What does DR-Z even stand for, anyway? After selling my liter+ highway touring bike that I never actually used for touring, never could get running correctly, and never really fell in love with, the motorcycle-sized hole in my heart grew into the shape of a dual-sport. My commute is short and suburban, I'm near the north Georgia Appalachians for trails and twisties, and I've never owned a lightweight bike. I want something that can do it all for roughly the price I sold my last bike for. And ultimately I just want something fun that I look forward to riding. So I waited until the middle of winter to snipe a deal on either a DR650 or a DR-Z. I ended up with this 2007 DR-Z400S for about $3k.
10,500 miles, with Dunlop D606 on the dual-sport wheels, and a set of 17" supermoto wheels with worn-out street tires. The SM wheelset includes the larger brake rotors and speedometer ratio conversion gear. The bike has Pro-Taper bars, FMF exhaust, JD jet kit with handwritten notes, 3x3 airbox mod, Seat Concepts seat, basically all the mods I would want anyway. It makes glorious BRAAAAAP noises along with some hooligan pops and crackles on decel. It starts right up without any choke, so it might be jetted a bit rich, but it runs and drives amazing.
Unlike all my past bikes, I'm hoping to keep this an ownership thread and not a project. It really doesn't need anything major, which is a first for me. All I've done is clean it up, lube the chain, and flush the brake fluid. Next is new tires for the supermoto wheels. Might even attend Gambler 500 later this spring, who knows.
I put some Shinko 705 tires on the supermoto rims as my street set. These are 80% on-road 20% off-road tires and the wheels are 17". The stock 21"/18" wheels have Dunlop D606, which is a 90% off road tire. Swapping wheels was pretty easy. The previous owner picked good ratios that allow the front sprocket and chain to work with both wheels within the adjustment range of the rear axle, so I don't have to bother with chain ring and cog swapping, just the brake rotors. Each front wheel has its own matching speedometer gear too.
I love how it looks and rides! I am ready for warmer weather.
Have you jumped a curb yet?
No curb hops or wheelies yet but there is a series of speed humps in my neighborhood I regularly catch air on! As an update, simply no complaints after a couple hundred miles of fair-weather commuting. Starts right up and gets just over 40 mpg. Makes all the right noises. Plenty of power. It's just fun! Love the Shinko 705's, perfect tire for suburban commuting and the occasional gravel trail. This weekend I swapped the knobbies on for some forest service road exploring with friends.
After several hours of bombing through the woods, zooming past all the slow BMW GS riders, and swapping bikes with each other throughout the day, I am extremely pleased with the DRZ! The combination of the long-travel suspension and aftermarket seat allowed me to sit comfortably through most of the rougher sections, so I wasn't as tired by the end of the day compared to my friends. The XT250 suspension felt underdamped and would bottom a lot, so I found myself standing on it over rougher terrain. The DRZ felt just as quick as the CRF250, which was geared way low for acceleration but with a much lower top speed. The CRF seat was too stiff, and the shocks seemed overdamped (set up for heavier rider) so it was best to stand on it, though the lightweight CRF was undoubtedly the best tool for the technical stuff. Hard to go wrong with any of these bikes though! Next we might try an off-road park for less gravel and more technical single-tracks.
Always makes me smile to see an Elky doing truck things. If they weren't selling for $30k and up, i'd get one.
Seems like DR-Z 400S is the GRM motorcycle President.
docwyte
UltimaDork
4/17/24 9:42 a.m.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Surprised you only get 40mpg. My 690 gets quite a bit better mpg than that. I've seen mid 60's for mpg, down to mid 50's for higher speed rides
Cool Bike! I wanted a DR-Z400 so bad, but found after riding one that it was just too tall for my stalky bum. Ended up with a KTM instead.
In reply to golfduke :
It is indeed a tall bike, and whoever owned my before was an absolute giant. The rear coilover was maxed all the way up. I've lowered it just past halfway down, but I may need it even lower, and I'm 6'0" with legs. I can only flat-foot at stop lights if I'm scooted up in just the right spot in the seat.
docwyte said:
In reply to maschinenbau :
Surprised you only get 40mpg. My 690 gets quite a bit better mpg than that. I've seen mid 60's for mpg, down to mid 50's for higher speed rides
DRZ is carb'ed vs your EFI, and I think mine is jetted rich. Plus I do zero highway riding.
docwyte
UltimaDork
4/18/24 8:39 a.m.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Yes, but I've got 300cc more and quite a bit more HP. I get better mpg when I'm trail riding vs highway...
I love coming out from work to this bike waiting for me! Perfect fair-weather commuter for my short jaunt across town.
maschinenbau said:
In reply to golfduke :
It is indeed a tall bike, and whoever owned my before was an absolute giant. The rear coilover was maxed all the way up. I've lowered it just past halfway down, but I may need it even lower, and I'm 6'0" with legs. I can only flat-foot at stop lights if I'm scooted up in just the right spot in the seat.
Don't worry too much about touching the ground, the more you ride, the less you'll care about it, and overly lowering bikes tends to really hurt the handling. Ideally, target sag instead - ~25% unloaded and ~33% with you on it geared up. if you get close to those numbers, it verifies both correct spring rate and correct preload. From there, you can slide the forks up or down in the triples to adjust how it corners, small changes make a big difference.
Looks like you got a really clean example for the money. If it's still got the stock CV carb on it, the flat slide FCR from a DRZ400E is one of the best things you can do for the bike, especially if you do much trail riding. The CV carb vacuum slide bounces badly in rough stuff, which means horrible gas mileage in the rough, and the bike can just shut off for a second rolling through whoops/ G outs, or landing jumps and whatnot which is downright terrifying in my experience. The FCR also dramatically improves throttle response, which is wonderful for the giggle factor of the bike.
