Not willing to rest
on its laurels. Suz uki
has r ef ined it s AMA
Superbike. and AMA
750cc Superspo r t w inn ing GSX-R750
fo r 2000.
The .Bandi~'!i
new Rla!ik
W
hile the debu t of Suzuki's all-new Suzuki DR-Z400 is being applauded by ma ny, the celeb ra tiort is a t th e ex pense of a n o ld fri end - th e 10-y ea r-old DR350, which is bein g
replaced .
At its introd uc tion in 1990, the little thump er featu red an air-cooled, four-val ved, sing le-overheadcammed motor, Full -Floater rear sus pe nsion sys tem and conventional fork. At its farewell this year,
it' s pret ty mu ch the sam e. Ok ay, if -you wa nt to ge t technical, there were a few upd ates over the
decad e. A d igit al DC COl ignition was ad ded in '93, and the following yea r sa w a relative plethora of
changes: The bike go t an automati c d ecom pression sys tem and a cartridge fork wi th rebound and
com pression adjustment. Then a California ve rsio n was crea ted in '98, the onl y differe nce b eing a
cons tant-velocity carb ure tor. Other than that, the only changes to the Dr. have bee n a series of gra phic
packages - one or two of which eve n Suzuki PR mana ger Mark Reese ad mits were rat her -u nsightly.
Still, the DR has bee n a popular rid e, used for everything from tra ilriding (the norm ), to professional motocross (in hig hly mod ified form ), ,to the Interna tional Six Days End uro . Mea nwhile, the
bike' s DRS sibling - in troduced at the sa me time - was regularly rid den on tarmac the wo rld over.
Still, most tea rs being shed for the faithful old DR should quickly dry when eyes are cast on the
new one. Even ISDE veteran and Works Enduro Rider owne r Drew Smith - who was involved in the
develo pme n t o f bo th bikes - isn ' t
melan c h ol y: "M oto rc ycl es are jus t
machines to me. I have absolutely no
soft spo t in my hea rt for old technology
- with th e excep tio n of an old sevenspeed He rcu les I have, and tha t' s just
stu ffed in a shed ... I can't wait for (the
' new DR) to ge t on dealer floors, so I can
go buy one : '
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