I grabbed the handlebar and felt at home. Not after a long afternoon of adjusting to the bike. Right there, getting onto the Suzuki DR-Z4SM. Light, compact singles are where my riding started, and something about this one brings that feeling straight back.
Maybe knowing the model line for decades helps. Maybe the chassis geometry simply suits me. Either way, I wasn’t spending the opening laps trying to work out what the motorcycle wanted. I was enjoying myself. That’s a useful thing to discover on a tight circuit where you’ve only got ten warm-up laps before the clock starts.
Mechanical in all the right ways
The Suzuki feels pleasantly mechanical. I’m talking about what comes through the controls, not claiming it has no electronics. There’s an immediacy to it that I like: climb aboard, put it in gear, get on with riding.
The frame and swingarm look like they belong to a proper dirt bike, and the whole package gives me the impression it’ll take a bit of rough handling. I wasn’t fretting every time I braked into a corner or knocked it down a gear less gently than intended. Some of that is the trust I tend to bring to Japanese machinery. It’s a riding impression, though, not a long-term reliability finding. What matters here is that I stopped worrying about the bike and started thinking about the next turn.
First gear without the argument
On some motorcycles, dropping into first for a tight corner feels like more trouble than it’s worth. On this Suzuki I actually used it in a few of the tighter turns. The shifts are that smooth.
The transmission never felt like something I had to work around. Each change fitted naturally into what I was doing, and I think being able to use first comfortably helped my timed lap. I can’t put a stopwatch number on that particular benefit. I can tell you the engine was easy to read both on the gas and with the throttle closed. Predictable response, smooth shifts, no fight between the two. On a course full of small radii, that combination lets you spend your attention where it belongs: choosing a line and getting the corner finished.
You don’t need to be a drift hero
I’m certainly not one. That’s probably why I appreciated how manageable the Suzuki felt on the way into a corner.
Get a little hasty with a downshift while braking and you can feel the rear start to move. It didn’t turn into a nervous, tipping sensation or something that had me wondering what would happen next. The movement felt small and readable. That’s an observation from this ride, not a promise that sliding a motorcycle is automatically easy.
What the DR-Z4SM does well is let you find that supermoto feeling without demanding that you arrive as an expert. Yet I never got the impression that an experienced rider would immediately dismiss it as too tame. Here’s the appeal: you can feel comfortable and still have something playful underneath you.
A narrow rear tire and a nicely settled chassis
The rear is a 140, which stands out when other bikes in this displacement class use a 160. How much of the Suzuki’s agility comes from that narrower tire? I can’t separate it from the rest of the chassis. I wouldn’t pretend otherwise.
What I felt was precision without nervousness. The bike steers easily and remains nicely balanced. In character, I’d put it between the stronger, more expensive Husqvarnas and the really mild machines. That’s my impression of where it fits, not a ranking extracted from the lap chart. It feels usable and approachable, but it hasn’t had the mischief washed out of it. If you want a supermoto you can quickly feel at home on, that middle ground deserves a proper test ride.
Where the Suzuki sits among five reference laps
The Suzuki recorded 1:08.764 on Bridgestone S22 tires at 93 °F asphalt temperature. Five historical examples, not a current ranking: the 2024 KTM 690 SMC R sits at 1:05.600 on Continental ContiAttack SM 2 tires at 108 °F. The 2025 Yamaha MT-07 Y-AMT has a 1:07.760 on Dunlop Sportmax Q5A tires at 102 °F. Closer in time are the 2021 Yamaha MT-09 SP at 1:08.600 on Bridgestone Battlax S22 tires at 54 °F, the 2021 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special at 1:08.700 on Michelin Scorcher Adventure tires at 86 °F, and the 2024 Honda XL750 Transalp at 1:08.700 on Pirelli Scorpion Trail II tires at 91 °F. Read the tires and asphalt temperatures alongside every number: both can shift the result significantly.
A short Austrian track test
These impressions come from a video production on the compact supermoto circuit in Bad Fischau, Austria. Tight turns, quick direction changes, short straights. It’s a place to feel how readily a bike turns and how quickly you trust it, rather than explore its top speed.
The procedure is ten warm-up laps followed by one flying lap, with a standing start just 66 feet before the timing line. Clutch control and traction during that short run-up affect the result too. The accompanying videos appear on the 1000PS YouTube channel, sometimes weeks after the written review. This article stands on its own. The circuit gives me a useful impression of how a motorcycle behaves in tight corners; it doesn’t turn a short session into a road tour or a durability test.
I’d happily go back out
The graphics supplied by Suzuki Austria look the part. But the fun isn’t stuck to the bodywork. It’s in the way the whole motorcycle works together.
I like the combination of easy access and a bit of wildness. You don’t need to be a supermoto specialist to find your feet, and you don’t have to treat the bike as merely a stepping stone to something more exciting. Riders chasing the biggest hit of power will still look at stronger machinery. I’d put the DR-Z4SM on the test-ride list for its smooth transmission, readable engine response and precise, balanced steering.
My day ended with a pretty straightforward thought: that was a lovely time in the saddle. If this is your sort of riding, go try one. You might spend less time arguing about horsepower and more time enjoying the next corner.
The numbers behind the ride
The supplied technical data lists a liquid-cooled 398 cc single making about 37.5 hp at 8,000 rpm and 27.3 lb-ft at 6,500 rpm, with a five-speed transmission. Listed ready-to-ride weight is about 340 lb, seat height 35”, and fuel capacity 2.3 US gallons. Tire sizes are 120/70-17 front and 140/70-17 rear. These are the supplied specifications, not measurements from this track session.