Around africa on suzuki drz 400

[carlospezao]

HE GUYS ME AND MY WIFE PLANNING TO GO AROUND AFRICA ON 2 SUZUSKI DRZ400 THERE IS ANYONE HV DONE AFRICA ON SUZUKI DRZ400 OR OTHER SMALL BIKE?
wE DONE 23 COUNTRYFROM ALASKA TO USHUAYA ALL STATES IN BRASIL,AROUND 115.000 KMS ON AFRICA TWIN 750 BUT NOW WE ARE LOOKING FOR AFRICA ON SMALL BIKE!
ANY TIPS ABOUT SMALL BIKE?
MANY TNX

[Brian and Tanja]

My girlfriend and I are currently riding DRZ400s from London to Australia, and so far they have been a great choice. They will happily do 100km/h on a motorway, although not too much more! They are comparatively light.

Couple of things: seat comfort is poor. Really poor. We have overcome this by buying a Thermarest Lite seat and having an upholstery shop in Turkey stitch a little pocket so we can strap it over the seat. It improved things massively! Otherwise get an upholsterer to widen it and maybe put some nicer foam in.

We are using Peli 1430 cases on a Hepco & Becker rack with home made mountings. These are great cases, but quite small (18 litres). So we've ended up with a little too much in a bigger bag that sits on top. Makes the bikes a bit top heavy, and would be a bit of a handful on proper off-road. Pack really light! There's a guy who does Africa trips on a DRZ400 and saws the handle off his toothbrush. For a good handling bike probably worth the extra effort keeping the weight down.

Finally, don't be surprised when they use a lot of Oil. At high rpm the oil apparently blows out of the crankcases and is burnt back through the airbox. Ours will use a litre or so between oil changes. Check it frequently.

If you do an internet search you will find quite a bit of info on other people's prep. There is one girl who was riding one around South America and put a good write-up on prep on her web page. Pumpernickel on tour or something similar.

Finally, for a bit of inspiration on the joys of light weight motorcycling around the world get a copy of Mondo Enduro. DR350s not DRZs but well and truly establishes it can be done!!

[carlospezao]

about the bike engine any problem?
Many tnx,very helpfull.

[Fantastic Mister Fox]

There are 2 hubb regulars (and probably more) that come to mind for touring on DRZs

Firstly touring ted - who rode africa on a DRZ, he also regularally features in Adventure bike rider magazine.
Touring Ted

Then there is Pumpy who has given a fantastic presentation on her trip around south america on her DRZ
Pumpernickel on Tour

Ther is a bit of conflict from people as to weather the injected yamaha wr250r is as good a travel bike as the carb driven DRZ, but it does seem that those who have ridden both prefer the WR.

Myself I've never ridden either, but am planning my next trip on the DRZ engined CCM SR 40.

[chris]

Originally Posted by carlospezao

any pics or websites sent to my emails please !

carlospezao ATTTTTT hotmail dottttyyyyy ccccccccccccccom

It's more polite IMHO that any info you receive by using the HUBB is shared for all HUBB users. Please post here rather than using PM or private email.

Ta
Chris

PS. Using the search criteria site:horizonsunlimited.com drz* in Google produces nearly 2500 relevant links to drz related posts on the HUBB and HU

[Brian and Tanja]

I have been meaning to post a bit of info on the way we set up our DRZs. Once it's done I'll post the link in this thread.

[Chinggis]

Please do