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To Vee or not to Vee?

Burque73

Burque73

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
An opportunity to own a 2002 DL 1000 has come about rather unexpectedly and I'd like to hear from some V-Strom owners. I've poked around on stromtroopers forum and know about the buffeting from the windshield which I may have to address. Being the first production year of the Vee what, if any, are some other issues I may need to address?

I'm 5' 8" and 140 lbs and this is a tall bike. I sat on it while still on a dolly and was able to touch both toes down but may still need to add lowering links like I did on my previous dual sport, the KLR 650.

Another consideration is passenger comfort. Do any of you ride two up? I hear the riding position is upright similar to the 850G but wonder about the passenger. I'd like for my wife and I to be able to hit the road and get lost in the mountains, so to speak, but also to be comfortable on the way there.

The asking price seems reasonable, very reasonable actually. The odometer says 40k miles. Considering the skid plate, bags and trunk, bark busters, crash bars, dual 12v outlets, oil cooler (stock?), center stand (also maybe stock) and it's overall condition with the $1500 price tag it's hard to pass up.

Here's a pic of the bike, tucked away in a shed where it's been for two years.

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I would think your wife would actually prefer the ride of the 850 as a passenger. But then, I could be wrong as I often am.

Nice price and with lots more technology than the older 850. Now if you are going to keep the 850 as well, then go for it. Good luck.
 
For $1500 it's a nobrainer. Worst case, sell it if you don't like it and make a profit.
 
Hm, that looks verrrrrrrrrrrrrry familiar...


The report from the rear is that passenger accommodations are actually somewhat better than the 850G, although your passenger may or may not enjoy the added height. On mine, I had to make some changes to the case mounting plate to move it back a bit.

The engines are pretty much bulletproof, but you may need to catch up on maintenance. I bought mine with 44,000 miles, and through three lazy owners the valves had never been touched. Seven out of eight shims needed to be replaced at that time, but I'm at about 107,000 miles now and the valve clearances haven't moved at all.

One nice bonus is that the 2002-2003 Vees tended to have fewer stator problems -- they used a stator that puts out about 50 less watts than the later models, and it seems to cause less trouble. (And yes, the stator and R/R are pretty much identical in overall design to the GS series...) Suzuki's habit of using crappy undersized unsealed connectors continues to this day -- make sure you inspect and clean ALL the connectors before you ride far. There's a downright STUPID intermediate stator connector before the R/R, and under the left fairing "cheek" there's an absolutely ASININE connector block where both headlights (around ten amps) are powered via one teensy tiny connector pin.

You'll likely need to perform the fuel filter bypass if that hasn't already been done. Google around to find the test and the instructions -- it's all pretty simple and cheap. And this bike is also right at the mileage when a dead Throttle Position Sensor is likely. About $75 and an hour or so to replace and calibrate.

Holler if you have questions! I'm also "bwringer" over on Stromtrooper.com and ADVrider.com.
 
I would agree...BUY IT at that price. If I was close by I would buy if you hesitated!! The DL1000 has all the good features of the 850G including 2up riding comfort with about 50 pounds less weight even decked out with bags and other accessories. You might be scraping those highway peg mounts though if you like to lean hard into the corners and use lowering links. Looks like from that photo that someone has already dropped the front forks down an inch or so in the triple tree?
BTW, I've owned the DL650 and logged about 10k miles on it. I swapped out the stock DL650 seat for a DL1000 stock seat for comfort. I've ridden friends' DL1000 hundreds of miles also.
 
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Thanks for replies guys.

Larry, I do plan on keeping the 850. Been talking to my son lately about using the right tool for the job and this bike seems like a useful tool to have in the box. I took the 850 on a Navajo reservation road last year and wound up in trouble, dropped the bike after getting caught in a rut. That was on 54 near Laguna Pueblo south of I-40 20 miles or so. The hours passed while I waited for help and I started dreaming about a dual sport.


