revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Anyone got any experience of these.
Been offered one with low miles and supermoto'd and it looks like a reet laugh.
Guy says it is a bugger to start from cold though!
Having had the world's worst starting Husqvarna, I don't fancy having to bump another big single!

Is that a DrBig?

Always fancied one, especially a motod up version.
Was the cool bike to have in France back in the day I think

In the UK a DR750 is the DR Pig, might be a different model in France, but it will have the same engine, the engine is okay so long as it's looked after, with regular oil and filter changes, if they have problems they're usually top end, but the bottom end isn't super strong, and they don't like having the knackers revved out of them.

Chassis wise they're big and heavy for a trail bike, but would make a reasonable touring bike, the fuel tank is huge. The suspension is average late 80s trail bike suspension, long travel, under sprung and under damped. Build quality is late 80s Suzuki, thin paint and easy corrode alloy. Check the brakes aren't seized

In case you hadn't noticed I'm not keen on them, but the two people I've known who owned them loved them, and both of them did high miles on them.

Pretty sure the Dr Big was the 800, which just had an even BIGGER piston than the 750, which in my days of supermono racing was notorious for piston/head interfaces

Looks way cool though!

Had a quick Google and in some markets the 750 was sold as the DR Big, feck knows what Suzuki were thinking building an 750/800 single, Honda and Yamaha both built 750 twins that were even heavier but lasted longer, Yamaha also made a Paris Dakar bike with an FZ750 engine, I've got a picture of it somewhere.

Anyway back to the Suzuki, looks alright, it'll be fine so long as you don't thrash it.

I remember them as the DR Big ......popular on the continent, especially France as they were the only country that really embraced the Dakar so sold loads of first generation Tenere, Africa Twins, KLR's and such like. Even the early GS model the R80GS was a large seller while in the UK nobody bought them and everyone was on the latest race rep or endurance rep.

It took 30 years but the big ADV market now probably tops the sportsbike market ...........probably says more about the age of the riders as we all used to spank around on race reps as yoof but now fancy something a bit more knee and back friendly

Having spent Thursday riding round Norfolk I can see the appeal of adventure style bikes, most of the road surfaces were crap, it was worse than Belgian roads 20 years ago.I

But there were plenty of chip shops, which was nice.

Potter wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 7:33 am I'd love one, but as I keep saying they're probably all too tall for a short arse.

If you had one of these in the 80's or early 90's then you were ultra cool.

They're tall with a wide seat, which is a bigger problem, I'm about the same height as you and I'm okay with DRZ400s and WR450s as the seat is narrow, the DR Big isn't as high as a DRZ400 but they're harder to reach the floor on because of the width of the seat.

The French aren't known for looking after their bikes!! LOL

Noggin wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:47 am The French aren't known for looking after their bikes!! LOL

I didn't know I was French

Le_Fromage_Grande wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:56 am

Noggin wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:47 am The French aren't known for looking after their bikes!! LOL

I didn't know I was French

Maybe I should have specified - the engine bit!!


I would love to have another TLs one day, but I can't import one without restricting it, so no point. But having heard what 'tards do to their bikes in the camping area at races, I'm not sure I want to risk buying a second hand TLs here!

Of course, there will be good ones - I doubt I'll be that lucky when I eventually start looking!! LOL