modified Sachs shock and 50mm Marzocchi forks. Either Ed didn't tell us sternly enough or we didn't listen well enough, but starting the Husky when cold was an absolute bear. We kicked and kicked, and pushed and kicked, flipped it upside down and took out the spark plug and kicked, choke onl choke off... Finally we futzed with the air screw and pushed the Husky until it came to life. Jronkally, once the machine was warm, a single well-placed stab at the left-side kickstarter could get it lit every time. Once under way, the bike exhibited a few tendencies to remind us that we were on a homebuilt special, such as the ability to puke oil when overfilled, twice, and the impossi!?ility of reaching neutral when the bike was at a standstill with the engine running. Beyond that, however, we found in this particular hybrid a motorcycle that performed extremely well in most conditions. rt was probably the least comfortable when ridden in the saddle for long periods of time, but - like the Fineline bike - the Husky was f)a t fast when throttled up in race mode. In fact, it was the fastest motorcycle in our group, pulling hard off the bottom and cleanly through the middle on the way to an eyewatering top end that seemed unbelievable for a 350cc machine. As far as the chassi goes, the Husky proved to retain its trademark stability and fair turning prowess. There simply wasn't a better bike in the sand. In rockier conditions, however, the 50mm Marzocchi forks tended to deflect a bit, forcin the rider to reall • pay attention to what the &ont end was doing. Braking was excellent. It was funny, but the more some of our riders rode the Husky, the more they liked it. Then again, for some riders. the more they rode it, the less they liked it. So what we have here, folks, is the epitome of a hot-rod dual-sport bike, the smallblock Chevy in the '32 deuce coupe, if you will. As such, it's fast as stink and does its job well, albeit with a few irritating traits. And of course, it is wildly impractical Who the hell is going to run out and try to find a '98 CR roller and a '91 350 engine? Nobody. However, if you do have an older Husky four-stroke that you'd like to revive in duaI-sport mode, or if you want to buy a new '99 Husqvama dual-sport model and add a few tricks to it, then George Erl can help. Sounds like a win-win situation to us.

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