Off-road Test An absolute gem.

Off-road Test
Suzuki
DR650
The good ol’ DR650!
This bike has been around quite a while,
and with very good reason. It’s totally
reliable, inexpensive and offers what seems
impossible versatility. Want a great, smooth
commuter with enough stomp to blast past
B-doubles on the freeway? Get a DR650.
A trailbike with good road capability?
DR650. Flat-tracker? Long-distance
adventurer? Simpson-crossing bike?
A solid starting point to build the bike of
your dreams? The DR650 can be all these
things. It’s a diamond in the rough –
except the standard bike isn’t all that
rough at all. If anything, it’s a smoothie
that’s waiting for an owner to buff up
the final polish to suit what he’s chasing.
Simple stuff
There’s not too many air-cooled motors left
in the adventure-bike world, but Suzuki’s
DR650 has one, and it makes you wonder
why there aren’t more of them.
The 644cc single has been running in
its current form – give or take some minor
changes and updates – since the mid1990s, and in that time it’s proven itself
over and over. It just doesn’t have any
inherent faults. It’s incredibly smooth,
quiet, and easy-to-live with. If it doesn’t
have the arse-tearing horsepower of the
more modern, high-tech bikes, it still
offers plenty of snap when the throttle’s
wound open and doesn’t need a degree
in electronics to keep it serviceable.
Power delivery isn’t intimidating, but
there’s no real shortage, either.
Thanks to some clever and careful
design, there’s hardly any vibration of any
kind makes its way to the rider, and the
stock exhaust is incredible. The office coffee
grinder is louder than the stock DR650.
It’s carburetted of course, and if you feel
46 advridermag.com.au
An absolute gem.
that might cause you a problem, you’re
a mug. The smooth power delivery is as
good as any bike we’ve ridden, and making
adjustments for different pipes and airbox
configurations is within the mechanical
scope of most owners with a little patience
and some basic tools.
A five-speed box shifts fast and fuss-free,
and the cush-drive rear wheel finishes a
smooth, trouble-free driveline.
Tight fit
Climbing on board the DR650 will have
most riders feeling a little cramped – we
Aussies being such big, hairy-knuckled
bruisers an’ all.
Main: The DR650 is well capable of tackling just about
anything as it rolls off the dealer floor. We really
liked the Suzuki bashplate and rack and the Barkbusters
that had been thoughtfully added to our test bike.
Above: Toolkit supplied! There are bikes twice the
price that don’t come standard with a toolkit, let
alone one as comprehensive as this one. Airbox
access is good, and an oiled-foam filter is standard.
Above left: The standard exhaust is very quiet,
but still allows the motor to work well. It’s a
stainless-steel system by the way. Try and
figure out how Suzuki can fit that in the price.
We’ve ridden so many modified DR650s we’d
forgotten just how low the standard ’bars are.
Not only are the ’bars low due to a fairly flat
bend, but the footpegs are mounted highish.
We’re dead-set against lowering footpegs
usually, but there’s scope to move the DR650
’pegs without having them below the frame.
A taller set of ’bars, or perhaps some risers, will
have riders of average height – say, around
the 175cm mark – instantly more comfortable
and confident on the DR. It’ll also make
standing up to ride a viable proposition.
The stock set-up makes standing up difficult
because the ’bars make the rider bend over
way too far forward. Lowering the ’pegs just
a smidge also allows the rider to start taking
aggressive charge of the bike, and when that
happens, the DR650 offers eyebrow-raising
performance. It’s not that the DR650 will leave
litre-class bikes in its wake in a standing-start
drag, but it’s surprisingly nimble once the
rider has some room to move. The extremely
manageable motor teams up with good
handling manners and a very compact feel
to offer a sharpish package that, when the
going gets tight, will leave a lot of far more
expensive and more powerful bikes
wondering where the DR650 went.
Surprise
The biggest surprise from the DR650 was
just how much fun it was.
Simple as that.
This bike rages along, gobbling up freeways,
crossing rivers, conquering hills and coping
with really challenging conditions of all kinds
and seems to love doing it. The suspension
actually works okay at sensible speeds,
braking is good, handling is better than
average and, most of all, it’s as reliable as a
hammer. If you want to ride it up and down
the Hume Highway for a week or thrash it
across The Simpson and back for a month,
it’ll do it, and short of blunt-force trauma
from an oncoming semi or the rear tyre
being chewed off by a deranged camel, it’ll
give no trouble and it’ll never quit.
When we first fired up the bike and hit the
u
dirt we were struck by how short and
Off-road Test
compact it felt. Thinking about it, that’s probably
because we spend so much time on luxury, hightech, big-horsepower bikes. The more we rode, the
more we realised just how much we were enjoying
ourselves. We tried to keep ‘intended purpose’ in
mind, but the DR650 just conquered everything we
aimed it at. The more it did that, the more we asked
of it. The more we asked, the more it delivered.
It never let us down.
Starting point
Bike specs
It’s not going to be easy to understand, but the
DR650 is an ideal bike for both newbies and
seasoned, hard-core adventurers.
The newbies will find themselves on a capable
bike that can do just about anything and will
forgive them a huge range of mistakes and lack
of maintenance. So that’s a good thing.
The seasoned rider who knows what he wants
will tune and build any bike, no matter how much
he pays for it, to suit what he wants. With the DR650
he’ll find a bike with incredible reliability and good
handling manners crying out to be personalised. A
phone call to Vince Strang Motorcycles and he’ll be
able to buy just about every conceivable aftermarket
accessory he could ever want, along with tech advice
to shape the bike into just about any format from
super motard through to quarter-miler. Australian
Safari Tanks has a couple of great options for the
hard-core distance guys, and Nick Dole at Teknik has
a suspension package that’ll have the bike ready for
anything anyone can throw at it.
Speaking of accessories, we were very impressed
with the Suzuki bashplate. It was as solid as a rock
and hardly resonated at all. Barkbusters are a sensible
addition to any bike and felt great on the Suzuki,
and the rack was a ball-tearer. As this bike arrived at
Adventure Rider Magazine, it was a really excellent
set-up for someone having their first look at adventure riding.
Our photo rider for this test showed up on his own
modified DR650, and we reckon his thoughts sum up
the DR650 better than any other we’ve heard.
“It’s a bike that may not be exceptional in one area,
but it’s good in every area,” he offered.
Amen to that, we say.
All that in a bike that retails for just $8,990
ride away.
Hallelujah. We’re believers.
Suzuki DR650SE
Web: www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au. Locate stock
at www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au/range/off-road/
trail-enduro/dr650se/availability
Main: Single trail or
multi-lane freeway,
the DR650 can do it all.
Left: Simple, clear, and
easy-to-read. We loved it!
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The engine has proven
its reliability over many
years and uncountable
tough kilometres.
Engine: Single-cylinder, OHC, four-stroke, air-cooled with SACS
Capacity: 644cc
Bore and stroke: 100mm x 82mm
Compression ratio: 9.5:1
Fuel system: MIKUNI BST40, single carburetor
Transmission: Five-speed
Front suspension: Telescopic, coil-spring, oil-damped
Rear suspension: Link-type coil spring, oil-damped, springpreload/compression
Front brakes: Twin-piston caliper, 290mm floating disc
Rear brakes: Single-piston caliper, 240mm disc
Start: Electric
Seat Height: 855mm
Length: 2255mm
Width: 865mm
Height: 1195mm
Wheelbase: 1490mm
Ground clearance: 250mm
Fuel capacity: 13-litres
Wet weight: 166kg
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