Great bike this. I needed a run-around to use while I worked out what to do with my broken GS, as well as something to take me up to Nordkapp in Norway during the winter. I’d always hankered after a DR350 ( probably because of the Mondo Enduro crew ) and this was a great excuse to pick one up. This particular one was advertised on UKGSER for £1200 – I bought it. It’s a ’98 SE model, which means it’s an electric start, and had the uprated suspension from the enduro model, and was in pretty good nick with only ( a probably genuine ) 12k on the clock.

As soon as I got it, I set about customizing it to suit me, and very quickly went too far with the bling! I put a new Acerbis 17l tank on it, new Acerbis handuards, de-restricted it, put a new seat cover on, a small Givi screen and muffs ( for the cold journey to the Arctic ), new aftermarket bash-plate, heavy-duty inner tubes, etc, etc, etc – it ended up costing me a small fortune. I also generally fiddled and fettled it into really great shape.

The DR’s are very deceptive little machines. Compared to their modern counterparts they are heavy and slow. But they are also incredibly easy to work on, very rugged and reliable and very economical. They are much better off-road than you would expect. They are also much better on-road that you would expect. I was clocking up 8 hours a day in temperatures as low as -21 degrees centigrade in Norway, and even had one marathon day of 12 hours – and found that not only did the DR refuse to bat an eyelid, but it was much less uncomfortable than you might expect. I’m not pretending that the DR’s make great touring machines ( not really enough power for motorway slogs, and have zero luggage carrying capability ), but they are far better at it than you might give them credit for, and I remained fairly fresh after my long days in the saddle.

It’s a real shame I had to sell this bike as I grew very found of it – but I’m not a rich man and had to get rid in order to buy something more suited to covering the big distances I do, as well as being my day-in day-out transport. It had to make way for the Tiger.