+ Click to Enlarge VERY EASY RIDER: Suzuki's smaller V-Strom is comfortable and light-handling – an ideal light tourer. Pictures: DAVE ABRAHAMS For a screen-filling version of this picture, e-mail dave.abrahams@iol.co.za with "Suzuki DL650" in the subject field.

December 5, 2004
By Dave Abrahams

There's no consensus among riders as to what makes a good touring bike. I've ridden from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a litre-class sports bike in 13 hours – that didn't make it a tourer.

These days a lot of riders reckon if it doesn't have knobbly tyres and a saddle high enough to induce a nose bleeds it's not a tourer. The Winnebago Brigade will demand at least 150 litres of packing space, a full sound system and a trailer before they'll ride beyond the street lights.

It depends on your definition of touring.

For me touring means getting out there on your own and spending long days in the saddle, actually enjoying looking at the scenery you're cruising through rather than having it go by in a hypersonic blur.

It means, above all, a comfortable bike with a clock, a trip meter, a big tank and no vices - and to my surprise the bike that's come out on top of my list for doing the back-road boogie is a mid-sized twin.

Suzuki's DL650 V-Strom is based on its SV650 sports bike, a Ducati-esque 645cc L-twin that handles beautifully. In touring guise the motor has been detuned to 49kW at 8800rpm, with mid-range muscle courtesy of 60Nm at 6400rpm.

Thanks to the dual-throttle valves pioneered by Suzuki and now used by everybody there's none of the jerking at small throttle openings that used to be typical of fuel-injected motors; the bike can be ridden smoothly at walking pace.

There is, however, a mild but annoying secondary buzz through the handlebars and foot pegs above 7000rpm that makes the drive-train feel just a little unsettled.

It's probably there on the SV as well – it's just that you don't notice it when you're tilting the horizon the way Hamamatsu's Eurocentric little sportster encourages.

The V-Strom tops out at 198km/h – no matter whether you're flat on the tank or sitting upright like a civilised person – with 9200 showing on the rev counter, way short of the 10 500rpm redline.

Most of the time, however, you settle down right on the torque peak, just above the national speed limit, where the motor runs like a sewing machine and will pull up any slope short of a mountain pass in top gear.

This civilised power delivery is fed to the rear wheel via a light, rather remote-feeling, clutch and one of the ultra-slick-shifting gearboxes for which Suzuki is rightly famous, with remarkably little lash and just the faintest of "clonks" on engaging first.

There's no choke – the injection system compensates for engine coolant temperature and sets the idle speed accordingly.

Touring chassis

The motor is hung from a twin-spar aluminium frame very different from that of the SV650, fabricated from a mix of castings and extrusions, as is the rectangular-section alloy swing-arm.

The rear sub-frame, however, is welded up from square-section steel tubing to support the built-in cast alloy carrier and whatever you have bungee-ed on to it.

The long-stroke, 43mm conventional forks are adjustable for preload only, while the link-type rear suspension is not only adjustable for rebound damping but its preload can also be tuned "on the fly" via a hydraulic knob.

The brakes, thought using two fronts discs, are very ordinary twin-pot floating calliper units, a little lacking in bite perhaps, but a firm two-fingered squeeze is enough to use almost all the fork travel and haul down the friendly Suzi in short order.

Despite the "adventure tourer" styling the saddle height is reasonable at 820mm; the seating position is perfect, just forward of upright, with a comfortable reach to the 'bars and the saddle is broad, flat and deeply padded.

It's also sharply tapered towards the front so that you can get your feet flat on the deck at stops – very reassuring, that.

Not many bikes earn the accolade "all-day comfort" but the smaller V-Strom is definitely one of them.

Buffet-free screen

The body panels have been kept fairly narrow but the tall screen offers more than adequate protection for the rider. It's adjustable for height through a 50mm range but, mindful of previous experiences with touring screens, I kept it firmly on its lowest position and was rewarded with a buffet-free ride.

The instrument panel, car-style in the fully lined fairing, is a nice mix of traditional and modern with analogue speedometer and rev counter, both driven by step motors, and a liquid crystal display in the middle showing engine temperature, time, trip and fuel status.

The test bike returned a quite modest 6.17 litres/100km, including performance testing. That should allow a tank range of just over 350km, although the low-fuel warning icon on this one came on after about 240km.

The big cast-alloy carrier behind the pillion has grab handles and is rubber-faced to provide a secure footing for luggage. About the only thing this bike needs to make it a perfect solo tourer is a couple of bungee hooks side – although I was able to use the grab handles and rear foot peg brackets to lash down a duffel pretty securely.

Long, lazy riding

My partner and I spent a long lazy Sunday wandering all over the Swartland with her Triumph and the V-Strom; on the way back I offered her a spell on the Suzuki and that was that – I never got it back! Considering how much she loves the big Trumpet that's a huge compliment for the V-Strom.

We agreed that the relaxed seating and effortless steering afforded by the wide bars make it a superb light tourer; all the controls are light and positive and the bike is reassuringly stable right up to its top speed of just under 200km/h.

The low centre of gravity makes it eminently chuckable – I had a lot of fun with it on my favourite twisty roads, while the long-travel suspension, firm but never harsh, took the bite out of the bumps.

It's also quite competent on gravel roads – at saner speeds! – but very unstable in thick sand, mostly due to its relatively wide 19" front tyre. Riding purpose-built off-road machnery has taught me that riding in sand requires a large-diameter front wheel with a narrow rim – exactly the opposite of what's needed for sports riding on tar.

It's stable and agile enough to cope with the daily commute and the gentle power transition makes it easy to ride in traffic.

Unless both of you are slim and trim the DL650 lacks the grunt for two-up touring but if, like me, you do most of your long rides alone it's a wonderful way to relax, smell the flowers and learn to see the places where you ride rather than just looking - there is a difference.

Test bike from Suzuki South, Cape Town.

Price: R59 200.

Suzuki DL650 V-Strom specifications

Go back 

Useful TOOLS

Email this article       Print this article       Search Prices       Repayment Calculator       Set as homepage

Free NEWSLETTER

The latest motoring news - 3 times a week. Preview Sign up