very exciting. It was in the back of my mind, as well as blindingly obvious when we all met up at the Cossie Club in the Nui, that there was a somewhat sizeable age gap amongst the riders. There were plenty of conversations with so many new people( to me). It was clear that we all shared the same passion for motorcycling. While sharing brews, we were all reminiscing old bikes, previous rides as well as the excitement for what was ahead of us the next day. Setting off in the morning with our bellies full of brekkie( inclusive with our ride), we all set off, without haste due to the rain, for our 300km trip up to Piopio and back. A full mixture of slippery backroads and my first taste of gravel on this bike. It felt right at home, that suspension soaked up all of those nasty bumps, it was comfortable the whole time. Comparing it to the almost 100 other bikes out on the ride, I feel as though I probably had the most sensible, rider-friendly bike I could have ever used. In the real gnarly twisty roads, with my very limited off-road experience, the 4S felt like a breeze. On the wide open straights it happily picked up some pace, well within my skill range, and also did some awesome gravel slides, keeping the back wheel spinning was so much fun and really easy to control. For a first timer to the KR350, I’ m certainly going to be attending more in the future. I can seriously recommend this for anybody new to adventure riding, particulary new learner riders wanting to seek something more interesting than the same boring road ride, as well as expereinced riders wanting to try something new. It brought a whole heap of new experiences for me, fantastic views and some new friends too. The whole social scene is super friendly.
commuter, a gravel road explorer, anything that you might want it to do. It’ s one of the only bikes out there right now where I have genuine trust that it’ ll work perfectly every time I want to use it. People may complain that the price is expensive for a single cylinder trail / ADV at $ 14,899, but, trust me, it is worth every single cent, for the joy of using it and the places that it’ ll take you.
THE SKINNY I’ m sure you want to know if Suzuki has done the DRZ lineage justice. I think so. For the simplicity of the riding experience, while having its new upgrades, it feels so robust but smooth and easy to ride. It’ s no longer a tractor that only works on the hard trails, it’ s now a daily
34 KIWI RIDER