- 5/30/2025
After 25 years of loyal service, Suzuki has finally given the iconic DR-Z400S a full reboot—and the result is the all-new 2025 DR-Z4S. Still powered by a 398cc single, now with fuel injection, ride modes, traction control, and updated suspension, the DR-Z4S blends modern tech with the timeless dual sport formula that made the original a legend. We take it deep into Oregon's Tillamook State Forest to see how it performs on tight single-track, gravel roads, and twisty pavement. Is this the ultimate 50/50 dual sport? Watch and find out.
Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/suzuki-dr-z4s-review/
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld
Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/suzuki-dr-z4s-review/
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld
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SportsTranscript
00:00oh my god that was so sketch I had gravel tracks control on so I thought you could just whack the
00:11throttle and be fine you definitely cannot is the Suzuki DRZ4S the best everyday dual sport before
00:19we can answer that we got to look at the competition because in the dual sport segment
00:23there's a few different classes you have your lightweights think Honda CRF 300 L Kawasaki
00:29KLX 300 then you have your competition spec dual sports from KTM Husqvarna and Beta you have your
00:35classic air cool thumpers think Honda XR650L and Suzuki's own DR650S but where does the DRZ fit in
00:43honestly nowhere the DRZ has always been in a class of its own bigger and more capable than the
00:49lightweights but with better road manners than the high performance bikes for riders who want a true
00:5450-50 dual sport the Suzuki DRZ has always been the choice I should know I own one but after
01:00nearly 25 years of being unchanged one has to wonder what prompted Suzuki to develop a new DRZ were they
01:07losing sales to riders who value current styling fuel injection and rider aids or is it increasing
01:13standards that made Suzuki develop a new DRZ so we are in a mode most aggressive throttle response traction
01:22control turned off and then if you want to turn off ABS five seconds so that's rear ABS ABS off only do it
01:29again for another couple seconds and now we are ABS off front and rear so no ABS at all all right you
01:39got fuel gauge gear indicator and yeah it's nice having a fuel gauge the previous DRZ did not so
01:46yeah it gives you just all the information you need switch your ride modes over here and your
01:51settings you just got your kill switch over here and we're ready for some pavement so basically this
01:57bike is all new the engine architecture is similar to the old one but the internals have been fully
02:03revised it now has fuel injection via a 46 millimeter throttle body with a 10 hole injector and
02:09to me that was the biggest news as a DRZ owner because I've cleaned that car too many times and
02:14then another major talking point about this bike rider aids ride by wire throttle that gives access to
02:20three throttle maps a b and c a being the most aggressive c being the least aggressive three levels of
02:26traction control one and two for road you have a dedicated off-road traction control setting called gravel
02:32that's great for gravel roads and just off-road terrain and then you have ABS switchable ABS front and rear you can turn off
02:39ABS on both wheels or leave it active at only the front wheel or of course leave it active at both
02:44wheels
02:53decent little wheelie bike dang third gear wheelies no problem not bad on that surprise because the DRZ 400s was
03:01always a great wheelie bike and that's what makes really a 5050 dual sport but especially the DRZ 4s such
03:07are just great all-around motorcycle they're great for riding through the city commuting of course
03:13exploring fire roads single track off-road riding but then like we're about to get into some twisty
03:20pavement the first two things I wondered was it doesn't have fuel injection and does it have a six-speed
03:28transmission if you go look at a DRZ forum or just scroll through the internet about DRZs you'll find
03:36that those are two things people always kind of talk about and the fuel injection is awesome it's about
03:42time everyone loves fuel injection or most people especially on a dual sport like this you've done
03:47some kind of pavement stuff where we've been you know upward of 60 miles per hour and we're in fourth
03:55gear and it'll do it you know just like the previous DRZ you know you can totally ride the highway and
04:01freeway speed 70 plus but yeah it definitely is a bit revved out and brings a little bit of vibration
04:11when you're up to 70 miles per hour on the highway what a six gear be nice yeah of course is it a deal
04:19breaker not at all got a good engine I mean just so far it definitely this has a lot better response
04:29to just a peppier engine then the the other bikes like the 300l and KLX 300 and that's the thing about
04:36the DRZ it's always kind of been in a class of its own because bigger engine it's really always been the
04:45bike that has good road manners like something like a 300l KLX 300 but then has more performance
04:56still in B mode with gravel traction control ABS turned off but yeah B mode really gives it just
05:04that ride ability down low especially with these tires and combined with the gravel mode
05:10it's actually it's working really nice
05:15okay maybe like in that kind of get the front to lift up we'll see I think maybe B mode and gravel
05:26make it to make it a little harder let's try that again maybe
05:30this is the kind of stuff I mean on a bike with these kinds of ton this is the kind of stuff with
05:39these tires it's just it's always going to be a little bit more challenging but the gravel and
05:45B mode kind of a little bit of a yeah a cheat code
05:54yeah I actually am really starting to enjoy B mode for its tractability
06:01because that was something the DRZ 400 s really had that was nice and I noticed yesterday spending a lot
06:07of time in a mode it didn't have the same tractor ability at low rpm that chug ability that don't
