If this story doesn’t prove that it’s impossible to embarrass me, then I don’t know what could. The review, for a newspaper column that I wrote for about 20 years and which at one time ran in more than 100 newspapers in Australia, has been reproduced absolutely word for word. The photos and captions (except the first caption, which is original) are different. Here we go:

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I may be a little prejudiced towards Suzuki dirt bikes. Positively prejudiced, I should add. That’s because I was on a Suzuki the first time I discovered that the dirt is not (necessarily) a place of terror but of huge enjoyment. It wasn’t a DR I was riding, admittedly, but a PE175—but the experience has stayed with me ever since.

Not that I’m a gun as a dirt rider, far from it. But I can well remember the time when a dirt surface – heck, even gravel – used to make me back off the throttle, grip the handlebars really hard with my hands and the seat equally tightly with my thighs and just hope I’d survive. For some reason, I would then promptly run into the deepest bit of sand or mud around, and fall over. Usually at low speed, I must admit.

The PE taught me that it is far better to keep the throttle on, relax on the seat, grasp the bars firmly but not too tightly and – most of all – look where I wanted to go, not where I didn’t want to go! I had a wonderful few days with that bike before I had to give it back.

A lot of tar and gravel (but little dirt) has passed under my wheels since then, on a variety of bikes. I have become convinced that so-called dual-purpose (or ‘trail’) bikes are ideal for this country. They can cope with the appalling roads we have (even in our cities, these days) and then go hooting along country tracks without running out of suspension or torque.

And they can be a huge amount of fun while they’re doing that. I’m still no gun, but I do have a little more confidence and I can now appreciate a bike off the tar. Good thing, too, because there is a lot to appreciate on the ‘dual sport’ (in Suzuki’s words) DR650.

Suzuki has refined this big single to a remarkable extent. The DR tag has been around for quite a few years, but the bikes have just kept getting better. The SE has both the power and the stability to be a perfectly acceptable road bike, as well as a few nice little touches. The seat can be lowered by 40mm, for example, and the exhaust system is stainless steel.

The first impression when I climbed aboard the bike was how small it is – it felt more like its little brother, the DR350, than a 650. That impression continued as I moved off. The bike feels light and very manoeuvrable. Mind you, once you twist the grip you realise that you are not on a tiddler. The DR’s single cylinder 644cc engine has quite spectacular punch.

My one real criticism of the DR650 is that the front brake is too aggressive, for my money at least. It’s only a single disc, but it stops the bike with a suddenness that can be quite disconcerting if you’re used to more sedate stoppers. Provided you have time to get used to it, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Once I was out on the trail, in the Blue Mountains, and bopping along at my fairly sedate speed, the DR behaved beautifully. The throttle is very controllable and I never felt that the bike was calling the shots. The five-speed box is fine; I personally wouldn’t want any more gears because the engine is so flexible.

The tank is large enough at 13 litres to allow a good afternoon’s fun, although if you want to go dirt road touring you’ll need to fit an aftermarket unit. The seat is perfectly fine, keeping in mind that this is a dual purpose bike not a tourer. And the entire package is so responsive that I kept breaking out into a grin. Best of all, (especially by road bike standards) the DR is very competitively priced.

And finally, if you do drop the DR (as I did, entirely through my own fault) not a lot of things get broken!

AT A GLANCE

Model: Suzuki DR650SE

Price: $8199 (plus on-road charges)

Engine: Air cooled single cylinder 4 stroke, SOHC, 40mm Slingshot carburettor, electronic digital CDI with dual spark plugs. Electric start

Displacement: 644cc

Transmission: 5 speed, constant mesh, final drive by chain

Suspension: Front, telescopic, coil spring, oil damped. Rear, Link-type, coil spring, gas/oil damped, spring preload and compression damping fully adjustable. Travel front and rear, 260mm

Dimensions: Seat height variable from 845mm to 885mm, wheelbase variable 1475mm to 1490mm, dry weight 147kg, tank 13 litres, ground clearance variable 225mm to 265mm

Tyres: Front, 90/90-21 54S. Rear, 120/90-17 64S

Frame: Tubular steel. Aluminium swingarm

Brakes: Front, disc. Rear, disc

Top speed: 160km/h

Acceleration:

0-100km/h – 5.9 sec

60-120km/h – 11.6 sec in top gear

Fuel consumption: Average on test 4.4 litres per 100km, range 290km

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Thaaats all folks!

“Yes, the past is another country,” as Jeanette Winterson wrote, “but one that we can visit, and once there we can bring back the things we need.” Do we need the above review? Of course not. But it is kind of interesting. I thought you might even find it amusing. And look at the price: the 2021 price in Australian dollars is $8290, just $91 more. If it had kept up with inflation it would be $14,347.