V Strom

[Thug]

Anyone ride one of these and what is your honest opinion?

Cheers

 

[Stu64]

I had a V-Strom before the FJR. The only thing i miss is the seating position. Very upright and comfortable. Bike handles very well too,lots of cornering clearance.

Bike also has something the FJR needs.... 6th gear overdrive!!

Bike had buffeting problems even with aftermarket windscreens.

But what i didn't like was the engine,for me it wasn't smooth enough and fuel injection had hiccups,even with a power commander. Also the 92HP didn't seem to be enough,for me anyways.

Heres a good forum for V-Strom info, but beware,just like any bike specific forum they will tell you how great the bike is and down play it's faults.

https://11109.rapidforum.com/

My old bike,before the FJR.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Got the "wee-Vee" myself, love it. It'll carve with most guys on sportsbikes, tour like "real" touring rigs, and can cut-up a lil off the beaten' path. 6th gear makes even the lil' Vee a good choice, and ya can't beat the price

A true "do-all" machine if there ever was one.

 

[Thug]

Thanks for the info I'll follow up on the VS forum

Cheers B)

 

[SkooterG]

I will be the one downer here. My buddy had one for a year and sold it. He thought it was the jack of all trades, and master of none. Lack of wind/weather protection is what led him to sell it.

I rode it on several occasions and just never took to it. I love my fjr and perhaps I am a sport-tourer kind of guy, cause despite all the rave reviews, the V-Strom didn't do anything for me. Sure it was ok, but boring. Didn't speak to me. Different strokes for different folks I guess, as I know of at least one fjr owner who sold his fjr and kept his V-Strom cause its his favorite bike.

Interestingly, I recently rode an SV-650 for the first time a few weeks ago. I was looking for a 2nd bike and went to check out a 2002 that was for sale locally. I hated it! Only spend a few miles on it in a residential neighborhood, but I just did not like it. There's another bike that gets rave reviews. I must be a victim of big bike syndrome. Really bummed me out as I had decided that the SV-650 was going to be the next bike to grace my garage. Now I don't know what to get.

Greg

 

[markjenn]

I took a short ride and liked it a lot, although it really doesn't live up to its adventure tourer pretensions. It's more of a cheap MultiStrada type of street bike that has slightly more rough road versatility than a pure street bike.

As a do-everything street bike at a great price, I think the 650 Strom is hard to beat.

- Mark

 

[eaglemike]

I had an '03 1K for 6500 miles, and really enjoyed it. I had done the PCII thing, and actually got it running very well, with minimal effort. Syncing the TB's and PCIII made it as smooth or smoother than the FJR. (some of the PCIII's came with bad maps) It feels much lighter than the FJR, and the seating postion is more comfy. As noted above, it is primarily a street bike that can do dirt roads. I have a good friend with the DL650, an excellent bike.

I want the weight of the 650 Strom, power of the FJR. ABS, comfort of the Strom, and protection of the FJR, and overall height somewhere in between the two. IS that to much to ask for??? Oh.....and the looks of the FJR...................and get the dang heavy FJR bags on a diet - I had Givi's on the Strom - SCHWEEEEET!

All the best,

Mike

 

[Thug]

Thanks to all who commented. Bikes are funny things in fact I was contemplating trading the FJR for a FatBoy but I snapped back into reality when I weighed up all the pros and cons. The FJR really is a class of it's own if you think about it. And my mate wants to sell his for the Vstrom. He's getting a lot of shoulder pain which he never used to get until about 6 months after he had the bike, so he put 40mm risers on it and made a huge difference but he still wants the Vstrom...

Thanks again

Cheers

 

[Thug]

thanks for the pic Stu nice bike

Cheers B)

 

[XLR8]

Blech. It's one of the ugliest bikes on the road. I can't see the appeal, but I do see a lot of people on them. To each their own.

-r

 

[twowheelnut]

FJR to a Fatboy? Jeeesh! You've been up-side-down for too long, mate! Come back up for some air.

And, if I were to get an all 'rounder, it would be the 'Strom

 

[Thug]

TWN

Yeah it's a worry... I gave myself a short uppercut though and snapped

right out of it :stunned:

 

[moby one]

THUG,

When I decided to get back into street bikes, I had to choose one. When I started my quest, I considered all options. I live in a town that has more harley's than cats and dogs. A fat boy was high on the list. After about 6months of researching, I decided that the FJR was what i wanted so i placed the order. the wait was killing me and all of my neighbors were working on their hogs every weekend and polishing their chrome. BTW, in a town full of HD's if you want to get noticed buy an FJR. I have ridden HD's they are nice but i know that i would be really board after short while. The Feejer just keeps the heart pumpin'. Just my 2 cents.

Later-

mo

 

[Tomnap]

I swapped bikes with a friend last Saturday, He took my FJR, I took his V-strom. the Suzi was OK light in the corners, powerful enough, but... I wanted my bike back...... He wouldn't give it to me, luckily there wasn't much fuel in the FJR. The guy I was with called Monday, said there was an 03 FJR at a local stealer. They wanted $10.500 with 9800 miles, I thought this to be a little ridicules(sp) it wasn't even gold plated.

Tom

 

[Espia4ci]

I think the V-Strom would be much more appealing to me if it had shaftdrive like the GS. Once you have had shaftdrive, especially on a touring bike, it's hard to go back.

 

[Bounce]

I think the V-Strom would be much more appealing to me if it had shaftdrive like the GS. Once you have had shaftdrive, especially on a touring bike, it's hard to go back.

Naw. You may want a shaft drive. But you don't want one like the BMWs. You want one that doesn't need to have all the seals replaced every 20,000 miles at the risk of catestrophic failure when out on the road.

The new "lifetime" final drives mean for the lifetime of the drive (not the bike). You get new oil every time you swap out final drives, so why include drain and fill holes for lube?