VOL. 53 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 26, 2016 P89
BY KIT PALMER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM BOOTH
T
he DR-Z400S has been
around a long, long time. And
there is a reason for that: it's a
great bike.
The DR-Z400S has been in Su-
zuki's dual sport lineup since 2001,
before that it happily roamed the
back roads—dirt or pavement—very
capably as a 350. The DR350S
made its debut in 1991 and I remem-
ber being one of the first in the U.S.
to ride it when Suzuki introduced it
to the press in the Mojave Desert in
California; I was so impressed with
it—or perhaps more accurately had
so much fun on it—that I purchased
one shortly thereafter, though I prob-
ably should've waited a few more
years when the electric-start version
came out. (But that would've been
five long years.) Man, was that 350
a pain to kick-start! Suzuki billed the
DR350S as the first "barely street-
legal dual sport bike." At that time, it
pretty much was.
Suzuki introduced the all-new DR-
Z400S in 1999 (as a 2000 model) in
Death Valley, California, and, yes, I
quickly bought one of those, too (for
the same reasons as the 350) and
kept it for many years until some-
one wanted to buy it so badly that
he gave me an offer I just couldn't
refuse. I miss that bike like no other.
Fast-forward at least 10 years,
as I rip down the dirt road making
dust in the rain-starved California
Mountains on the latest DR-Z400S,
and I'm happily reminded of my old
DR-Z400S again, because the new
one is so similar. Actually, they're the
same bike! And that means it's just
as fun to ride, old-school technology
or not.
The DR-Z400S hasn't changed
much—if at all—over the years, it
just keeps getting a color update
every 12 months, but man; I wish
they'd bring back the all-yellow color
scheme! Not only did the yellow DRZ
just look so good it also matched its
distant cousin, the RM-Z, and that's
always a good thing.
Today, the DR-Z400S is still the
same laid back, un-intimating and
easy-going bike to ride as it ever
was. The 398cc, DOHC, liquid-
cooled, single-cylinder four-stroke
engine delivers smooth power and
decent torque that keep you grinning
while riding on both the pavement
and the dirt. Its midsize displace-
ment means it has enough ponies to
keep up with the flow of traffic on the
highways without too much wincing
and enough power to pull you out of
trouble on the dirt.
Suspension is still way too soft
for aggressive riding or for those
The DR-Z400S comes with a fairly
sophisticated digital meter.
Even though the
Suzuki DR-Z400S
hasn't changed
much over the
years, it's still
a very capable
dual sport bike.
Pictured here is
the 2015 model,
but the 2016 is no
different (except
for color).
