2003 Suzuki DRZ-400SE
I bought this motorcycle last summer with the money I got from my 2000 CR250R. My friend Carter had just bought a KLR650, and several of us had long discussed the desire to be able to go on cross-country exploration missions. I decided on the 400 as a compromise between off road prowess and on road power. The DRZ was a fine machine, and the best dual purpose bike I had yet owned. However there were a couple of things I wish Suzuki had done differently. The first thing I did when I got it was drop a tooth on the front sprocket as it was geared pretty high for off-road use. However this had the unfortunate, though not surprising effect of dropping the top highway speed down to about 60 mph (without taching it out, MAX speed seems to be about 70 wound out). Usable, but not ideal. A better solution would have been for Suzuki to make this thing a six speed instead of a five. That way they could have kept the close ratio gear box idea, provided a low first gear, and provided a reasonable gear for the highway as well. If they market a new bike with this sort of gearbox, I'd buy it tomorrow, or so I thought until I found my TE-510.
The other thing I can't stand about the DRZ-400 is its seat. This is the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat on on any motorcycle I have ever ridden. It's not bad for short, cross town excursions, but on a day of off road trail riding, or after about 45 minutes of highway travel, it actually becomes painful to ride. There is a gel-seat replacement for it, though I have heard it is no better, and may even be worse.
After owning this bike for just over a year, I got a wild hair and sold it. I got exactly $1000 less than I paid for it, and had put 2400 miles on it. Do the math, that's $2.40 a mile depreciation cost. I easily got that much fun/use out of it.
It was a good bike, but in the year that I owned it, I never once went riding with any of the pals of mine who had, or said they were going to get similar bikes for crazy on-road/off-road adventuring.