Letter From Japan

LETTER FROM Japan

ROUNDUP

Suzuki DR-BIG

Japanese companies are currently in the midst of a displacement war: Each is trying to build the biggest Single. While Yamaha temporarily has been left behind with its XT600, Kawasaki still has its 651cc KLR and Honda has just introduced the new NX650. But Suzuki has pulled firmly in the lead in this battle with the appropriately named DRBIG, also known as the DR750S.

Closely related to the 800cc DR-Zeta that Gaston Rahier raced in this year's Paris-Dakar race (OF, January, 1988), the DR-BIG uses a slightly shorter, 84mm stroke and the same huge, 105mm bore to displace 727cc. The air-and-oilcooled engine is thoroughly conventional other than in size. It uses twin, chain-driven counterbalancers to quell the quaking created by its massive piston, with perhaps its only unusual feature the cam drive that is taken off of the rear counterbalancer instead of directly from the crankshaft.

But despite the size of the DR-BIG, performance isn’t that exceptional. The intake and exhaust silencing required to quiet such a large Single has limited the BIG to 52 horsepower at 6600 rpm; combined with tall gearing and the bike’s 395-pound claimed dry weight, that amount of power just isn’t enough to make the BIG much quicker than other large dual-purpose bikes. In compensation, the twin counterbalancers are very effective in reducing vibration, and the BIG serves well in a dual-purpose touring role.

For 1988, the DR-BIG will be reserved for the European market, its primary target. But Suzuki is at least hinting that it may come to the U.S. as a 1989 model.

Of course, by then, another company may have escalated the Singles war to a full lOOOcc.

Kengo Yagawa