. Suzuki DRZ400S '02 ...................

. Dualsport

This was my DR200 that was always trying to kill me because it was so underpowered and wonky on hard trails. Now I've got a DRZ400 and I'm hoping to avoid such portraits of defeat...

For the longest time, I didn't want to upgrade from my DR200 because I was afraid of having to handle a heavier bike in uneven terrain. But now that I've been repeatedly crushed and burned by the DR200, I've become mentally prepared to have an even larger and heavier bike crush and burn me. I've named my bike "Bito," which stands for "Bring IT On" because that's the type of confidence he inspires.

The first change I had to make to Bito was cutting the foam seat down to about two inches, and putting a lowering link on it (plus raising the forks). These changes allow me to touch the ground with the balls of my feet. Does my ass hurt after a day of riding? Yeah, but I'd rather have my ass hurt than my feet not touch the ground at all. This is what we call an ugly compromise. (For details on the lowering link go to www.koubalink.com.)

In this picture you can get an idea of how much taller Chris's seat is. His is an identical bike except in blue. I took the yellow one because I am the Yellow Peril after all.

This is the beauty of a dualsport: You can roam all over the county and see a variety of things. In this case, we have a Texas-sized barbecue going on in the background. It's been a rough summer for San Diego's east county. They just got done with a 60k acre wildfire and here's another one.

This was taken on Mount Laguna. The charred landscape was a result of the above-mentioned huge fire that started on nearby Volcan Mountain when a National Guard helicopter clipped a power line while on a ganja recon mission. Dirtriding is all about seeing rattlesnakes, burnt landscape, and guys in the middle of nowhere who you know jumped bail and are desperately hiding from the law.

A final pic of my dearly departed 200 and the ass whoopin' it gave me on a dualsport ride in the Big Bear area of the San Bernadino mountains. May its new owner enjoy it and never outgrow the charming little bubba.

We did this ride the day before the US Forestry Service closed down the Cleveland National Forest due to the extreme fire danger (won't be reopened until substantial winter rains fall, which may be the next decade given our drought). Knowing we'd lose use of the area for months, we revisited a rocky and rutty old nemesis that we knew would kick our asses. Well, mine, at least. In spite of being a good intermediate rider, I have a knack for the occasional interesting move that results in broken levers and leaking gasoline.

Post-divorce I ended up with both DRZs so all maintenance issues are now mine, and double of it. Fortunately, Chris is willing to be my Repair Overseer so as I fumble my way through such projects as checking valve clearances (guided by the expensive factory manual), he gives me hints about how not to ruin things. It is satisfying working on my own bike, but I only wish wrenching came more naturally to me. Every time it's a struggle to remember processes that I really feel I should have down.

On this day I encountered the crappiest maintenance task ever recorded in the history of two-wheels: changing a dirtbike tire. Getting the ^#%@$ tire on and off the rim was a two-person + one-machine job. If there is a hell in store for me, I believe it will be an eternity of getting a rear Dunlop 606 with a heavy-duty innertube on and off a DRZ rim all by myself. Or maybe with my mom nagging me in the background. As mentioned above, all my work is double-trouble since I have two DRZs on the same maintenance interval.

During this dirt ride at Ocotillo Wells we strapped a Camelbak onto the back of the "guest" DRZ and it lasted about fifteen minutes into the trip before becoming entangled in the rear axle and could only be removed with a knife. The Camelbak was totaled and the lesson learned was that most DRZ tails are teflon coated and you can try to make things stay on it all you want, but it'll eventually slide off like a greasy sunny-side-up egg.

I was going to buy some sort of tail rack for the DRZ so I could keep my day pack from sliding all over. Out of necessity (a ride came up and I still didn't have a rack yet), I decided to fabricate a solution. I removed the tool kit mounted on the tail and used those holes to attach a piece of scrap metal. The second bar would live under the seat, so I drilled a single hole through the bodywork and attached that. Then I put grommeted holes on the bottom of the bag and used cable ties to secure the bag to the ends of the bars. The design was put to the trail test and it worked great — no more loose straps and no more bag flopped over onto the exhaust.

Ride. It's great for your skin.

................................................ Ocotillo Wells Anza Borrego Excursion Jacumba Ride Full Moon Ride Sequoia Scenic Challenge Go to Zina's home page.