On road they are also different. The KTM has a six-speed gearbox and yet still feels buzzy and less relaxed than the Suzuki’ s five-speed, largely down to the nature of the 4S engine. I never did a max-speed run to know if the five-speed really holds the DR back but I can say both machines are equally happy on road at 100km / h and 130km / h + on wide-open dirt sections. For overall use, I’ d give a very slight nudge to the DR engine mainly for its punchy yet smooth flexible delivery.
SAME PROBLEM, DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS Ergonomically and comfort-wise that chalk and cheese remains. Straight up, the KTM has the clear advantage because it has the full ADV layout with a tall screen, hand guards and, because of this, is much warmer in Winter with decent weather protection. Also, the KTM has a lower seat height than the DR at 870mm, which will suit more riders. But … the DR has a more
38 KIWI RIDER