For the duration of this century, I think it’ s fair to say, the Suzuki DR-Z400E has been the epitome of reliability and true dual-sport riding. For decades it has opposed change, entering the market initially as a full-on enduro machine, then sticking to its roots while the rest of the world moved on. It survived years of reproduction with a few new graphics and its own growing reputation. Alas, the European Union and its emissions laws have forced the Hamamatsu factory to rethink this approach. The unbreakable Japanese quality that has been simple and unchanged has finally achieved evolution. Finally meeting Euro 5 + emissions restrictions, the DR-Z has been reborn for a global market.
WHAT’ S CHANGED? Ok, let’ s address the elephant in the room …
The new DR-Z4S is not an update of the E model enduro bike we’ ve come to know and love in NZ. In fact, that’ s not been an option in most European countries as a road-legal bike for quite some time. No, the DR-Z4S is an update of the S model the rest of the world gets, so not quite apples to oranges with our old girl. That in mind, let’ s carry on. The new bike has finally introduced upgrades that have been a long time coming. The bike now sports fuel-injection, a ride-by-wire system and modern riding aids. It finally keeps up with the rest of its small bore trail / ADV class peers. The old-school digital clocks have disappeared and been replaced by an LCD dash( with a fuel gauge, I might add). It’ s easy to read and navigate. Thankfully, for diehard DRZ fans, the foundation of the bike has been left
30 KIWI RIDER