'05 DR-Z400S, 6,4xx miles, clean, knobbies, case guard, cleaned up tail.

My DT really opened my eyes up as to just how much fun riding in the woods can be. I really just had no idea. When I blew the DT up, I started thinking hard about what I really want out of a second bike.. I liked how nimble such a smaller bike like the DT was but it won't put up with the highway, and it doesn't do off road well. (Hey Sirius, you were right!) So go as close to street legal dirtbike as I can? Or go more adventure touring route after reading all the trip reports on advrider.com? Price is a big factor, as well as how many times I'll be servicing said bike..
I ended up choosing the 03+ DRZ because it's fairly dirtbikey but will still work for shorter adventure touring trips. It's bullet proof, relatively cheap, and also cheap to mess around with. I'm ok with it being dated. It's proven. It's also low maintenance, not high strung, and up on oil capacity.
The real kicker was me riding one last weekend. I've been craigslisting them for months and that just sealed the deal. What was a full body workout on the DT was like a cruise though a grassy meadow on the DRZ. And it was still pretty nimble.
I've got the Poconos (Appalachian Mountains though PA: for non PA folk) and the NJ Pine Barrens (500 miles of unpaved road in a 1.1 mil acre nature reserve) in my not so distant future. I'd love to do a minimalist camping trip somewhere with it too at some point.
As far as mods go I'll likely do the rest of the usual stuff like 3x3 mod (open up air box and jet), get some sort of luggage rack on there for trips, and maybe go wider seat.
I'm excited.. the front has already been up a few times.























