DRZ to Xchallenge ?

Hi all,

have been working my way through the forum and noticed that a few of you had/have drzs, and have also had/have xchallenges. i have a drz and its great for the local trails here in the west country and welsh borders, but it suffers on the transit runs as its geared 13/47 for the trail, anything over 50/55 it struggles but then with road gearing at 70 the front was way too light and floating around. I'm looking for that genuine all rounder that will let me play in the mud all the time, and will let me commute occasionally over the 30 miles to work of country road and dual carriage way, and then on the odd occasion do a longer trip in relative comfort (ok with screen etc but the seat cant be worse than the drzs so am used to using an airhawk) and its only 10kg heavier than the drz.

its a shame bmw have dropped it from the range, my guess is that with the dakar restrictions from next year they dont see a need for it anymore and the 450x will take its place in that (ktm are keeping the 690 and dropping their entries from the dakar according to TBM) but it means for me there is going to be an ever decreasing pool of these around so if i go for one it will be best to do it sooner rather than later.

so my question is how does the Xch compare with the drz on the typical west country/ welsh nadgery at times trails? on the road it has to be better even with a 13t front sprocket for low speed offroad manners i'm guessing it can comfortably do 70ish?

Many thanks for you advice

Cheers

I have never had a DRZ but have ridden with guys on DRZ's and they struggled to keep up on the road sections of the ride because of their top speed limitations. I have an X-challenge with standard gearing but a couple of friends have 1 tooth less on the front and they do not see any signification difference whilst on the road and can easily ride at 70-80. Getting a cheap screen makes the world of difference to motorway/long distance riding, as does the Airhawk. I have ridden 200-300 miles in an afternoon on the X-challenge to go to Wales for the weekend for off-road rides and it was fine.

It is a great dual purpose bike

Hi Frostyuk and welcome,
Now please don't laugh but have you considered the xcountry,same frame and engine as the xch but not as tall,there is a great thread on adv rider which Johnny Boxer put me onto,many of these guys do some serious off roading on their xcountry's and it's going to be a bike i shall be purchasing in the not to distant future.Loads of info on the site,sorry i don't know how to link you there,but if you go onto the Yorks and Humberside section of this site
look for the thread named"Sun august 23rd yorkshire trails" there is a link on there to the site.

Steve

sorry frosty it's not on yorkshire and humberside, it's 3 treads down from this one ,in this section titled "xcountry conpetent offroader?"

Steve

Hi Steve

i road the xcountry on the bmw off road skills course, and for my first offroad experience it was great, very forgiving and usable on the tracks at walters arena, but for me its not a bike i could live with for long, i just dont like the looks, also bmw themselves rate the xcountry as medium offroad capability and the xchallenge as high offroad, as the latter is more my market and what i want the bike for even though it will be years if ever before i could stretch the capabilities of either bike. also the xchallenge is essentially ready to go for what i want to do whereas with the xcountry i'd need to change wheels etc

thanks anyway
frosty

Hi Frosty

I owned a DRZe for a while, starting back in 2002, and put over 25k miles on it before selling it on. I between that and my Xch I owned a few other bikes (ktm 640e, WR250, gasgas ec300 and a ccm 604) so can't give a back-back comparison.

I would say that I could take the Xch anywhere I could take the drz but there are a few differences. Whether these are plus or minus points depends on your personal opinion. The Xch is heavier than the drz but hides its weight well once on the go, much better than the ktm640 which feels very top heavy by comparison. The main difference is the engine. Both bikes have 5 gears but the way you use them is very different. With the drz you need to rev the engine a bit and the gears seem to be used up very quickly. For road use the drz could really use a 6th gear and off road I was usually in 3rd or 4th, with 2nd for steep climbs. The Xch has quite a soft throttle response and won't hoist the front like the DRZ, however it will find traction well and push the bike forward at a good speed. Don't confuse the soft delivery for being slow though, I was out with a mate on his crf450 the other day and was able to keep him behind me on the lanes. On the road I could leave him easily. On standard gearing I find myself using 2nd and 3rd off road, dropping into 1st on tight bits and steep climbs. On road the Xch is streets ahead and will cruise comfortably at 80 plus rather than feeling like it is going to rev its nuts off like the drz.

Other differences include the seat which is much more comfortable and the tank range. The Xch has a tank capacity of 9L, 1L less than the drz, but it is so frugal with the gas that it will go further between fill ups. This is compared to the DRZs as well which is better on fuel than the e bike. I usually get around 70 mpg but have seen 85 mpg, fully loaded with camping gear, over the mountains in Spain. At the same time my mates DRZs was popping and farting like it had the choke on due to the altitude. Fuel injection has its uses.

I would recomend you get a test ride on the Xch and see what you think. If you are riding purely off road then a DRze is a better bet, but if you do any distance on road the Xch has its plus points.

Iain

Thanks Iain, thats good information there. I have a DRZs so am down on power and up on weight on the DRZe, so the local DRZe riders with similar gearing are able to leave me behind on the road as well, in hindsight maybe i should have bought an e model and changed the rear subframe to carry some weight from time to time, and i guess that could still be an option or to put a big bore kit etc on the s. my plan now is to try and get on the bmw offroad skills course before the end of the year whilst they still have the Xch and get a proper comparison there

cheers
Ian

I was running 14/48 on my DR-Z and the poor engine was reving its nuts off at about 60mph.

By chance my Husaberg also has 14/48 but the6-speed box means that it'll go faster than I feel safe with!! Cruises easily at 70.

Greg

Follow up

just to close the loop a little on this one. i did the ORS course on the Xch and must say i really liked it. to me it seemed, quieter, shorter, smoother, slightly wider, heavier whilst riding but the weight felt below the pegs which together with the slightly wider setup gave me a feeling of greater stability and control. picking it up after falls it didnt seem any different to my drz-s. having been back on the drz it definately feels taller, thinner, higher revving and vibey, feels lighter when riding but comparitively top heavy leading to the feeling of relative inbalance/instability which may make it quicker to turn. now i've just got to find one i can afford, so will see what the ex ORS ones will go for, cosmetically they were all trashed and obviously not run in in a gentle caring manner, and i dont know if they put the indicators etc back on before selling them so it will depend on the price. Looking around price range seems to be 3andabit privately and around 4 - 4andabit from a dealer.

cheers

the main reason i have a drz is that its cheaper to buy and repair

650 Dakar is the best all rounder

I'd take mine anywhere the x challenges go

I have a Funduro.

they have a brand new X ch at Benham Wolverhampton, which they are just putting out as a demonstrator, it was marked up at around £5900 prior to be used as a demonstrator but dont know what the price will be now?

ferret