Ed, you're right. No brainer indeed. I just don't have that cash laying around so have to get creative in scraping up funds, overtime etc.


Brian, I spoke with a local member, themess, and a few pm's with gbw. Both said you'd have much to say about these bikes so thanks for chiming in. Added height may be welcome to my wife. She says it's kind of a bummer view on back of the 850, looking only to the sides unless she leans off to one side or the other, which she's really good about avoiding. I did ask about the valves and the owner says they've been inspected twice. In spec both times. Being gunshy with GS valve issues, I cringed at the thought of two inspections in 40k miles. Shim under bucket is what I've heard. This will be interesting. Hopefully the local shops stock shims for these still. I'll cross that bridge later.
Thanks for info on fuel filter issue, throttle position sensor, and electrical stuff. There was a mod the owner mentioned behind the headlight. A connection bar or something. It was late when we spoke last and I was pooped from the day so memory is fuzzy. I'll pm you some details and see if you know the owner from the other forum.

Thanks again guys.
 
lurch12_2000 said:
I would agree...BUY IT at that price. If I was close by I would buy if you hesitated!! The DL1000 has all the good features of the 850G including 2up riding comfort with about 50 pounds less weight even decked out with bags and other accessories. You might be scraping those highway peg mounts though if you like to lean hard into the corners and use lowering links. Looks like from that photo that someone has already dropped the front forks down an inch or so in the triple tree?
BTW, I've owned the DL650 and logged about 10k miles on it. I swapped out the stock DL650 seat for a DL1000 stock seat for comfort. I've ridden friends' DL1000 hundreds of miles also.
Click to expand...


Thanks Lurch. It's not on the for sale sites and this guy is in no hurry to sell. Thankfully for me as I'm working out logistics still. I'll contact him today with more questions and a confirmation that I'm interested. Good to know about the seat, forks, and clearance.
 
Burque73 said:
Thanks for replies guys.

Larry, I do plan on keeping the 850. Been talking to my son lately about using the right tool for the job and this bike seems like a useful tool to have in the box. I took the 850 on a Navajo reservation road last year and wound up in trouble, dropped the bike after getting caught in a rut. That was on 54 near Laguna Pueblo south of I-40 20 miles or so. The hours passed while I waited for help and I started dreaming about a dual sport.


Ed, you're right. No brainer indeed. I just don't have that cash laying around so have to get creative in scraping up funds, overtime etc.


Brian, I spoke with a local member, themess, and a few pm's with gbw. Both said you'd have much to say about these bikes so thanks for chiming in. Added height may be welcome to my wife. She says it's kind of a bummer view on back of the 850, looking only to the sides unless she leans off to one side or the other, which she's really good about avoiding. I did ask about the valves and the owner says they've been inspected twice. In spec both times. Being gunshy with GS valve issues, I cringed at the thought of two inspections in 40k miles. Shim under bucket is what I've heard. This will be interesting. Hopefully the local shops stock shims for these still. I'll cross that bridge later.
Thanks for info on fuel filter issue, throttle position sensor, and electrical stuff. There was a mod the owner mentioned behind the headlight. A connection bar or something. It was late when we spoke last and I was pooped from the day so memory is fuzzy. I'll pm you some details and see if you know the owner from the other forum.

Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...

Even though the DL1000 is a dual sport and will go places the 850G would struggle, especially with the correct tires, don't expect it to tackle the rough terrain like your KLR. It's a hefty bike to pick up too if you dump on the back roads. I've owned the KLR650 also, and took it places that I wouldn't try with my DL650. But probably 80% of your riding is on nice paved roads so a comfy ride is important like the DL1000 for most of the riding miles getting there.

Note: BTW I'll be in Utah in mid Sep(in a car) and may be down close to the 4 state borders. How far away are you? Buy that DL1000 and I'd love to borrow to take an afternoon ride ride with you! hint...hint...
 
