[2LZ]

2006 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom 1000 mile review:

The pro's....
1- Power. Lots of torque from 2500 that pulls to red line. Love that part of a V Twin. After years of riding 200's, the 66 hp and 44 torque are a welcome guest. Very smooth and predictable. The motor does zero funny stuff in how it presents its power.
2- Super comfy seat, even for my fat ass. Go out for two or three continuous hours and zero monkey butt. After adding pull-back risers and pedal extenders, it's also now has a much more prone riding position. That helped a lot. This isn't a crotch rocket but the seating was tending toward that feel.
3- Suspension is more than adequate, especially after finally dialing it in. The forks have a preload adjust and the rear shock has preload adjust (nice accessible side knob) and also, dampening adjust. I do have to keep in mind that it's 15 years old so high tech, it's not.
4- Handles really well for a big bike. Sweepers are almost like dancing with a graceful partner. Very predictable.
5- Gauge cluster is large-ish and very easy to read. Awesome for old eyes.
6- A 6 gallon gas tank. It's got a good range.

The cons:
1- It's big....and heavy. While this adds to a super-solid feel, after years of riding smaller bikes, it's an adjustment. Kind of like after years of slow-grilling chicken and ribs, grilling a steak now is a crap shoot.
2- Not a mileage miser. Even with a full tune and filters. I guess that happens when the throttle is twisted.
3- Regarding simple maintenance, virtually everything is hidden. After years of wrenching on super-simple China Bikes, this thing has tons of Tupperware to remove. Just yesterday, I had to remove the seat, two side panels and the rear grab bar.....just to get at the rear brake fluid reservoir. It is nice that they left a small hole in the side panel to see the fluid level but if it's low....bust out a wide variety of tools.
4- I have no idea how Suzuki marketed this behemoth as a "dual sport". It's not. Dual sports don't weigh a million pounds and have boatloads of fairing plastic to crush. If I want to ride a true dual sport, I'll get on Q.
5- BIGGEST complaint, by far. THE REAR BRAKE SUCKS! People complain about the RX3 brakes???? They are Brembo/Willwood compared to this rear.
Depress pedal....it's a dead block of wood. Press harder....still wooden....but I may feel something. Press harder....lockup. No joy felt at all.
I did re-pad the brakes all around and I bled the rear with new DOT 4, just yesterday. Zero change. I'm going to rebuild the caliper and take a heavy scuff pad to the rear disk to see if that helps. Feels like a froze piston BUT.....there are rear brake complaints on older V-Strom forums all over the web. I hope I can do something with it. The all-mechanical drum on my old 1974 Harley worked better....seriously. I'm trying to keep in mind I did buy a 15 year old, used bike. The jury is currently out.

More to follow.....