up front means you better rug up for an
extended road trip in the cooler months. Editor
Ben tells me the Godiva screen he fitted to his
DR back in 2014 made a world of difference to
its capability as a bike for doing distances on.
Ergonomically, Suzuki has nailed what I like in
an adventure bike – nice wide bars, meaning
you can dip into corners easily, and a seat
height perfect for those my 5’ 9” or so, and
taller. The DR is perfect for standing up on
and gripping with your knees, which I found
my self doing quite a bit as the seat is so
bloody hard – as I said earlier. But get this
bike on some gravel, or even completely off
road in the likes of a river bed, and it really
starts to shine. Ben told me the DR has been
in the top five of bikes sold by volume in
New Zealand, well, forever. Now I see why.
Where the DR lacks in open road overtaking
speed, it more than makes up off road.
Being light – compared to the current crop
of middleweight adventure bikes - and
nimble has its advantages when skipping
around boulders, wading through water
and navigating tight dirt singletrack.
Even on the twisty ribbon of tarmac from
Masterton to Castlepoint it was easy to see the
attraction of the DR – its a fantastic wee bike.
Another area where I found the DR exceeded
my expectations, was in Wellington’s rush
hour traffic. Being light has its advantages,
especially at low speeds when squeezing
between cars and buses, and hitting the
odd catseye is barely noticeable due to
the softer suspension and trail tyres.
I see the Suzuki DR650 as the Toyota Hilux of
the bike world. And not the fancy new Hilux
either, but the old one from the early 90s. You
know, the one you take to the back paddock
to feed out the hay, then maybe take a trip
to the A&P show in. The one with little in the
way of fancy electrics, there’s no aircon, no
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