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Increase Ground clearance

21K views 17 replies 14 participants last post by  WingVetteStrom 
#1 ·
I currently own a FJR 1300 and do not have a 650 strom to look at to see if it can be done. I have ridden a couple KLR and was surprised by both street ability and trail worthiness. However Im afraid there isn't enough power to keep me satisfied. I havn't ridden a strom.I plan to test one soon. I think if the ground clearance could be increased by an inch maybe 2 then the strom would hang with the KLR on the trail no problem.
I'm not sure why Suzuki hasn't already done this to the XT. It seems that if adjustable bones were installed, with 1-2" height raise instead of the standard lowering bones. That would be a cheap and easy way to fix the rear. Suzuki apparently hasn't thought of. Are there any after market bones that would do this?
Ok now we got her jacked up in the rear. The front gotta come up too.
I' not sure why Suzuki hasn't already done this to the XT. It would be a cheap thing for Suzuki to do this. And if Suzuki did this I think the strom would move to the top of it's class. Getting the front up is not gonna be as cheap as the rear if your doing it aftermarket or Frankenstein.
I don't know if a 21" wheel will fit or where to find one if it does fit. If a 21" fits and doesn't rub then your done. If it does rub then surely there are longer tubes and maybe a 21 on another bike that that would fit.
Will a 21" fit?
A little more power is always more fun. An increase of 10 hp would make the package unbeatable. Suzuki shoulda already done this also, at least on the XT.
Can anybody help me with these strom issues?
Love my FJR but thinking a strom fixed up a little might be mor fun than the FJR out do the KLR.
Help me decide. My current FJR or a modified strom?
 
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#2 · (Edited)
The dl650 is not a dirt bike... High center of gravity, exposed oil filter, street oriented suspension, lots of expensive fragile plastics... Gravel and dirt roads sure, trails = bad idea. Have you tried a dr650? I preferred it to the klr. Maybe a ktm 690?

I wouldn't want it to be any taller. As a long distance touring bike, it does a great job. I got a few days over 1200km last summer. Even rode 2400km in 34 hrs. With lots of dirt/gravel sections on the Alaska Highway and the dirt on the Top of the World highway, I always felt that I was on the right bike.

Instead of trying to make the dl650 do what it wasn't meant for, try to find something more dirt oriented from the factory?

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
 
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#4 ·
The problem with Suzuki is their V-Twin, it takes up a lot of space in the frame. If you put a 21" wheel on front and 19" on rear that would raise the frame up several inches, along with the seat. It is not so easy to lower the seat to compensate for this so you end up with a bike that is only set for people with long legs, and that limits the market share. It would raise the belly though, but it throws everything else off. Center of gravity changes too, harder to pick up etc.

Maybe Suzuki should produce an engine like the Boxer, then they would have lots of space to play with. It would take re-engineering though, and that costs money.
 
#7 ·
I put 1" lifting bones under my Wee, not for clearance but to speed up the steering and loved them.

The 21" front wheel is a big fail, I purchased a set second hand wheels for a mates 1000 and the change in handling was huge, made the bike crap to ride so they were on sold.
 
#8 ·
One thing to bear in mind is that many DL riders are plonking around on stock suspension with pitifully inadequate springs.

Suzuki has a longstanding tradition of providing post-retirement income for especially sensitive and anorectic ballerinas and jockeys by employing them as suspension calibration test riders. Then they ship their bikes to the corn-fed US of damn A, and we squash the poor bikes flat just sitting on them.

In other words, by simply setting up your DL's suspension correctly so you actually have the correct amount of sag, you'll be a few inches higher than most examples and it'll handle beautifully. Raising links out back help sharpen the steering a bit, so you don't need to drop the front.

That said, you're still working with 6 inches of suspension travel vs. the KLR's 10 inches of travel (not to mention significantly more weight and size -- the KLR is enough of a heavy pig off road), so without some truly exotic modifications you're up against a bit of a wall there. In other words, ground clearance isn't really much of a limiting factor for a DL off-road -- it's suspension travel and weight.
 
