So the older models actualy fare better/last longer?

no... not much has changed with them over the years outside of styling, other than an automatic cam chain tensioner (those failed for several years so many people swap them out with the older manual ones, but from about 07 on they're fine... i've had no issues)

I'm not really sure what went wrong with mine... I change the oil using 10-40 suzuki brand every 1k for 14k miles... then switched to Suzuki 10-50 synthetic every 3k for the last 9k... never burnt oil, no leaks...

the guy i had rebuild the motor said 1k is too long for 10/30 in the DRZ because it has no cush drive. and that the longest interval I could run is with 10/50 and that would be 1500 at most :scratch:

I'm saying fuck that. Suzuki recommends 3k changes with 10/40... they can't be THAT far off... can they?

in the new motor I'm running 10/50 Amsoil (noticed it now leaks from the valve cover but not enough to write home about) and I'll run it every 3k until it explodes again...

I change the oil in the Husky about every 1500-2000 miles. Manual calls for 3000 mile changes. The valve checks are the only "extra" maintenance thing I have on it that's more frequent than any sportbike I've owned. The bike is ridiculously easy to work on.

Will I be able to put 100,000 miles on the bike without rebuilding it? Time will tell. I don't even know if I'll keep it that long. So far, I don't have my eye on anything else.