Hello,
I am buying a 2011 V-Strom 1000 and i would like to know what are the best improvemnts you can do on the bike, Suspension, ECU, mufflers, seat, winshild etc...


Thanks in advance,


Guy The Rock

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Vee purchase. I have an '06 Vee and have owned it for 11 years. The bikes are good from the beginning but can be improved to your liking. Not knowing your size or how you ride, I can't make specific recommendations but here is some general information. If your bike runs rough or surges around 2500-4000 RPM, the ECU has not been flashed to take care of that lean running condition which is common with the bikes. A PCFC can take care of that easily, or if you don't like to tweak on a bike, you can have a knowledgeable shop flash the ECU to take care of the issue. That one made me nuts and I love the way it runs now at low speed. Some folks hate the seat. For me, it's very comfortable and my wife agrees with that on the rear seat. I put a sheepskin cover over the seat to reduce the sweating and freezing common with vinyl seats. The stock exhausts work well but are heavy. Aftermarket ones are much lighter and noisier but do not add power appreciably. Plus, if you go aftermarket, you will likely need to have your ECU flashed to reduce lean running conditions in the low and mid range again. I'm only 164 pounds and my wife is pretty light, too. Because I ride two-up quite a bit, I put progressive and a little stiffer springs in the forks to reduce the nose-dive when braking hard. Some guys change the rear shock and put kits in the front forks to help the handling. I just put a fork brace on and lowered the forks tubes in the triples a little and mine is rock solid on a track and street. To improve fuel mileage and perhaps gain a HP or two, you can install a modified key for your flywheel/rotor to advance the spark about 4 degrees. Run mid-grade gas if you do. I've tried some windshields and now use a very small one. If your Strom is like mine, crosswinds are a real problem. The smaller the windshield, the better in that regard. If you'd like a large aftermarket shield, come and get it for free. Vees and Wees are good for hundreds of thousands of miles, so generally speaking, just go ride it. They are almost unbreakable. If you are into performance, you can gain about 15-20 HP if you have enough money. We're talking thousands. So don't concern yourself with that and just enjoy the bike. Oh, if you'd like a little more power in 5th and 6th, you can get a Timing Retard Eliminator (TRE) and stick it in there so you get full power in those gears. And you can install a Speedo Healer to make the speedometer correct at the expense of making the odometer slow. There's really no end to it. It all depends on your use and needs.

Hello,
As french is my primary language what is a PCFC ?

Thank you for the advises,

Power Commander Fuel Controller

Fully agree with what bobbyvstrom said. I ride a 2009 Vee. No added gadgets except for a givi windshield, fork brace, raised the forks 15mm to improve handling and compensate for rear suspension sagging. I run regular fuel, no ECU upgrade, run 41 PSI in both tires all the time, use radial tires in the rear (anakee 3) and bias ply in the front (Heidenau K76).

At 130,000 km she burns and/or leaks about 100 mm of oil per 6000 km. Will need new front springs as they now too weak. Has plenty of power to pass any vehicle, as long as you like shifting.

In summary a good bike mechanical wise but the plastic parts are crap (cheaply made). It is dependable as long as you do the maintenance.

Grip puppies
Givi cases and mounting hardware
Belly pan
Bagster tank cover and tank bag
Power Commander V
USB plug
Voltmeter
Eastern Beaver's headlight switching mod
Eastern Beaver's taillight power tap out harness
Richland Rick's LED driving lights
Richland Rick's forkbrace
Richland Rick's auxiliary shelf
Richland Rick's over dash GPS mount
...



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I've added, and all well worth the $ in my opinion:

AdventureTech Mirror Extenders
Suzuki OEM Centerstand
AdventureTech Peg/Controls Lowering Kit (6'4"/34" inseam here)
Givi Airflow 22" Windshield
Alaska Leather Sheepskin Seat Cover (Longhaired, natural version: adds a nice "dead animal" touch to the bike)

Hello Guy,

Have you found a good technical manual also because I’m looking for one. Thank for the share if you have one


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Handguards and footpegs.

No i did not.