Wee strom

[Fred W]

What is your definition of an Adventure bike?

To me "Dual Sport" is not synonymous with ADV. Cast wheels are not a big deal unless you plan to be launching the bike off of boulders in the woods. I much prefer having tubeless tires on any bike I intend to ride long distances. Less to go wrong and when it does you just plug it from the outside.

I do like the Tiger 800 XC's as a package, but I would personally much rather ride a reliable WeeStrom North to the arctic circle than any Triumph. YMMV

 

[NormKern]

What is your definition of an Adventure bike?
To me "Dual Sport" is not synonymous with ADV. Cast wheels are not a big deal unless you plan to be launching the bike off of boulders in the woods. I much prefer having tubeless tires on any bike I intend to ride long distances. Less to go wrong and when it does you just plug it from the outside.

I do like the Tiger 800 XC's as a package, but I would personally much rather ride a reliable WeeStrom North to the arctic circle than any Triumph. YMMV

Am retired from AMA enduro & dual-sport riding, now ride mostly easy stuff like forest service gravel roads in the appalachian mountains.

Have a DRZ400e with 4gal tank, Rick Mayer seat, heated grips etc. for one-day dual-sport rides of 120-200 mi. Some of my friends do 2-week trips on trans-america trail & similar, going thousands of miles of dirt & gravel. The DRZ is no fun on the road with luggage, but wonder how much fun I would have on dirt & gravel with a DL650 or 800 EXC.

There are pros & cons to tubed & tubless. With tubed tires you can run rimlocks to prevent the tire slipping or coming off the rim. I can ride on a flat knobby if I have to if it has rimlocks. Also if you get a flat and can't get a plug to hold air, a cast wheel can get beat up very quickly if you have to ride it on a flat. You'll also need a bundle of big zip ties to keep the flat from slipping on the rim.

Agree that the DL650 is an unbeatable combo of price, reliability & versatility. If I add a third bike, the DL650 is at the top of a very short list!

 

[RaYzerman19]

I don't think of a DL as a dual sport....... more ADV. So, what if you put on a TPMS to know when your tires are going down, plug it if need be (unless it's cut by a sharp rock, etc.) and wouldn't that get you past 80-90% risk of flats with the ADV type riding and road riding....... Carry all the other stuff for running flat like you do now, just in case, and for dual sporting the DL if you went there.

 

[NormKern]

How many times have you been on a road ride over unfamiliar roads that unexpectedly turned into an adventure ride on gravel? It happens so often with the friends I ride with that we have a running joke: "No day is complete without a little dual-sporting!"

Likewise, have been on lots of adventure rides that turned into dual-sport. Favorite quote from a friend who was leading but actually had no idea where we were going: "I think it gets easier after this!" (It didn't)

 

[Fontanaman]

How many times have you been on a road ride over unfamiliar roads that unexpectedly turned into an adventure ride on gravel? It happens so often with the friends I ride with that we have a running joke: "No day is complete without a little dual-sporting!"
Likewise, have been on lots of adventure rides that turned into dual-sport. Favorite quote from a friend who was leading but actually had no idea where we were going: "I think it gets easier after this!" (It didn't)

+1 Gunny. It is does not take a lot of loose gravel to upset the Vstrom's front end. About and 1 to 4 inches of loose gravel is the difference between I need to slow down and disaster. After riding my DL 1000 85k miles and on several gravel roads I grew tired of the risk. As long as tera firma is solid so it the Vstrom. The Vstrom is a wonderful motorcycle - just not wonderful where I want to go.

 

[Greg 03]

Deposit down deal is done. Now just waiting on weather to go ink the deal and bring it home!

 

[Puckboy99]

Great read fellas ! I recently stumbled onto the V-Stroms & there are a few 2012 blowouts going on down here........might go take a look myself.

For those that have ridden them: Considering a pretty equal cost & aside from the obvious, 1000 vs. 650 .....which would you choose & why ????

 

[Greg 03]

I prefer the 650 because I don't need two liter bikes. I've ridden both and the 650 feels more flickable to me and gets better mileage. Just some of my thought process on why I went with the smaller bike.

 

[Fontanaman]

Great read fellas ! I recently stumbled onto the V-Stroms & there are a few 2012 blowouts going on down here........might go take a look myself.
For those that have ridden them: Considering a pretty equal cost & aside from the obvious, 1000 vs. 650 .....which would you choose & why ????

Well I bought the DL1000 new in 2005 before the Wee was popular. The Wee is 40 lbs lighter than the DL1000 and the engine is likely smoother at higher revs. I road my DL1000 with a fellow who has a Wee. I passed a truck going into the wind without issue while he ran out of gas so to speak so he passed later. Really pretty extreme conditions.

