Dual-Purpose Done Right

DUAL-PURPOSE DONE RIGHT

BEING THE PUBLIC-RELAtions officer for a major motorcycle company is no stroll through the park. Like snake-oil salesmen hawking cure-all elixirs, PR guys are paid to show off their boss’s bikes in the best light possible, then fend off volleys from an unbelieving press corps.

So it was at Suzuki when tarps were whipped off the company's new dual-purpose bikes, the DR250S and DR350S. “We believe you’ll find these two the best dual-purpose bikes ever,” came the opening remarks from the stalwart Suzuki employee, and you could hear the scribes groan.

Realizing he was playing to a tough room, Mr. PR launched into his monologue, detailing how the U.S. dual-purpose market had shriveled from the early 1970s, when on/off-road bikes were America’s most-popular motorcycles, to the late 1980s, when these bikes accounted for less than 10 percent off all units sold. He told of several competing companies, w'ho. hoping to entice new' dual-purpose buyers, had recently offered a different kind of bike, patterned after Paris-Dakar Rally bikes and equipped with street-oriented features. These machines, he was quick to point out, hadn’t really attracted any new buyers, and had largely ticked off America’s established dual-purpose fans, w'ho didn't care for the bikes' styling or street bias.

This recitation of recent history wasn't news to the journalists. some of whom had already written articles lamenting this latest trend in dual-purpose bikes. And then the public relations man said that, with the DR250S and DR350S, Suzuki w'as getting back to basics with the most-dirt-oriented dual-purpose bikes yet. Gilding the lily, he even had the gall to stand there and claim that the bikes were “almost identical” to the new' DR off-roaders, smiling back at the reporters’ skeptical gazes as if he hadn't just told a great big fib.

The editors could see that the 250 and 350 did. indeed, resemble the new DR four-strokes, but none of them were biting on the “dirtbike-with-turnsignals” hyperbole. Sensing an easy mark, one editor wanted to know how the DR-S frames differed from the off-road models'.

“They don't.”

Another asked about the fork assemblies.

“The same, including spring rates.”

The rear suspensions?

“Identical.”

Did the bikes have the trick new, aluminum, glued-together swingarm?

“Yes, just like the DRs.”

Ah. but the engines surely had been detuned.

“Nope.”

And, in fact, with the exception of changes dictated by vehicle codes—steel replacing plastic as the fuel-tank material, the addition of batteries, the fitting of street instrumentation and lighting, the mounting of DOT-approved tires and the use of quieter, slightly heavier mufflers— these new dual-purpose bikes are identical to their off-road counterparts. After all the questions had been asked, there was nothing left for the journalists to do but compliment Suzuki on a job well done and ask when test bikes would be available.

Score one for the snake-oil salesman.

David Edwards