06:15don't don't don't do because it's just a little bit more quick revving so sharper throttle response and
06:20with these tires it seems to just light the rear up a little bit too easily or this B mode is yeah it's
06:28great for low traction situations all right we're now in C mode with traction control turned off the
06:35throttle map a B and C they all make the same peak horsepower but it's just how it builds power a being
06:43the most aggressive having the most throttle response be kind of being that middle ground
06:46and C is definitely diluted especially off the crack of a throttle which I think a lot of people will
06:53appreciate a newer rider riding in the rain low traction conditions off-road especially with
06:59the stock tires not being super aggressive knobbies but you still can wind the thing up and get uh get
07:06movement pretty good so let's see we're in fourth gear it's dropped to third going 28 I mean that's
07:13C but that's that's still pretty good power right there wow and I think that's you know the world of
07:19motorcycling is people really appreciate ride boats you know for the type of terrain you're riding or
07:25your your skill level it has really good actuation of the the throttle first year of the DRZ with ride
07:32by wire and they they nailed it super just snappy direct throttle response really good rear wheel like
07:39the throttle the rear wheel connection is very good all right so this is some pretty chunky gravel that
07:44we're on right now this is where you know people might find gravel mode pretty useful so you have
07:50three levels of traction control plus off so you have least two is the most intrusive one less
07:57intrusive and those are really kind of your dedicated street traction control modes although you can use
08:03them in the dirt if you'd like and then you have gravel which is your you know real designated off-road
08:08traction control setting will allow some wheels slip I definitely noticed you can set with these street tires
08:14it definitely allows you to feel confident getting the rear tire to step out and kind of slide a corner
08:21with still having that safety net of you know not letting the wheel spin up too quickly and really
08:26you know get away from you and so yeah I think it's it's very useful and does its job whoo we're in gravel
08:32mode right now makes it so nice for sliding on these gravel roads because you can still step it out pretty good
08:40and but you still have that safety net if you really are getting out of shape the way the system works is
08:47it goes off of ECU and wheel speed sensors combined with throttle position rpm and gear selection as well so
08:56we're in third gear I can feel it as it kind of reached its deep like furthest point of stepping out it felt
09:05like you got a little bit of like a kind of cut power and helped bring it back because it stepped out
09:09pretty good I really like gravel mode I'm impressed not gonna lie the first when I first saw it I thought
09:15I'm not gonna need that but I've been really enjoying it not only on these gravel roads but also on that
09:20kind of single tracky stuff we were doing I really enjoyed it both in a power mode and be power most of second gear
09:28all right so we're doing this hill climb we're gonna do it twice
09:57we're doing it right now traction troll turned off that was pretty good even with this tire kind of
10:05manage the traction still have pretty good drive now we're gonna do it again but in G mode gravel
10:11mode most aggressive throttle map with G traction control so let's see not bad I feel it definitely
10:20I definitely feel it cutting in I think I would be better off without it and that's what I noticed
10:33today is just the performance of this bike from the last one and especially if you own a 300l or a KLX 300
10:40this bike is definitely a better off-road motorcycle and a better on-road motorcycle the engine is super
10:46punchy I was surprised coming off the old VRZ just the initial throttle response you have such good
10:52torque off bottom and it pulls really nice all the way to the rev range that was something they worked
10:57on with the new engine it's having the torque come on a little bit lower and have a little bit more
11:02over rev and that's what's great about this bikes going on the fire road sliding corners even
11:07on the pavement you can hold off a gear like really stretch the legs to the next corner and hold off a shift
11:13it's just a really flexible engine they updated the suspension as well you now have an inverted 46
11:21millimeter kyb fork fully adjustable 11 inches of travel fully adjustable kyb shock with 11.6 inches
11:28of travel all new steel frame twin spar aluminum subframe aluminum swing arm honestly the suspension
11:36might be even a little stiff for me might have to open up the compression a little bit for what I
11:42kind of like softer suspension that's good hold up and of course these components are new so they'll break in
11:47over time you know after a handful hours on it to be honest I feel like I have to check the preload the
11:54bike feels a little bit stink bug right now kind of feels like a lot of weight up on the front especially
12:01on a downhill and when applying the front brake this rush is so playful and it just turns so easily just
12:09lean it over weight the foot pegs like this is the this bike and this terrain is just perfect
12:17ha the suspension is perfect holy cow it's like absorbs it you get like a little bit of bump like
12:23bounce like it's not bottoming out you just get like this just like you're on a trampoline like
12:27perfect like the pre bounce like you're just like whoo it makes it perfect for jumping or from one side of
12:35the trail to the other that's just ah and you don't have to ride this bike hard but you can but if you
12:43don't want to it still works where the high performance aggressive dual sports it's just
12:51their suspension stiff chassis stiff if you don't ride it hard it kind of is not very enjoyable
12:59for this thing regardless of the pace
13:04works really well it just it's a really good balance of comfort and performance on the fire
13:12roads and some of the bumpy two track we had it has enough hold up to you know kind of charge some bumps
