Professional moto journo's are not in touch with reality. When all you do it ride new bikes every few months and compare one to the other, then your opinion on ownership is somewhat skewed. Hence why I rarely watch these things.

 

Professional moto journo's are not in tough with reality. When all you do it ride new bikes every few months and compare one to the other, then your opinion on ownership is somewhat skewed. Hence why I rarely watch these things.

Agreed...

 

Not a fan of the praying mantis posture of the Africa Twin. The Tenere suffers from it too. I haven't seen a Tiger in a while but they were all hopped up too (edit, I just checked out the Tiger...looks pretty good now, both variants).

I think Suzuki gets it right and the 1050 is the best looking one yet.

 

so many bikes to choose from nowadays. it's nice but you have to watch which version of a bike you are getting. There are rather large differences within the same model line.

 

Until recently, I had a 2013 multistrada 1200 which was my first Ducati and I kept it for 5 years. The longest I have kept a bike. Great bike; but fancied a change. I test road a 1260 multistrada and thought that 2 generations after my own model , there would be a huge difference. But it was marginal, and if anything , I thought mine was more comfortable. I then tested the 1050 tiger sport. Fantastic engine and handling was good. But the foot pegs were too high compared to what I was used to and comfort was a priority. But it was great value. Next up was the Triumph 900 tiger with the all the toys. Tft screen, electronic suspension, cruise , heated seats. It looked great. However, the ride was uninspiring , bland. You would not know it was a triple. Felt more like a four cylinder . The suspension, while electronic, felt cheap. There was an annoying vibe through the foot pegs at 70mph , which has been written about. When I watched the youtube on this tread I thought they must be riding a different bike. I have not ridden the Africa Twin, so I cant compare. But they quickly glossed over the sport version which they were comparing to the 1050 xt costs in the UK £14600 against the 1050XT being £11300. I took a test ride on the 1050XT ; loved it. bought it.

 

I love the V-strom but at MSRP prices i'd put it last by a long ways in this comparison. Will have to watch the video tonight to see how it did!

The beauty of the v-strom has always been what you get for the money, the MSRP has taken that away from it. We all know though these things will be heavily discounted in another couple months

 

Buddy of mine just did a big portion of the TAT last week, he was on a 1200GS and 2 of the guys were on DCT Africa Twins.........he's getting one now as he was so impressed with them.

 

If the AT had been setup like the 1050 I would have seriously considered it. I think it's an amazing bike. A little more dirt bike than the 1050 and that's good for me. But truth be told, I am a rough forestry road type of rider. Riding the harsher stuff is too much work and a lot less fun for me.

But put bags on the new AT and I'd ride it any day of the week.

 

I wonder if the reviewers had the 1050 set on drive mode C. Guessing now but surprised they felt like the 1050 was missing something in the acceleration department.

 

You would expect them to know, but it's possible. It's also possible, even likely, that the other two bikes personalities appeal to guys who ride lots of different bikes all them time. Probably a new bike, or two, a month. I never felt like my DL650 was lacking until I got on it right after I rode my buddies Multistrada. Then it felt like it was standing still. That's the problem with these 2 day "compare them and then pick one" videos. The truth is none of them are bad bikes, by any stretch, and liking a bike is entirely subjective. What they cannot do is know what it's like to live with the bike for any period of time. And let's be honest, if we went by what these guys said nobody would have bought a Vstrom in the first place.

I'm being tough on them, and they have a tough job to do, pick their best one of the lot. By any measure, every bike on the list is an awesome bike.

 

and if you can't ride it?

 

If you read enough reviews you get pretty adept at reading between the lines and filtering what they say through what matters to you. And you figure out that some of what they say is just dumb.

example: I remember back in the late 90’s the Honda F4 getting killed in the 600 comparison tests because the exhaust dragged at the track and that hurt lap times. They loved it on the street. But they weighted the track portion pretty heavily and in the overall it finished in back.
This was really stupid, because anyone that cares about track performance is going to replace the exhaust first thing. For the other 95% of the public it was a non-issue.

 

Moto-journalists make it possible for us mortals to get to an honest shortlist when shopping. I had my mind made up for a Tiger 955i until I did research and read and watched tests and reviews. And we all lived happily ever after.

