Suzuki
DRZ 400 SuperMoto
Hooligan on a budget

Pashnit about Motorcycles
Aprilia Tuono 1000
Buell Ulysses XB12X
Buying a Ducati Motorcycle
Triumph Speed Triple
Military Ural Gear Up
Moto-Guzzi V11 Lemans
Sidecar Motorcycles
Suzuki DRZ400 Motard
Suzuki Hayabusa
Sport-Touring Busa
Speed Triple Street Fighter

Martin sent me these pictures of his Suzuki DRZ400 Motard- He writes:  

I've sold my Triumph Speed Triple and purchased a Suzuki DRZ 400 SuperMoto.  It's a very nice bike, great on the twisties even though I find it slightly lacking on fast runs after the trumpet (what we call Triumph's over here).

The new Suzuki DRZ 400 is something that's just taking off in the UK, and I also believe your side of the Atlantic too.  The standard DRZ400e on which this bike is based is the competition enduro version, plastic tank, more power than the road version, etc.  It does not come road legal as standard, therefore a pro-circuit lighting kit has been fitted to the standard loom to allow dipped and main beam headlight, indicators, horn etc.  

So essentially, it's an off road bike converted to street use by fitting 17 inch wheels and sticky sport compound tyres.  I've added a 320mm wavy front disc and adapter bracket, full FMF race system, RM 250 decals, a trick trail computer to allow for a correct speedometer reading with the smaller than standard front wheel fitted. Thus a supermoto is born!

The wheels are top quality components, Talon hubs mated to Morad rims with stainless spokes.  The cost to build a set of these is around the £600-£700 depending on exact spec and size requirements, etc. 

The wheels are Michelin sport compound tyres which are very sticky, almost supersport tyres for the road.  They give an incredible amount of grip, enough when hot to get the pegs scraping on the floor in corners!  The front wavy brake disc is an aftermarket item, standard off road spec is a 230mm unit.  When riding off road, the top speed attained is not very high.  Now with the altered gearing for road use, the speeds attained are greatly increased so a bigger braking surface is required.    

The wavy disc is 320mm in diameter and it has a petal like edge which is reported to aid pad cleaning and prevent pad glazing and therefore give a constant feel, plus it looks very trick!  The stock caliper is used with an adapter bracket to space it out to fit the bigger disc.  Cost for the wavy brake disc and bracket is around the £200 mark.

The trail computer is a panorama unit which shows elapsed riding time, top speed, distance covered, resettable trip meter, service interval timer and a clock.  This is easily set up for the road wheels via a magnet attached to the front disc and a pick- up sensor on the fork leg.  It can be set for any size wheel to give a correct speedo reading.  This is essential since with the smaller road wheels mounted on the bike, the original off road speedo reads approx 20mph higher than true.  The computer costs around £45.

 The stock gearing in off road trim is 14/48.  In supermoto trim, it's now 14/38-  a big change which increases top speed greatly at the expense of bottom end stomp, but still enough to easily loft the front wheel just by cracking the throttle and flicking the clutch out.  However, I may change this to 14/42 to get some back.

The little pucs on the axles are actually skateboard wheels fitted to threaded bars through the axles.  These act as crash protectors in the event of a fall, same as frame sliders on sport bikes.  

The idea is that the bike will slide on the plastic wheels rather than cause damage to the rest of the bike.  It's a popular mod with supermoto racers over here in the UK.  Only cost me about £5 all in so cheap accident insurance.  

It's comfortable just under a ton, around a 100mph. The lack of wind protection at this figure is a strain on your body and the up right riding position really affects your neck, so this moment is brief. 

So overall, on a twisty road it holds its own as long as the speedometer sits just under 2000 RPM.  Plus I have the off- road wheels as well for the winter to do a bit of off-roading.

I did have the bike dyno'd, and although it only kicked out just over 45bhp at the rear wheel, it was only 4 short of a Pukka YZF426.  So I'm happy with that. 

As for future mods I may do?   I fancy new graphics and a seat cover to match over the winter and there are a few bigger bore kits out there.  Yoshimura has some tuning parts so I may try to increase performance that way.  

-Martin Brown
Birmingham, England
email: rigga955-at-hotmail.com

Also read about Martin's
Triumph Speed Triple StreetFighter