Every time I'm struggling to get a back wheel on a bike, I swear the next bike will be one with the single sided swingarm and lug nuts. But even with my struggles to get the wheel lined up right for the axle and the chain back on, I can say the spacer set from Rick is well, well worth the effort. Just like others said, my bike went from kachunk! into first gear to click!, like it should be. No lie, the top of my left boot was getting distorted from the effort to shift from first to second. That one is butter now. The money spent on the spacer will be saved on boot replacements. Spend the $42, get the spacers, you won't regret it after you've finished getting the back wheel on.
Mad, mad props to Rick and airolG.
Tom J.

 

+1 I did my 2003 Vee this last weekend. The gear shift is super smooth and the under 4K chudder is almost all gone.

I reckon that for the money spent on the spacers it can't hurt and I AM NOT doubting anybody 's realization of improvement after they installed the spacers, but I cannot figure out why Suzuki has not addressed this issue. If there is this much improvement to be gained then why don't they re dimension the spacers and correct the issue? Just curious. I think I'll damn sure give the spacers a go at my next tire change!

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Stephen

2006 DL1000 (Mine)
2008 GL1800 (Hers..I just drive)
One Big Ass Mistake America

Goin Sr,
Think about the cost to Suzuki if they had to pay dealers to replace the spacer with a proper one. There must be hundreds of thousands of DL1000s out there now. If they changed the spacer for a new model year, that would be admitting that all past ones were wrong and have to be replaced. They can't do it.
Here's a weird thing I found: Kawasaki had a model that was not sold in the US but is almost identical to the V-Strom. I think it's called KLV 1000. Apparently, it also has the problem with chain misalignment. Someone is selling a fitting on E-Bay that they say corrects the problem and fits both VStroms and KLV1000s.
So, maybe Suzuki and Kawasaki used the same cross-eyed engineer. Who knows?
Tom J.

The KLV1000 is just a re-badged DL1000. It's identical.

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Pat- The wolf with an E in grey.
2007 DL650 w/ABS AMA Life Member #755148

Suzuki and every other vehicle manufacturer make updates and revisions to specific models all the time. sometimes even mid year. the ONLY manufacturer that I have ever of "recalling" their vehicle just to install an upgraded part not related to safety, is Buell.

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Somtimes it sucks not being in the loop. HUH??

Ditto...I don't think that a recall would be warranted there just needs to be an update made. And without admitting any quilt or wrong doing they could advertise the upgrade and use it as a selling point for the next model year. It's done all the time.

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Stephen

2006 DL1000 (Mine)
2008 GL1800 (Hers..I just drive)
One Big Ass Mistake America

Then I can't understand why they haven't made a change. I also can't understand a "rebadged" vehicle of a competing motor company. It's not like an Olds and Buick which were nearly identical but both made by GM divisions. You're saying Suzuki made the KLV1000 and sold them to Kawasaki to sell to the public? That seems really strange.
Tom

It's done all the time. Suzuki got the Boulevard M95 from Kawasaki's Mean Streak in return. There were other joint venture bikes too. http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/new...006/index.html

As far as cars are concerned, the Suzuki Sidekick and Chevy Tracker were the same. So were the Honda Passport and Isuzu Rodeo and at least one year of Chevy Nova and Toyota Corolla. Do an Internet search on rebadged cars.

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Pat- The wolf with an E in grey.
2007 DL650 w/ABS AMA Life Member #755148

because Suzuki doesn't do ANYTHING wrong (except the merger w/ Kawasaki). if something isn't working right on a production model it is either user error or the inhierant nature of the design and cannot be corrected because there's noting wrong with it.

rant done.

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Somtimes it sucks not being in the loop. HUH??