Cheers,
Glenn

 

I watched this last week and they had nothing good to say about the V-Strom. The fact that they did not point out that the 19" front wheel "SHOULD" allow the bike to be a much sportier and fun-to-ride touring bike really had me scratching my head.

I have test ridden the new Tiger 900, owned a 2017 Africa Twin as well as a 2015 V-Strom 650. I really loved the motor on the AT but that bike was just too tall and heavy which is why I sold it. If I wanted an actual ADV bike for some amount of real off-roading I would without question buy the Tiger 900 as it is at least 30 pounds lighter than the Honda and feels more like 50. For anything else I would buy the V-Strom 1050. Right now every dealer in my area has that bike discounted $1,500 to $2,000 off which makes it an incredible buy. It too feels much lighter than the Honda.

To me the bikes are way too different to really compare. For mostly off road, again, I'd pick the Tiger. For mostly road and sport touring I'd, again, pick the V-Strom 1050. If I was a 6' or taller person I'd go with the Honda.

Disappointed they rated the Suzuki so poorly.

NC

 

Very good points. One of the key reasons that I bought the V-Strom 1050 (over the others) was because of the 19 inch wheels. For me, I felt the 19s were a good compromise over those massive 21 inch wheels and the road oriented 17 inch found on the Versys 650/1000 and others. I wasn't interested in serious "off-roading" .... just want do do some occassional gravel and fire roads while still having a very fun bike on regular roads.

I also wanted tubeless tires. You have to buy the more premium Africia Twin at like $18K to get the tubeless wheels... and they are still the massive 21" wheels.

I feel like most reviewers over look the more "practical" aspects of these bikes and instead just focus on the glamour side.

 

If you look at there reporters in question, they are both relatively young and off-road oriented. versatility and common sense may not be paramount in their decision making process. That's not a fault with all journalists, just these journalists.

 

BTW, I met a guy who lives around the corner from me (literally 5 miles as the crow flies) on ADVRider in the 1050 thread there. He saw that I was around the corner and when I told him I had a 1050 he asked to come see it. I was enamored with the bike and then explained how he'd bought a new Africa Twin a couple months ago. He has been underwhelmed by it and saw a 1050 at a local dealer the day before and really liked it. But like so many dealers they are staffed by morons who know nothing about the bikes and won't let anyone take a test ride. Imbeciles. Anyway I let him ride around the cul-de-sac and up and down the road (I got a good vibe from him) and he came back with a smile on my face. He noted that it didn't have the funky vibes in the handlebars the AT had and it was a good size too. He was sold. I saw his ad on Craigslist the next day and he should be getting the red and white 1050 he looked at tomorrow. So yeah, real world owners vs guys who ride free bikes.

 

One of the reviews on the 1050 said it was “gutless” under 4k RPM. My view, they moved the torque curve up a little but I have no issue with the engine performance and find it anything but gutless. The bike moves really well and sounds really good around 5k rpm.

Much of what these reviewers highlight as issues could be considered minor nits and the reviewers just over amplify in their attempt to show some separation between the bikes. D

Just pick the bike that best meets your needs. For me, things like wheel size, tubeless tires, ergonomics, reach, long term reliability and dealer network are important and rarely highlighted in reviews.


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They must have tuned the 1050 differently. My '18 pulls pretty hard from 3k rpm in gears 1-3 and from 3.5k rpm in gears 4-5.

Must have a nicer top end with 106HP...

If my vstrom is underpowered, do not allow me to ride anything more powerful... we all know what will happen

 

I'm gonna pick up a buddy's 17 Multistrada S to have for at least a week......I'll let ya know what 160 hp is like.

 

This is a frame from the official Suzuki technical presentation.
I guess that any journalist seeing this might be tempted to state that the new model has gutless low rpm torque.
Its a pity they did not include an rpm scale.

 

That graph makes me want to buy one! I suspect we’re talking in the 3-4K range.

 

Do it! You won’t be disappointed.


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LCR is my favorite over the pond reviewer.

 

Great review! The ride sold them... not the tech and features, the ride.