The DRZ is a fine bike and for some a better bike than the DR, just depends on what you wanna do with it. For me, if I were going to go the more complex route I'd want more performance to go with it (WR450, CRF450x, TE450/510, KLX450 etc). have fun
I've been looking at a couple wr426f's too. Still debating, probably should have jumped on the 98 dr350se for 2k, it looked to be pretty stock with 8K miles, oh well. I have decided that e-start will on the need list, just have to wait and see what pops up...
Bottom line in my opinion is how it fits...Both rider and pocketbook. For me I take it on the cheek and scope out what's on the market ''today''... I love the KLX250.....I also drool over the new WRX 250.....FI..... but I also know if I spend another grand on my trusty Dr I'll have the exact machine I want...One part at a time... Hey if my wallet was deeper I'd own a stable of specific shit but for now the DR is as close to a soulmate as I've yet to come across.....YMMV me
Hey Georgewa, I just sold my 04' DRZ400S about three weeks ago after buying my 99' DR350SE. I took a little heat from my riding buddies, whom I think were trying to get me admitted to the HaHa Hotel. I drove to Houston, about 4.5 hours from my house, to pick up the DR350 and paid $2200 for a sweet little bike with only 6500 miles. It already had some accessories and mods done. Came with a Clarke tank, Moose skid plate, extra sprockets, bark busters, jet kit, rear rack, etc... Unfortunately DR350's are rare here in Texas so finding one close by wasn't an option. So I keep getting asked,"why on earth would you sell that beautiful DRZ to buy a smaller, older bike ?" For me it was a matter of usage. I just didn't ride the DRZ enough to warrant keeping it in the garage. Mine was set up perfect, E model cam, Yoshi exhaust, stainless steel header pipe, Moose skid plate, carb rejetted, airbox mod, aluminum radiator guards, Clarke tank and the list goes on. The DRZ is a FANTASTIC bike but it was more bike than I needed for my riding style and my needs. This, I believe, is what really comes into play when choosing the right bike. Riding style and needs... I'm extremely happy with the DR350 as it does everything I need or want it to do. It's not the DRZ but works great for me. If you haven't ridden a DR350 or a DRZ you might give em both a try before determining which one fits you best. The DRZ is quite a bit taller than my DR350, not that it was a problem for me as I have a 36" inseam, and the seat, well that's a whole different story. The DRZ seat ain't terrible but I do remember getting off the bike soon after buying it and telling my riding buddies,"well I now Know how a woman wearing a thong feels." It's a very narrow and somewhat hard seat. Not bad for short periods or if you stand on the pegs a bunch. The seating position is higher than the DR350 so you seem to see better in traffic or on the trails. The DRZ is a bit heavier due in large part to the cooling system. After owning a bunch of water cooled bikes I'm not sure there's much of a benefit of a water cooled dual sport over air cooled. The 6 speed tranny of the DR350 is sweet and the DRZ could really benefit from a 6 speed. The DRZ will cost more $$$ upfront and will still need some mods to get it where ya want it. I think MuleKick has a good point, spend the xtra $$$ on farkleing the DR350 and you might just have the perfect bike but again, each rider has to determine what works best for his riding style and needs. For me the little DR350 is just about perfect, if there is such a thing in a motorcycle. I don't think you can go wrong with either the DRZ or the DR350, they're both great bikes.
I just put on new chain and sprockets and I'm not sure if I paid close enough attention to which way the front sprocket goes on .....does it go flat side in or out.....it must make a difference in chain alignment. I put on a 14/42 combo and bought a 15 tooth too....in case the 14 is too much for the street..might just use it when I know I'm doing a lot of woods riding..Thanks....
Here is the bobed tail. I just removed the extender and re-attached the plate holder to the metal frame.
i tried doing a search in this thread but i couldn't come up with anything. what is the deal with the kickstand bolt? my kickstand is starting to get awful close to the swing arm. also i know that the 99 dr350's have that problem with the pic for the balence shaft falling out. how many miles does the bike ussually have when that happens? i just turned 9,000 on my bike and fear that the engine might explode on me at any time. i'm in the process of looking for a drz or xr650r right now and the dr will be staying and then i can pull the motor and inspect that pin. how hard of a job is it to do that? here's a pic of the ol girl after i ran into a tree
I did the exact same thing! I posted very detailed instructions and pictures somewhere... I'll try and find them and link here.
