I couldn’t afford a BMW F800GS so I’ve bought a DL650 V-Strom for 2up gravel exploring and touring.
It will need new tyres soon and the steering head bearings need doing, apart from that it seems pretty sweet. It’s pre farkled so has all the usual fitment as you can see, plus a Scottoiler and a 12V outlet to the left of the instruments.
Did you buy a new toy?
Where you going to keep it? Your garage is full…..
I was going to use some of the spare space in your garage.
Nice mate, welcome to the fold….
A baby wee strom….
They are great bikes…..
My garage if full of spare parts for the strom…..Nothing for the wee though, but I got bulbs for Africa, pads, mirrors, indicator bulbs, oil filters etc etc….
It came well set up for the work tour!
I am in the process of cleaning it out so I can squeaze the new 4WD in there
Cheers, I am looking forward to getting out on it, the ergonomics seem pretty good.
I sold my DR650 recently and replaced it with a new Wee Strom as I am doing mostly road riding now and what an awesome bike. Straight away fitted hand guards, bash plate and side protection bars for the engine. I already had a large Ventura pack so also fitted the “L” brackets and pack rack for it. Big step up in comfort and road manners from the DR. Its the Lams version as I couldn’t justify paying the extra for a few extra ponies at the top end (Bottom end and mid range torque are the same as the non lams version) The dealer said its much cheaper fitting a Power Commander later on than paying the extra. Well after running it in pretty hard, Stuff the power Commander, this thing has more than enough power to get me into deep shit pretty quick. The value of the stock screen to me is purely cosmetic, Just created more noise and buffeting around the helmet and stopped the air getting through the vents in my jacket. I was cooking behind it. (Been into the 40s in the sun here in HB) It came off after about 100 kms . And no, I havnt given up on the adventurous stuff, Im slowly rebuilding a 1990 Honda XRV750 RD04 (Africa Twin).
Very nice!
2x tapered roller bearings no. 32006 from any bearing shop for the head bearings, Mitas 07 for the front and a Fullbore M40 (shinko 705 copy, but better on dirt) for the rear…should do just fine for mixed 2-up touring. 🙂
Turf the OEM wheel bearings, while at it.
Specs here
http://www.vstrom.info/Smf/index.php?topic=10899.0
And…congrats :-))
Good looking Wee Strom Ed!
First impressions after riding Auckland to Hamilton and home to work.
The fuel injection is excellent at all revs, very smooth.
Low speed balance is very good, I do a very small tight roundabout as part of my commute to work which would highlight any top heaviness, and there isn’t any. Pushing it around the garage actually feels easier than my DR, even though it’s ~50kg heavier.
It’s no where near as responsive on the throttle as my DR, though my DR’s intake and exhaust system is heavily modified and the Wee-Strom is stock.
For me footpeg lowering brackets are going to be essential, the seat to peg relationship is way too close, meaning I’m more sitting on my tailbone than my butt and thighs.
Bar back handle bar risers are also on the list, the reach to the handlbars is a touch longer and lower than I’d like.
I need some ADV tyres, at the moment it has road tyres fitted.
Let the farkling begin, I’ve just ordered the Footpeg and Control Lowering kit from Adventuretech.biz
http://www.adventuretech.biz/footpeg-and-control-lowering-kit.html
Now to find some ~30mm bar back handlebar risers that aren’t $146,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-up-1-25-Bk-Handlebar-Risers-DL650-DL1000-VStrom-/170698037333?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27be655855&vxp=mtr
I was hoping to find something local but I can’t see how a 20mm back set is $100 more than a standard set.
The Strom is booked in to get the steering head bearings done tomorrow.
The handling is way better with the steering heads bearings fixed, and my footpegs lowering brackets have arrived so i might get those on today.
Good…I worked on the Beta, have decided to keep it as a trail bike. Too expensive to Vin it….
Loads of trail rides around this area of the Waikato, that’ll help my skills.
Have you done any gravel on it Ross? how did it go?
I got the footpeg lowering brackets on last night but wasn’t able to get the gear lever position sorted so will have another crack at that over the next night or 3, I’m looking forward to putting some km’s on it.
Rode the Strom to work this morning after fitting the peg lowering kit over the weekend and had a few issues 😉
I started the bike up and couldn’t find neutral at all, thought thats a bit weird as nothing I did should have impacted that, then when trying to start in first the bike would stall just trying to roll out of the gutter.
I was getting a bit worried at this stage and was clicking through the gears to make sure it went into other gears ok when I discovered neutral was between 5th and 6th.
Du’oh! when I adjusted the gear linkage to account for the lowered pegs I managed to reverse the linkage so now my gear layout was 1 up 6 down like a racebike!
I rode it to work like that but I’ll have to put it back to standard.
Well I haven’t had her long but the Vee Strom is up for sale as I need to liquidate some cash to take up another opportunity (Not another bike).
2004 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom
Reg till 29/10/2015
WOF till 10/12/2015
122360 km.
New Steering head bearings 400km ago
Givi touring screen plus stock screen
Scottoiler
Factory toolkit
Center stand
12 volt outlet to the left of the gauges
Givi Maxia top box. Apparently you can fit 2 helmets in the topbox though I haven’t tried.
Crashbars
Bash plate
Bags connection tank bag made specifically to fit the V-strom. The bag uses a solid mount that screws onto the top of the petrol cap, it can be removed in seconds to gas up.
Rear tyre has lots of life left, front tyre is pretty low.
This bike is NOT an ex-rental, as such it is in excellent condition for a bike of less than half the mileage. The 1st owner was a Ulysses Club member who did 115,000km’s on it in 11 years. 2nd owner was a Lithuanian tourist who did 7,000km on it, then me who’s done about 500km.
$4350 or $4450 including the recently purchased Adventuretech footpeg lowering kit.