Recently I was invited on an offroad motorcycle trip to Morocco with a couple of friends. I didn't have a suitable motorcycle so I took the occasion to try to find something for the trip. The trip would be in several months so I had a bit of time to prepare for it.

Initially I had thought that I might take a big dual purpose bike such a BMW GS (as I have owned several of these in the past and liked them) but my friend had a much lighter KTM 690 Enduro and my off road riding skills are not as good as his; so I started looking at lighter bikes.

When I look for a motorcycle I don't only look for the practical aspects of the bike, I look for something that particularly attracts me to it, in this case I had been trawling secondhand bike classifieds for some time and couldn't really get excited about any of the newer bikes that we in my price range.

I've always liked the old Dakar bikes from the 80s and 90s and I saw a few mixed in with the newer bikes for sale, initially I started looking at the older Yamaha XT600 bikes and I saw a couple of the early large tank versions for the dakar in the eighties, I also saw some really nice TT600 belgarda bikes and I would probably have bought one but the petrol tank size was not really suitable for many kilometres between fuel stops on the moroccan trails.

After a bit more browsing along those lines I came across some Suzuki DR600's, XR600's and KLR's, then I found a Suzuki DR Big (800)

The DR Big immediately caught my eye as a bit different and quirky so I started looking into it a bit more.

There were at the time very few of these bikes on sale and I had read that the earlier 750 version was a better adventure bike.

Almost immediately I found a very early 800 version of the bike to look at (basically the same bike as the 750 model but with a longer stroke, and I almost bought this model, the SR42 but when the seller messed me around a lot and I had the impression he was hiding something from me so I (a bit sadly) continued my search.

After a couple more weeks, I found a version of the later model (SR43) for sale that apparently didn't have much interest in it.

The colour of the bike was a dark metallic green and it was one of the last models made of the DR800 in 1997 before Suzuki gave up on the bike, although I did not like the colour and the bike had some problems (rotten exhaust and burning some oil) I managed to negotiate with the seller and get it for what I considered to be a very reasonable price (700 Euros), so I bought it!

Here is a picture of the bike on the day that I bought it

The first thing that I did when I got the bike home clean and inspect it.

I wanted to start off by giving the bike a little service, I already knew when I bought the bike that it would need a new exhaust so I had order holeshot stainless steel one with a Sebring end can from Stefan Hessler in Germany but much to my surprise and horror when I removed the two spark plugs, one of them had small pieces of metal on it :(

This bike clearly needed at least the top end looking at

No problem I thought I'll simply take off the head and have a look, that shouldn't take long, sadly after looking at the workshop manual I learned that for this bike removing the cylinder head means first removing the engine from the frame :(

So that was the first step of what was quickly becoming a much larger project than I had anticipated.....

Where is the rest of this story??

I am a bit pushed for time at the moment to write the rest of it but thanks for your interest.

How is it going with the DR?

All the best

David

Hi David, thanks for your prompt reply. Which country are you from? I liked your story as I am dreaming about a DR800S that's available. My DR650RSE is 25-years old and fantastic. The only mod on it is a smaller rear sprocket so that it can keep up with the likes of KTMs and BMWs. It also uses the twin spark plug engine like the DR750 & 800. I was curious about the metal-filings you found on the one spark plug you mentioned. What did you find? Did you ever go to Morocco on the bike? How was the trip etc. I'm from George in the Southern Cape region of South Africa. We have the best bike roads on planet earth with the greatests + most diverse fauna and flora and landscapes in the world. Also we have Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, etc. to explore. Too much for a lifetime. I sincerely hope to hear from you soon. Friendly regards, Chris Rossouw.

That sounds like an amazing journey ahead! I can totally relate to the excitement of preparing for a motorcycle trip in Morocco, especially when it comes to selecting the right bike. I had a similar experience when I was planning my own road trip there. I originally had a larger bike in mind, but like you, I ended up going for something lighter and more suitable for off-road conditions.

When I was researching my itinerary and logistics for the trip, I found moroccoroamer.com to be an invaluable resource. They have great tips for planning bike tours in Morocco, including routes that cover a mix of terrains and advice on bike types that are ideal for the country’s diverse landscapes. Their insights really helped me tailor my trip and ensure I was choosing the best route for my skills and the bike I was riding. Definitely worth checking out if you're still fine-tuning your plans!

Best of luck with the bike search and enjoy your trip! The DR Big sounds like a perfect choice for an adventure in Morocco.