I think Greendog has made some excellent points about the DRZ400 to DR350. I'll add my .02 since I had a slightly different story. First let me say that I think the DRZ400 is one of the best all around dual sport bikes going. Rock solid, dependable, performance is there if you want to do some mods. If you could get a DRZ400E tagged (can't here in GA) it would come close to replacing my DR350. But for me the DRZ400S needs quite a big of aftermarket modification to get it where I would want it. I bought a really nice 2005 DRZ400S about a year ago. This was my re-entry into the dirt/dual sport bike world after some 20+ years without an off road bike. I used to race enduros on a Yamaha TT500 and I wanted another thumper to do it all, enduros, hare scrambles, forest service roads, mountains, mud, twisties, you name it. I thought I did some good homework and then I bought the DRZ. Got it home and found the '06 DRZ400S was pretty mild in stock trim. and the seat was like a 2x4. And to get it set up to perform and handle the way I wanted it to I would be spending another $500 or $1000 on it. And I would still have a 300+ pound bike that might just be a jack of all but was a master of NONE. At this time I really thought I wanted a hard core dirt bike that was (barely) street legal. Enter phase two, the KTM! So I put the DRZ up for sale before I had it 30 days, before I started tossing money at it, before I got off in the woods and scratched and dented and killed the resale value. I bought a 2005 KTM 450exc and put the DRZ up for sale. The KTM was an awesome dirt bike, the best handling, perfect weight and power, offroad bike I had ever thrown a leg over. I loved it. It did all the off road stuff with ease. Instant throttle response, lift the front wheel with ease. But I never got it on the road. Went to the tag office with a South Carolina title from the PO in hand and the VIN number kicked out a warning flag and I got turned down for my GA tag and title. Adding the dual sport equipment and getting LEO to inspect it MIGHT have netted me a GA tag, but I also came to the conclusion that it was not going to be great on the street. And I decided that hard core dual sport was more important to me than RACING the enduros and hare scrambles. Therefore the KTM was not the perfect all around bike either. Enter phase three, Suzuki DR650. I kept the KTM for 6 months, and if Georgia had handed me a tag and title the rest of this story might very well have a different ending. But I was deep into dual sporting now and I wanted a 50/50 balanced dual sport bike that could carve up the twisties and then rip up the trails. After more research I decided the Suzuki DR650 just might do the job. I bought a nice 2003 DR650 with only 1000 miles and proceeded to trick it out with a Yosh slip on, skid plate, Metzler Karoo knobbies, open up the airbox, and dialed in the jetting. Make note, the DR650 was an OK big motor with lot's of torque when I bought it in stock trim, but after the un-corking of the intake and exhaust it was transformed into a rip snorting, fire breathing dragon that became affectionately known as Godzilla to my friends. A twist of the throttle would result in the big knobbie clawing at the earth and the front reaching for the sky. It would eat up the paved twisties. If pavement was more important than hard core dirt, this might well be the perfect 50/50 dual sport. But I'm still an old dirt biker at heart, and I love the hill climbs, tight woods single track, fast double track, mud, etc. more than I love the pavement. I have two street bikes for carving the corners, and for me a dual sport is more of a 75% dirt solution that is capable on the street. Enter phase four, the DR350. I kept the DR650 for 3-4 months and I really did like it. I (still) believe in the simplicity of the air cooled engine with screw type valve adjusters. So my riding partner was riding on old school Honda XL250r and the kick start was just whipping his butt. I was trying to get him to drink the DR650 kool aid, but he was not of a big bore thumper heritage like I was, he had always went for small light dirt bikes, racing 125 and 250cc, while I was moving from 360 to 400, then 500 to 650cc dirt bikes always looking for that rush of power and believing that there truly is no replacement for more displacement! He told me one day that the DR650 was indeed the perfect dual sport, if only it was 50 pounds lighter, and he would be happy with a little less power, since the DR650 was capable of dislocating your shoulders and was indeed a handful in the woods. I did a bit more research for my riding buddy since I was pretty happy with the beastly 650. I called him one day and said that I had discovered the perfect bike FOR HIM, the Suzuki DR350. Although it had been discontinued (and became the DRZ400) in 1999, it was not too long out of production to present a problem with spare parts, and there were bikes available with low miles and in good condition. The six-speed transmission was a big bonus (why did Suzuki abandon the siz-speed?) and everything else about it was truly a little brother version of my DR650. I found him a '97 DR350SE (before I knew the '98 and '99 had better suspension) and we drove out to Charlotte to pick it up. To the end of the story! He loves his DR350 and thinks it is the perfect dual sport bike "FOR HIM" and after swapping bikes a few times I'm starting to fall for the little 350 myself. I started to look around and do still more research and I located a low mileage '99 DR350SE for myself. I drove from Georgia to Missouri to get it (another long story) and after a month of riding the 350 while the 650 stayed in the shed, I sold the DR650. I have added a skid plate, bark busters, aluminum handle bars, a headlight guard, rear disc protector, FMF Powercore exhaust, opened up the top of the airbox and re-jetted. The DR350 is an awesome bike, handling everything I throw at it. Is it perfect? No, I confess I would still would like a little more power, and she could stand to lose 25 (or 50) pounds. But if I really need more power, there are ways to do that, I picked up a great deal on a Weisco 3mm oversized piston on Ebay, so I could go to about 380cc with some head mods, or I might decide to go hog wild and order the 441cc kit from Jesse, but for now the stock 350cc continues to get the job done and put smiles on my face! Maybe someone will build the perfect dual sport, 249 pounds, 40-45 HP, six-speed, bulletproof, easy to maintain, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe the street legal KTM 450 and 530 EXCs would do the trick, but the price is high, and for me the maintenance price also too high. Maybe the Husky TE650? Maybe the next generation KTM LC4? Maybe some day I'll have another bike, but for now I am still satisfied by DR350SE. Whatever you got, get out and ride! P.S. sorry about the original formatting. Somehow the spaces <CR>all got eliminated when I copied to wordpad and back to advrider when the system locked up. I was about to have a cow after typing for 30 minutes and the hit the post button and got a page can not be displayed! Thankfully I hit the back key and was able to copy and paste into a wordpad document and come back a littl later and re-post. I forgot to check the post because I was late for an appointment and just hit reply, pasted fromthe wordpad and posted and ran. That was looking pretty bad!
Nice post, thanks for the input. I can read it just fine. I have changed direction once again and am going to look at a very nice XR400, it has everything from a stroker kit, to wheels, plated, etc... Also looking at a couple DRZs and possibly a plated dirt dr350. Thanks for all the feedback!