13:17and be aggressive but then it's super comfortable if you're just cruising through town or you're in
13:22some real kind of technical rocky stuff it's supple and absorbs the bumps really well and the chassis
13:27is very agile as well it's very quick to steer the wheelbase is slightly longer than the other model
13:33it's just a very direct feeling motorcycle very direct steering we made the summit now it's time to
13:41hang out probably can't see it on gopro but right over there mount hood in oregon there's another
13:47mountain over there i believe called mount adams just on this really cool rocky mountain now we're
13:54going to descend test out the braking performance of the drz 4s before we get on some pavement maybe pop
14:02a couple wheelies cut a couple skids have a good time on a drz the rear brake master cylinder is pulled
14:08off of their rmz motocross bike just goes to show that suzuki values this bike in the enduro space
14:14they really want something that is going to have off-road capabilities and i really like the not
14:19only just how sharp the the rear brake is but also just the feel especially with these kinds of tires
14:25and that and loose terrain you're able to you know actuate the rear brake and get good stopping power out
14:31of it without just locking it up it's not so touchy it's got a good progressiveness but then you get deep
14:37into the stroke and you can easily lock up the rear and same can be said for the front again with
14:43these tires you can't ask for too much on a loose terrain it has a very good braking performance good
14:50feel at the lever and with that suspension being supple but having enough hold up it allows you to
14:56load the front and just get a good contact patch on the front tire just to help you brake a little bit
15:02get a little bit more braking performance out of the front all right so we're still in gravel mode
15:07with abs on see what that's like so you definitely notice the abs kick on when you uh when you get on
15:15the rear brake pretty good and the abs on the front you can kind of drag the front but uh if you kind
15:22really try to get the actually i didn't really notice it there i feel like you can kind of drag
15:27the front but if you really are trying to kind of get maximum braking potential like right there i
15:31kind of gave a good lever squeeze i could feel it kind of feel the pressure the back pressure but
15:38it's once you get towards like like halfway when you're really ramping it up and really trying to
15:43get everything out of it like right there i could feel it i think the abs is uh it works pretty good
15:49off-road i think for someone with that still is developing their braking techniques in the dirt
15:53you'll find it very beneficial because if you kind of get into that panic situation where you grab a
15:58handful whether it's front or rear it won't let you just lock up and wash the front or have the rear
16:06kick out but i think for someone for someone with more off-road experience you're going to find that
16:12it's uh it actually becomes limiting a little bit intrusive traction's really good on this section
16:17it's not all rocky
16:18now i see those are the sections where having abs off for more experienced rider is really crucial
16:27because i jumped that maybe a little deep into the corner i was able to land on the rear brake locked up
16:33with the front brake pretty heavily applied to kind of maximum braking without washing the front
16:39where if the abs was on i bet i would have not made that corner and i'd be stuck in a tree at the
16:46bottom of the hill the weight has increased over the other bike it claimed 333 pounds about 17 pounds
16:53heavier than the previous model but you don't feel that out on the road the combination of the
16:58suspension the playful engine the solid braking package and of course you have rider aids it's a
17:04bike you just click it into gear and go another thing suzuki addressed when developing the new drz4s is
17:11they opened up the rider triangle a little bit compared to the previous model the handlebar you
17:16now have this aluminum taper handlebar that's a is a little bit higher than the the 400s the foot pegs
17:23are a little bit farther back seat height is slightly reduced but that's mostly because of the
17:29it has a different uh rear tire size standing up i think the bars still feel a little bit low for my
17:37liking but uh you know that could be easily addressed with a just a riser or aftermarket handlebar but
17:44and then sitting down feels really good it has just you know it has a doesn't feel quite full size like
17:53something in the high performance category it just feels a little bit more bite-sized and manageable
17:58than a ktm 500 or crf 450 rl so yeah this bike retails for eight nine nine nine nine grand and i know a lot of
18:08people thought hey that's pretty expensive i mean a 300l is you know a little over five a klx 300 more in
18:17that six range you know but one thing i noticed going back looking at our uh cycle world test from
18:25the 2002 drz was that bike was like all right retails for like 5500 bucks back in uh 2002 and if you
18:34compare that to today's dollars that's a little over nine grand so really i don't think and the last drz
18:41you know 2024 400s is going to cost you over seven grand so i think you know
18:48the the price is on point you know it's it's it's really in that same ballpark the original drz stood
18:57the test of time and so will this one because even in 25 years from now what are we going to ask of our
19:02dual sports we're going to want good suspension a playful engine comfortable ergonomics and a little
19:08bit of tech sneaked in there and that's why i think this is the best everyday dual sport for you
19:13riders that are just going to explore everything conquer the mountain carve up a twisty paved road
19:19ride to work this thing checks all the boxes and that's what makes the all-new 2025 suzuki drz 4s
19:26the best all-around dual sport and it's probably worth selling your old one for the new one
19:38the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the new one for the
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