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2004 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom |
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Monday, 20 September 2004 |
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Page 2 of 3
| Off-roading though is not exactly my bag and the bike was just as capable on the grey smoother stuff. A few of us were probably riding this thing a little harder than the norm and this 650 took whatever I could dish out. The front and rear suspenders are preload adjustable and the suspension, spring and geometry have been set up for a sporty nature. The brakes were extremely responsive too with excellent feel. The tires were Bridgestone Trail Wings and were pretty grippy and only howled in anger if you got too daft - or was that the Park Ranger? Either way the bike got around pretty decently. |
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The motor is the same hardy 90 degree V-Twin with its double overhead cam, 8-valve with a revised cam profile to take advantage of its intended usage. The changes center on providing a stronger low-to-mid torque shove. The Electronic fuel injection features Suzuki's Dual Throttle Valve System (SDTV) a system that maintains optimum air velocity in the intake tract for a smoothed out low-to-mid rpm throttle response too. |
| I found that in top gear roll-ons there seemed to be no advantage in dropping a gear, just rolling on in sixth would suffice. The torque always gave the motor a helping hand. However, I'm not sure if I would prefer the stock motor configuration, due to its fun and punchy power delivery or not. Obviously this bike is pushing a little more weight than the smaller SV, but the increase in rear sprocket size that the V-Strom enjoys over that SV would have taken care of a fair amount of weight deficit and made it a livelier with a grin-inducing ride to boot. |
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The frame and running gear are a little porky because this bike shares some of its suspension parts from its bigger bro. That's hurt this bike a little because it's not as frenetic as the smaller SV. Sure that's a good thing for the polite motorcycle that the V-Strom is but it does take away some of the fun factor that I suspect netted sales for the SV/SVS. Power is reputed to be up a little from the SV/SVS, some 5%, but the weight negates this. There's more flywheel on this version of the 650, maybe that's the problem too, it not revving as quickly. |
| By the way, 2Dub's very own AlexF has thrashed the pee out of his junkyard dog 99' SV with no ill effects. Now he can blow motors up easier than a Bradley fighting vehicle in Afghanistan, and his stayed together. Like the Taliban, he's a maintenance buffoon too, yet still no mechanical's… You gotta love that anvil like reliability. |
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