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As others have said, a complete no-brainer at that price. I've had a 650 Strom for 9 years now and love it. Great bike. However, for long distance comfort I found a new seat was essential. The 650 seat was awful, I swapped for a 1000 seat and it was better, but still not great. I ended up with a Corbin that works well for me. Everybody's butt is different though, so you'll need to ride it a bit to figure out if you need to change it.
 
A friend of mine bought a DL about 6 years ago to have "something different" to ride on his annual pilgrimage from Brisbane to the Phillip Island MotoGP round (about a 3K mile round trip) - he still has it and has ridden it every year since 2011.

Very competent bikes - especially over long distances.
 
Good price, with lots of goodies.

I bought the DL in my sig (well, an identical copy) two seasons ago, and I absolutely love it. I'm 5' 8" as well, and I have no objections to the height of the bike. It's barely an issue. It had 6k, and I paid $4300 with brand new tires, Battlewings. So -- $1500 well-farkled puts you in good shape in dealing with maintenance. 2 valve checks already is a plus; any owner who is that diligent almost certainly cared for the rest of the machine as thoroughly.

I thought for a good while that the allure of motorcycling had faded for me. Maybe it did, until I bought this DL. Now, I head out on a weekend to grab an ice cream sandwich and somehow it adds more than 200 miles to the odometer. Luckily, it gets around 62 mpg average, and as high as 64+.

I wheel that thing out of the garage, and before I even hit the starter I know I bought the right bike for me. It's been a long time since I felt like that.
 
robertbarr said:
Good price, with lots of goodies.

I bought the DL in my sig (well, an identical copy) two seasons ago, and I absolutely love it. I'm 5' 8" as well, and I have no objections to the height of the bike. It's barely an issue. It had 6k, and I paid $4300 with brand new tires, Battlewings. So -- $1500 well-farkled puts you in good shape in dealing with maintenance. 2 valve checks already is a plus; any owner who is that diligent almost certainly cared for the rest of the machine as thoroughly.

I thought for a good while that the allure of motorcycling had faded for me. Maybe it did, until I bought this DL. Now, I head out on a weekend to grab an ice cream sandwich and somehow it adds more than 200 miles to the odometer. Luckily, it gets around 62 mpg average, and as high as 64+.

I wheel that thing out of the garage, and before I even hit the starter I know I bought the right bike for me. It's been a long time since I felt like that.
Click to expand...

What a great post!
 
Such positive comments about the Vstrom, I wish I had it already. I spoke with the owner tonight and we're on for Saturday to meet up and I'll likely bring it home. Now that I have a better idea what to expect, and the value of what's being offered up, it's easier to digest and frankly more exciting.
 
lurch12_2000 said:
Even though the DL1000 is a dual sport and will go places the 850G would struggle, especially with the correct tires, don't expect it to tackle the rough terrain like your KLR. It's a hefty bike to pick up too if you dump on the back roads. I've owned the KLR650 also, and took it places that I wouldn't try with my DL650. But probably 80% of your riding is on nice paved roads so a comfy ride is important like the DL1000 for most of the riding miles getting there.

Note: BTW I'll be in Utah in mid Sep(in a car) and may be down close to the 4 state borders. How far away are you? Buy that DL1000 and I'd love to borrow to take an afternoon ride ride with you! hint...hint...
Click to expand...

I like excuses to head to the four corners area. Got a taste of Utah a few weeks ago riding through Monument Valley. It was pouring rain through most of it but wow, what an amazing landscape.

I'm about a four hour drive from four corners.
 
Whatever you do, don't mistake something as heavy and tall as a Vee for an actual dual-sport bike. You'll notice my stable contains a KLR650 for such antics.

That said, the Vee's six inches of suspension travel makes it a fantastic machine for high-velocity work on crappy sort-of-paved roads, and the occasional gravel road is usually no big deal (although sand, mud, or deep gravel are strictly no bueno).

Also, forgot to mention earlier that a Seat Concepts kit (you get foam and a seat cover to staple to your seat base) completely solved the seating problem for me at the lowest overall cost. I toughed it out on the squishy stock foam until about 70,000 miles -- the human ass is more adaptable than most people think, but there are limits...

