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I've been thinking about getting a V-Strom for a year or so, but too many bikes in the garage have kept me from buying one. I ride a DRZ 400SM to work, A CBR600RR on the race track, and a Buell Firebolt in the canyons. I have owned and restored many older airhead BMW's. Riden them all over the States, Canada, and Mexico. I miss touring around on a bike and my girlfriend has expressed an interest so a V-Strom seemed like a great bike for the two of us.
Last week I sold my Buell and within 24 hours I had a yellow 2003 DL1000 in my garage.
The bike has 19k miles, color matching 3 piece luggage that doesn't looked to have ever been used, and a few random after market parts. (more of those later)
First impressions:
What did I do? This engine is terrible. If vibrates and has a nasty resonance between 3-4k rpm. The throttle control off idle is poor, the engine tip in is too abrupt, making the clutch difficult to engage smoothly.
The forks don't seem to have any spring in them. The front dive is so excessive that it makes brake control poor, especially at low speeds.
The wind buffeting is like nothing I've ever experienced. I had a terrible headache with 10 miles. The bike has a Zero Gravity double bubble (a windscreen that should have been taken off the market years ago. How can they sell that in good conscience? It burns holes in every bike I've seen it installed, my new DL1000 included.)
Time to get it home and tear it apart, see what I purchased:
I tore into the bike, removing the tank and complete front fairing. I wanted to see if I just purchased a money pit or my next favorite bike.
The bike was very clean, no signs of an accident or poor maintenance. Chopped up wiring is a huge pet peeve of mine and the bike looks unmolested, almost.
There was a K&N sticker on the air box. I generally view this as a red flag. Not that K&N filters are that bad, but I find that people who install them generally have misguided views of engine performance. (This may have proved correct once again)
While hooking up the vacuum lines to check the throttle body sync, I noticed that there was a shaft for secondaries, but no secondaries.
Other than that the bike seemed to be in good shape.
Now the research starts:
Armed with a little hands on experience with my new bike, it was time to hit the net.
The 3-4k rpm resonance is most likely the clutch. I've already been in contact with Terry and will have him go through the clutch in a month or so when I'm out of town on vacation.
No need to start a war over the secondaries, but I will be installing them, as soon as I find some. I remember the early Suzuki FI and why they started using the secondary throttle plates, I want the drivability back. The engine has more than enough power and I'm not taking this to the track.
Back on the street
I've learned to ride the bike without moving the throttle much, this had greatly reduced the poor throttle modulation (a Wee rider at work mentioned how he has to ride his bike, thanks)
I removed the windscreen, now the wind hits me in the chest, works for me. I'm cutting the Zero Gravity down and will experiment with adding a vent to break up the airflow. We'll see how that works
The handling is actually very nice. The turn in is slow, but once in a turn, it takes a set very nice and will track with little to no counter steer (about as different from my Firebolt as you can get) Making mid corner corrections takes a bit of effort, but the response it predictable.
Two up only takes a few turns of the rear preload to hold the back up and restore much of the handling. My girlfriend and I ran Ortega highway and the bike worked well without dragging any major parts.
Future plans:
After a bit of research on the springs, turns out a guy that I raced with years ago sells springs for DL's and is on this forum. As soon as I find time to tear into the forks, I'll order some new springs.
The clutch basket will be repaired soon by Terry.
As a tire/suspension engineer, I can't have old tires. These have a DOT date of 03, they must go.
Conclusion:
It's a parts bin Suzuki. Poor fit and finish, but the cost reflects that.
Hopefully the engine will smooth out with the repaired clutch and adding the secondaries. This is a big one for me. I can fix suspension and chassis issues, but if the engine doesn't work I won't be happy.
The handling is very appropriate for the bike. It's no sport bike, but it's easy to hustle around at well over legal speeds. Handling is good with two up. I'm sure it will slow down a bit when the luggage is full, but I think there is plenty of reserve to deal with it.
Overall I like the bike and hope to start making trips on it with my girlfriend soon. First one is a trip to Santa Barbara for some wine tasting.
Last week I sold my Buell and within 24 hours I had a yellow 2003 DL1000 in my garage.
The bike has 19k miles, color matching 3 piece luggage that doesn't looked to have ever been used, and a few random after market parts. (more of those later)
First impressions:
What did I do? This engine is terrible. If vibrates and has a nasty resonance between 3-4k rpm. The throttle control off idle is poor, the engine tip in is too abrupt, making the clutch difficult to engage smoothly.
The forks don't seem to have any spring in them. The front dive is so excessive that it makes brake control poor, especially at low speeds.
The wind buffeting is like nothing I've ever experienced. I had a terrible headache with 10 miles. The bike has a Zero Gravity double bubble (a windscreen that should have been taken off the market years ago. How can they sell that in good conscience? It burns holes in every bike I've seen it installed, my new DL1000 included.)
Time to get it home and tear it apart, see what I purchased:
I tore into the bike, removing the tank and complete front fairing. I wanted to see if I just purchased a money pit or my next favorite bike.
The bike was very clean, no signs of an accident or poor maintenance. Chopped up wiring is a huge pet peeve of mine and the bike looks unmolested, almost.
There was a K&N sticker on the air box. I generally view this as a red flag. Not that K&N filters are that bad, but I find that people who install them generally have misguided views of engine performance. (This may have proved correct once again)
While hooking up the vacuum lines to check the throttle body sync, I noticed that there was a shaft for secondaries, but no secondaries.
Other than that the bike seemed to be in good shape.
Now the research starts:
Armed with a little hands on experience with my new bike, it was time to hit the net.
The 3-4k rpm resonance is most likely the clutch. I've already been in contact with Terry and will have him go through the clutch in a month or so when I'm out of town on vacation.
No need to start a war over the secondaries, but I will be installing them, as soon as I find some. I remember the early Suzuki FI and why they started using the secondary throttle plates, I want the drivability back. The engine has more than enough power and I'm not taking this to the track.
Back on the street
I've learned to ride the bike without moving the throttle much, this had greatly reduced the poor throttle modulation (a Wee rider at work mentioned how he has to ride his bike, thanks)
I removed the windscreen, now the wind hits me in the chest, works for me. I'm cutting the Zero Gravity down and will experiment with adding a vent to break up the airflow. We'll see how that works
The handling is actually very nice. The turn in is slow, but once in a turn, it takes a set very nice and will track with little to no counter steer (about as different from my Firebolt as you can get) Making mid corner corrections takes a bit of effort, but the response it predictable.
Two up only takes a few turns of the rear preload to hold the back up and restore much of the handling. My girlfriend and I ran Ortega highway and the bike worked well without dragging any major parts.
Future plans:
After a bit of research on the springs, turns out a guy that I raced with years ago sells springs for DL's and is on this forum. As soon as I find time to tear into the forks, I'll order some new springs.
The clutch basket will be repaired soon by Terry.
As a tire/suspension engineer, I can't have old tires. These have a DOT date of 03, they must go.
Conclusion:
It's a parts bin Suzuki. Poor fit and finish, but the cost reflects that.
Hopefully the engine will smooth out with the repaired clutch and adding the secondaries. This is a big one for me. I can fix suspension and chassis issues, but if the engine doesn't work I won't be happy.
The handling is very appropriate for the bike. It's no sport bike, but it's easy to hustle around at well over legal speeds. Handling is good with two up. I'm sure it will slow down a bit when the luggage is full, but I think there is plenty of reserve to deal with it.
Overall I like the bike and hope to start making trips on it with my girlfriend soon. First one is a trip to Santa Barbara for some wine tasting.
