You really have to appreciate the pleasure that can come from using a little 20/20 hindsight. Way, way back in 1988, Suzuki pulled the wraps off the legendary DR-Big: a thundering, single-cylinder, dual-carburettor-equipped Dakar Rally replica that possessed one of the biggest motorcycle pistons known to man. To us Dakar Rally purists, ‘the Big’ blew our minds! But as a commercial proposition, Suzuki dropped their pants with this one. The Japanese manufacturer did manage to milk almost a decade of model years out of the lumbering thumper in Europe, but let’s just say it never set the showroom floor on fire.
Meanwhile, BMW was making hay while the sun shone with its top-selling R 80 G/S and subsequent updates, while Honda was ringing up sales of its first-generation Africa Twin and Yamaha was banking coin on the back of it’s popular Ténéré. They weren’t called adventure bikes back then, but all-roads touring and global roaming was fast becoming a thing. Suzuki was missing the
