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I went on a Suzuki ride event and rode on a couple V-Stroms. Loved the Vee and though I had no intention of buying anything this year a dealer about an hour from my house put in a really low price on a new one. Add to that they gave me retail KBB on my Katana and it was a done deal.
So the Vee-Strom DL1000 Adventure. Really its not a whole hell of a lot different than the Standard DL aside from the hard luggage, and brackets holding them. The Luggage is fairly well made, you never really know how it will hold up until you drop it. It has been water tight thus far so that's half the battle. The top case was hanging over the front seat a couple inches, which was somewhat stupid, as it hits the passenger in the lower back. I moved the front posts back 3" and screwed on a extension bracket on the back of the rack. (I moved the case back 3") I added a pad so passenger can lean back and relax.
The Bike itself is what I would describe as a dirtbike gone wild on steroids.
It feels like a dirtbike seat position wise, but its way to heavy for real dirtbike like activities. It rides really well on the paved road and does very well on gravel and dirt roads. I would not want to take it up/down a single lane mountain trail.
It has huge power and when your in/on gravel or a dirt road standing on the pegs you have to be careful on the throttle, or you be on the ground.
It will do a power wheelie.
The idle/1st and perhaps 2nd gear map on the FI is way too lean. Many people either put a power commander or yosh box the ECU on the lower maps to richen up the mixture. I noticed going up to the picture attached in 1st and second it was starting to get a bit hot, due to the lean map settings (They did it to pass emissions)
It does very well at speeds on poor roads, but you really feel the weight (555lbs with the bags and 520 without) if you try to go slow. The good news is the suspension can take a beating...which it did. I was reading people like to stiffen up the suspension, which initially I thought was stupid until I brought it out and beat the crap out of it. I used all the suspension it had. That said I was going 30-40mph hitting 10" deep ditches filled with rocks (can't call it gravel) the size of a bollo roll. The stock tires did great, I'm suprised a few times (impacts) they didnt break or crack the rims. Like I said it did really well.
The street I was really quite suprised. Now granted this is a liter bike with a detuned tl1000 motor so it should go ok (and does) but it does better than my Katana 750 did in the twisities. The 1st day out and I was going as fast on a new bike through some dog legs as I ever did on my Kat. Very suprising considering the tires alone. (adventure tires with some semi beefy tread) The passing power isn't comparable to the Kat. The V-Twin puts a lot more useable power down to the ground with out having to downshift to get to the powerband. It has a true high geared O/D @ 65mph its running aorund 3200. Seems 80-85 was about 4000. It would run all day around 100 (if you could) The windscreen is good for me at the top position, but the bike is effected by cross winds and truck wash a bit. Nothing horrible but a good crosswind will move you quickly.
For me this bike is perfect as I can now go on a lot of roads I had to pass on in the past. Lots of forest roads in Oregon, and it will handle most of them just fine. These bike (like any now days) can do well over 200k miles as long as they are maintained decently.
So the Vee-Strom DL1000 Adventure. Really its not a whole hell of a lot different than the Standard DL aside from the hard luggage, and brackets holding them. The Luggage is fairly well made, you never really know how it will hold up until you drop it. It has been water tight thus far so that's half the battle. The top case was hanging over the front seat a couple inches, which was somewhat stupid, as it hits the passenger in the lower back. I moved the front posts back 3" and screwed on a extension bracket on the back of the rack. (I moved the case back 3") I added a pad so passenger can lean back and relax.
The Bike itself is what I would describe as a dirtbike gone wild on steroids.
It feels like a dirtbike seat position wise, but its way to heavy for real dirtbike like activities. It rides really well on the paved road and does very well on gravel and dirt roads. I would not want to take it up/down a single lane mountain trail.
It has huge power and when your in/on gravel or a dirt road standing on the pegs you have to be careful on the throttle, or you be on the ground.
It will do a power wheelie.
The idle/1st and perhaps 2nd gear map on the FI is way too lean. Many people either put a power commander or yosh box the ECU on the lower maps to richen up the mixture. I noticed going up to the picture attached in 1st and second it was starting to get a bit hot, due to the lean map settings (They did it to pass emissions)
It does very well at speeds on poor roads, but you really feel the weight (555lbs with the bags and 520 without) if you try to go slow. The good news is the suspension can take a beating...which it did. I was reading people like to stiffen up the suspension, which initially I thought was stupid until I brought it out and beat the crap out of it. I used all the suspension it had. That said I was going 30-40mph hitting 10" deep ditches filled with rocks (can't call it gravel) the size of a bollo roll. The stock tires did great, I'm suprised a few times (impacts) they didnt break or crack the rims. Like I said it did really well.
The street I was really quite suprised. Now granted this is a liter bike with a detuned tl1000 motor so it should go ok (and does) but it does better than my Katana 750 did in the twisities. The 1st day out and I was going as fast on a new bike through some dog legs as I ever did on my Kat. Very suprising considering the tires alone. (adventure tires with some semi beefy tread) The passing power isn't comparable to the Kat. The V-Twin puts a lot more useable power down to the ground with out having to downshift to get to the powerband. It has a true high geared O/D @ 65mph its running aorund 3200. Seems 80-85 was about 4000. It would run all day around 100 (if you could) The windscreen is good for me at the top position, but the bike is effected by cross winds and truck wash a bit. Nothing horrible but a good crosswind will move you quickly.
For me this bike is perfect as I can now go on a lot of roads I had to pass on in the past. Lots of forest roads in Oregon, and it will handle most of them just fine. These bike (like any now days) can do well over 200k miles as long as they are maintained decently.
My motorcyle map!
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