Stock gearing is very tall -- 17F/41R. I've gone to 17/43 -- still serene on the highway, with a little added poke down low. To compensate for the added speedo error in addition to the usual stock Suzuki error s(speedo is driven from a pickup on the countershaft, not the front wheel as on the DL650), I added a SpeedoDRD -- it's a lot more compact and much less expensive than a Speedo Healer.

I've tried switching to a 530 chaina nd sprocket set instead of the stock 525, and been very pleased with the added lifetime -- roughly 1/3 to 1/3 again as long. Probably no need to monkey with that for a while, anyway.

Enjoy!
 
Sooooo. I went to take a second look at the DL 1000 tonight and spent an hour and a half chatting with the owner while our wives got acquainted.

I pulled the bike out of the shed and had to keep wiping the giant grin off my face. I hopped on and have no problem reaching the ground, both feet at least the ball of the foot anyway. My wife hopped on and liked it, so far so good. Lights check out, fluid levels ok. Turn the key and this unfamiliar whizzing sound started. Oh yeah, I thought, fuel injected. Gear up and ride (solo) a short ways and notice a few things that the I will need to address, but overall was very pleased with the bike.

Stock shift lever was swapped for a dirt bike type one. I had to lift my foot to shift up and down rather than pivot my heel on the foot rest. No biggie, I'll adjust it or swap back to stock setup.

Clutch and brake levers were cut to fit in bark busters. They just feel tiny, can only fit three fingers on the clutch lever. Just feels weird but works fine.

Tires need changing for my mostly street riding, rear is pretty bald anyway.

Stock bars were swapped and are gone. These feel a little narrow, but may just get used to it.

No fuel filter bypass has been done.

No throttle position sensor change

Electrical mods behind headlight are all tucked into a makeshift junction box. My be fine but I'll dig into it soon.

Dealer service was presumably done on schedule. No real recollection of valve adjustments. Only that it was taken in and supposedly done. Hmmmmm, think I'll check for peace of mind.

There's a weird vibration around 3k rpms but smooths right out. Maybe I'm just used to the shafty and need to get used to the chain again. Will need further investigation.

I asked about the sprockets and they've never been changed. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I wound up offering $1000 for the bike (weird vibe got me concerned). Thinking he'd immediately say get lost since it was already a low price, I just had to try. We met at $1250, I got the title and loaded it up. As we were leaving he asked if I wanted the bike dolly too. Sure, I said, and he threw it in!
 
Congrats Roger. Now just make sure it is right for you and then you can decide what to do with the 850.
 
After putting 500 miles on the Vee and with a couple low speed tip overs, I decided to look for a smaller ADV bike like a Wee (DL650) or a KLR 650. Maybe I'm just partial to the GS, but I am having a more difficult time acclimating to the V-Strom than I'd like. It is a tall bike and I'm not a very tall guy so I'm sure that's part of it. Getting out and exploring dirt roads and some trails is what I'd like to do but without the concern of having to pick this beast up again in the middle of friggin nowhere. I haven't put my finger on what makes this bike in particular difficult to maneuver at low speeds.

Anyway it's listed for sale and I've had a couple replies already. I figured I'd ask just a bit more than I got it for since I replaced the chain, sprockets and rear tire. Hopefully I can get my $$$ back and it will still be a good buy for someone.
 
Burque73 said:
...I haven't put my finger on what makes this bike in particular difficult to maneuver at low speeds...
Click to expand...

It's a tall, top heavy bike. I don't take mine (a 650) on anything rougher than a smooth dirt road.

What the Stroms really are, are great light-weight sport tourers. I bought mine to replace a Kawasaki Concours and couldn't be happier. Actual D/S duties are handled by the DR-Z400.

Sounds like a KLR650 would suit you well, I'd recommend the first gen (07 and earlier) they are more dirt worthy than the later ones and really don't give up anything on the street.
 
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