#9 ·
My experience has been that simply improving the quality of the suspension on the DL is enough. It's never going to be a real dirt bike and riding it like an MX bike will just break it BUT, with decent suspension (which cost less than 1k AU) it was competitive with GS's and KTM990's. There are places I'm a bit slower, but generally I could get there, and on decent gravel roads the DL probably had the edge. Long travel suspension has downsides as well as upsides - the main downside - the bikes are intrinsically unstable at speed. The KTM's used 4x the width of road I did for example and didn't corner near as nicely.
 
#10 ·
33STock height and suspension setup for your weight combined with a "rider mod" will take you pretty much anywhere else the other big ADV bikes will go but at a slightly slower pace. I've never turned around where others have went but usually get there 10 or 15 minutes behind them lol. Depnding on how rough the road is. But as others have said it's not a dirt bike. Investment in a used small dual sport like a KLX250, DRZ400 or the like plus a small harbor freight trailer if you don't want to ride them long distance if that's something you're into. Either of those dual sports can be had for a few grand and a tiny harbor freight trailer is less than 500 dollars. FOr the Strom invest in a good skid plate and a set of crash bars. They will pay for themselves.

I've ridden my Strom all over SOCAL both mountains and desert. I loved every second of it but the smaller lighter enduros are much easier to ride and a lot less physically taxing.





 
#16 ·
33STock height and suspension setup for your weight combined with a "rider mod" will take you pretty much anywhere else the other big ADV bikes will go but at a slightly slower pace. I've never turned around where others have went but usually get there 10 or 15 minutes behind them lol. Depnding on how rough the road is. But as others have said it's not a dirt bike...

 
#11 ·
I went up from stock 3/4", not so much for ground clearance, but for these 36" inseams. I wish I had gone up to the max of 1.25" which is a 130mm link. Even though I would have to add onto my center-stand legs I think it would be worth it. Sometimes a half an inch make a big difference ;)
 
#12 ·
I went up from stock 3/4", not so much for ground clearance, but for these 36" inseams. I wish I had gone up to the max of 1.25" which is a 130mm link. Even though I would have to add onto my center-stand legs I think it would be worth it. Sometimes a half an inch make a big difference ;)
I have been hearing that for 25 years.
 
#15 · (Edited)
...
Help me decide. My current FJR or a modified strom?

Don't buy a Strom with the intent of turning into something it isn't. Throwing a lot of money at it won't make it lighter to any extent. Weight is the main limitation off-road. Top shelf suspension doesn't overcome weight.

Buy the bike that mostly meets your desires. Add farkles to enhance as required. It will be way cheaper and much more effective in the long run.
 
#17 ·
I dropped my forks down about 6-8mm which is all I could get to raise the front just a little, then I added 1.25" to the rear height via dogbones (Rick from AdventureTech).
This meant that my engine protector plate is now slightly higher than the stock bike without the protector plate. Maybe 18cms clearance now. I have also raised the front guard about 15mm for a little more clearance to get rid of stones picked up on dirt roads.
The other thing I suppose to be beneficial is keeping my weight around that 180lb (82kgs) mark so that the suspension can cope. I doubt Suzuki's test riders are even that heavy - and certainly not 200lbs+

I had to toss up what improvements I could make cost effectively Versus spending big money on mods that may help in some areas but won't solve the other problems associated with a Vstrom 1000 not being an enduro bike.

It's been like this for 3 years now and it's as if it was like it from its inception.
 
#18 ·
I dropped my forks down about 6-8mm which is all I could get to raise the front just a little, then I added 1.25" to the rear height via dogbones (Rick from AdventureTech).
This meant that my engine protector plate is now slightly higher than the stock bike without the protector plate. Maybe 18cms clearance now. I have also raised the front guard about 15mm for a little more clearance to get rid of stones picked up on dirt roads.
The other thing I suppose to be beneficial is keeping my weight around that 180lb (82kgs) mark so that the suspension can cope. I doubt Suzuki's test riders are even that heavy - and certainly not 200lbs+

I had to toss up what improvements I could make cost effectively Versus spending big money on mods that may help in some areas but won't solve the other problems associated with a Vstrom 1000 not being an enduro bike.

It's been like this for 3 years now and it's as if it was like it from its inception.
I know this is a really old post, but if you happen to see it, how did you drop your forks down, just by loosening up the upper and lower triple trees and dropping the forks down a few millimeters within the upper triple tree? If so, I'm guessing the fork caps are now slightly lower than the top of the triple tree clamps?
Thanks.
 
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