Who was the moron at Suzuki marketing that decided to call both the DL650 and the DL1000 a V-Strom?
They are different bikes, with different characteristics, different specs, and in most cases, serving a very different audience.
And now that the new 650 and 1000 models won't even look alike, it is even more annoying that they share the same name.

When something is stupid & annoying (kinda' like this post), it needs to be addressed.

I've spent hundreds, no, make that thousands of dollars tweaking and modding my Vee with all sorts of after-market hocus-pocus crap to get it to run like most lesser bikes do when they're bone stock.

You satisfied Wee owners annoy me. Well no... Come to think of it... It's not the happy Wee owners that upset me. I would have to say it's the satisfied "Vee" owners that probably annoy me the most.
Comments like; "sure she runs horrid below 4000 rpm and the chudder is a tad annoying and the thing eats rear sprockets, and it frightening at speed without a fork brace, but heck, I just avoid those things and then she's a great bike".
Oh pull-ease.
It should be obvious that anything from a moped to a Road King is going to be a sweet heart when its rolling down a smooth straight highway at a quaint 50 MPH.

These Vee owners that gladly excuse their bike's crappy running issues seem especially odd since the DL1000 is seldom anyone's very first bike.
I would say that most DL1000 riders have owned many other motorcycles before buying their Vee. That would mean that they have had an opportunity to realize that most motorcycles do run relatively well right out of the box.
Most other bikes don't need a thousand dollars worth of mods to be "almost" as good as let's say a stinky GS500 or for that matter, the short lived heinous pig they called the Gladius. Just sayin'
A few words on trust & reliability...
As a commuter I am seldom more than 100 miles from my home, therefore I can afford to ride a bike that can cook a TPS and blow a T-Body right off the damn engine, or smoke a stator at will with absolutely no warning.

My Son, who has rescued me on the road more than once with a broke-down Vee questions my sanity. His question is; "why tolerate an unpredictable circus-wagon like my DL1000K6 when we have a garage full of other bikes to choose from?"

His question is hard to answer. I live to wrench, tweak, mod, (then ride and be disappointed), and repeat the process all over again.
So yeah, for me the DL1000 is very fitting, I love the thing.
However, I call it as it truly is.

O.K. Then, that's it for now.
Time for my meds.
-Ej-

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A "Commuter" not an AdvTourer.
Currently Commuting On: 06 Harley XL1200C, 06 DL1000, 07 GS500F, 2 mopeds, and a pair of sneakers.

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1982 GS850..BLACK SUNSHINE,the tripod
2007 DL996AR..BRUTUS
Ah screw it,I'm goin ridin !!!!!!!!

Well they shared frame and some plastic parts

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Link Click Here >>> 2013 Northeast V-Strom Rally!

FILL OUT NEVA MEAL POLL If your attending
Also in events

8/2/2013

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Wot, Ej, you're seldom more than 100 miles from your home?

Shoulda bought a BMW GSA . . .
.

Or a WEE

Just sayin :couch:

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06 Wee; the Red one.

Two issues here...

1.) Where the heck can I go?
Full time job, plus emergency calls, two kids at home, school crap, church crap, a house & property to care for, chores to do to keep it all moving forward, etc...
I'm lucky to get a hundred miles from this place.

2.) Come now. A Beamer GS Adventure? Midnullarbor, don't tell any of the others here but the reason I'm on a Suzuki in the first place is because I'm (shall we say), financially challenged.
Like all good Americans... I'm in debt up to my eye balls, plus two college degrees and a future wedding to pay for <gasp>

A nice new GSA is well over $20,000 after you start to add on the good options.
Besides, I ride like an old woman.
Actually I been looking at a new GSX1250FA as my next conquest.
Cheap, reasonably underpowered, lots of after-market parts available, and best of all... It's a Suzuki Yup!

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A "Commuter" not an AdvTourer.
Currently Commuting On: 06 Harley XL1200C, 06 DL1000, 07 GS500F, 2 mopeds, and a pair of sneakers.

I have ranted about this countless times,I,like you have had a fried stator,way to many TP syncs and a new set of chain and sprockets about every 10k or so.Everytime I speak up about it I get nothing but flack from others that make all sorts of excuses for there V's issues.BUT I have kept my V for 50,000 miles so far and the time has come to trade in or keep it.If I keep it I will give in and get a PC and a new shock and see what else I can spend $$$ on in the next 50,000 miles..


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__________________
1982 GS850..BLACK SUNSHINE,the tripod
2007 DL996AR..BRUTUS
Ah screw it,I'm goin ridin !!!!!!!!

Well said..............

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06-DL1000 62000 miles....Sold...
Now Honda NC700Xs.................

Nice rant. There's a little something in your "essay" for everyone. The one thing I agree with is the V-Strom name. It was an evil seed from the beginning. It started as the V-Strom DL1000 then branched off to a V-Strom DL650. Certainly bad enough right there. But it got worse. Both branches bore bitter fruits with the nicknames Vee and Wee . A third branch produced the redesigned V-Strom 650 (dropping the DL in marketing materials). And just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, our own community genetics engineer took the worst name in the history of motorcycles (Gladius) and spliced its genes in with Vee/Wee to produced the the most heinously evil motorcycle nickname ever: The "G_ _ _" (A name that should never be typed or uttered). The V-Strom name truly was a demon seed that produced increasingly more putrid fruit with each generation. Where's The Terminator when you need him?!

You know, it was the whole blowing the throttle body off thing that was the final straw for me, so I traded a with a guy. The 06 Vee + $1500 for his 06 ST1300. It's been flawless and I never looked back. But I still love this forum and stick around like a retired fireman who shows up at the firehouse to play Dominoes.

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The frightening thing is not dying
The frightening thing is not living

T Bone Burnett