On another trip we were riding a section of the Washington State Backroad Discovery Route. The gravel road started on uphill section which quickly turned into loose 4 inch quarry spall with baby head size rocks. I was leading the ride just chugging along at a pace I was comfortable with, standing on the pegs, while bouncing along just keeping the momentum going forward. I made it to the top of the section without issue. Later my buddy said he had a hard time with the section. I attribute his comment to him following me too close for the conditions and difference the the torque curve. One can't accuse any Vstrom of being a torque monster.

I believe the frames are the same between the two bikes so ergo's are the same. All Vstroms are happy running 85 or 87 octane fuel which is great!

Price well I can't help with that. The Vstrom is extremely reliable and unless the bike is beat to hell you can't really go wrong with a used one. Some early model 2002 DLs had a clutch basket issue and it was quickly fixed. The clutches tend to make noise for all models but not to worry it is normal. Your choice is likely to be influenced by the availability of ABS etc. One of the reasons choose to sell my Vstrom and move on to a FJR was due to the wood numb non ABS brakes on my 2005 Vstrom.

I road my Vstrom on many popular gravel roads including the southern section of the Washington State Backroad Discovery Route, the Magruder Corridor, the Lolo Trail Corridor in Idaho, Copper Canyon Mexico, Notom-Bullfrog and Burr Trail in Utah, some nice gravel roads in the Kaibab National Forest and the Shafer Canyon Road near Moab in Utah. I also tried to ride Mosquito Pass in Colorado but stopped short as this road was suitable for 4x4's with high ground clearance - ground clearance is lacking on all Vstroms - so I purposely turned around knowing the limitation of my bike.

If I get another off road pavement capable bike places I would like to go are more places in Idaho,

the Steens Mts in Oregon and the Continental Divide ride aka the CD or CDR.

I don't think the Vstrom is a good bike to take on the CD based on my experience and level of risk I am willing to accept. Hope this helps.

 

[RaYzerman19]

If I were buying new and it was in the budget I'd look at the 2014 DL1000, meanwhile the Wee is still a fun bike. I'm planning on a couple of years fun until used ones show up. Meanwhile look at the thread for the 2014 DL1000.

 

[Puckboy99]

Thanks for the insight guys. I'm off for a few weeks next month & wanna look at a few. Seems like there are a fair amount of 650s & 1000s out there, so looks like lots of fun ahead !

 

[Greg 03]

Got it home... on a trailer but didn't want to risk laying it down on ice. Posted a pic on that other forum.

 

[Fontanaman]

Got it home... on a trailer but didn't want to risk laying it down on ice. Posted a pic on that other forum.

Why not post a pic here or give use a link to the other forum?

 

[Greg 03]

I've not had any luck with pics and I thought we weren't supposed to post links to that forum.

 

[richsp51]

I've not had any luck with pics and I thought we weren't supposed to post links to that forum.

Really? Why is that? Could someone clarify this? I occasionally participate in the "other"forum, but find this forum to be much more robust.

Thanks.

 

[RadioHowie]

...Yeah I'm a cheap SMART bastid.

FIFY!!

 

[dcarver]

I've not had any luck with pics and I thought we weren't supposed to post links to that forum.

Really? Why is that? Could someone clarify this? I occasionally participate in the "other"forum, but find this forum to be much more robust.

Thanks.

No one cares if you post on any other forum over here.

Or post links from the forum here.

..Although, I tend to copy and paste from other sites to here so our peeps don't have to open yet another browser window. To me, it's a courtesy thing. Then again, I do sometimes post link to my CandyButtAssociation website just to generate some traffic on it...

To post a pix here first load your pix to photobucket or wherever.

Copy the url of the pix

Click on the 11th item over on the bottom row of icons - hover over it and it will say 'Image'.

Paste your image URL address in.

Voila!

Magic!

 

[Greg 03]

https://www.fjrowners.com/forums/15-general-chat/26121-wee-strom.html

 

[Fred W]

https://www.fjrowners.com/forums/15-general-chat/26121-wee-strom.html

Yeah... Glock45fan. So that doesn't work unless someone happens to also be a member of that other forum as photo viewing is restricted to members there.

It's easy to post photos here. Just get them hosted online somewhere like one of the free photo hosting web sites (photobucket, smugmug, etc.) and then paste the direct link to your hosted photo using the "image" icon in the post edit toolbar (one that looks like a photo). There are other, fancier ways to go about it but that is about the simplest.

 

[RaYzerman19]

A Photobucket workaround.... click on the "Copy" button in Photobucket, right click to paste into your post, edit everything outside of the ....... and your photo will show up in your reply (preview if you like).