understated, but that’ s probably intentional, like quite a few models these days, a blank canvas waiting for owners’ personal expression by way of graphics and other accessories. Equally the R & D team has worked hard on the ergonomics. Here the new DR-Z4S is legitimately better than its forebear. The riding triangle( I think that’ s become a thing now) is good whether sat or stood, and for me at 6’ 0” it made for comfortable riding at all times. I especially appreciated the new seat. The old one, for reasons I never quite found out, sloped downwards front-to-back, so when accelerating hard, or climbing a hill it was quite easy to find yourself sliding backwards and thereupon limiting your control. And it wasn’ t that comfortable. The new saddle is flat enough, wide enough where you sit, narrow enough where you want to grip with your knees / calves. And even more usefully, it seems to work well with being able to scootch forward over the fuel tank for weighting the front wheel in tight corners. Meanwhile, the footpegs and front brake and clutch levers do feel a bit old school. The steel pegs are bigger than ones from the past,
but are modest and basic-looking by modern standards, and the levers and perches too look unchanged since 2001. Even the speedo-comeinstrument panel, being LCD not TFT, feels a step or two behind the modern age. None of that is deal breaking, it’ s just … well, you know, it’ s not a cheap buy. A big plus is how quiet and civilised the motor and exhaust are. This thing is CRF300L quiet. I really do hope owners will keep it that way. We don’ t need the bark of competition machines in the trail environment. We don’ t need to‘ unleash the beast’, we’ re out to enjoy the countryside, a shared space. Part of that is being as unobtrusive as we can be. By the way, yeah, I’ ve not given you every detail of the extensive technical updates and revisions, like the engine is 80 % new, the chassis as good as 100 % new. Why? Because you know all this already given the amount of media reporting since its world launch. And if you haven’ t read those reports then Suzuki’ s website will give you chapter and verse. We’ ll save the electronic trees for the riding feedback.
GOOD RIDINGS Given it’ s 2025, the start procedure is as
48 KIWI RIDER