I just bought a used 2002 off the original owner (great shape) for $3,600. Bike has just over 40,000 miles on it. Should I be worried? It was always stored indoors and shows it. How many more miles can I expect from the bike? I'm a new Strom owner!
How many miles can I expect to get on a 2002 DL1000
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Wasn't the info at How many miles can I expect to get on my 2002 DL 1000?? - ADVrider good enough?
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Lol.
Mileage on a strom, as on any machine, is not important. What matters is how well it was maintained and whether it was ridden regularly.
I know of a few bikes with over 500,000 kms (though no stroms yet).
Mileage on a strom, as on any machine, is not important. What matters is how well it was maintained and whether it was ridden regularly.
I know of a few bikes with over 500,000 kms (though no stroms yet).
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You'll find a lot of crossover on forums. You'll see me here, at ADVRider and at VSRI V-Strom Riders International Group for example. For technical info, it's hard to beat VSRI. Welcome to the club.
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Speaking from a lot of experience with vintage bikes, it's very, very rare for a motorcycle to actually wear out. Air-cooled bikes may need a rebore and oversized pistons after 100,000 to 150,000 miles or so.
However, the V-Strom has a very modern, liquid-cooled engine, with the potential to last much longer yet. For example, there's an extremely durable coating on the cylinders and pistons, and as long as the valve checks are done semi-regularly, there's very little in the valve train that can wear out. The engine has the potential to last many hundreds of thousands of miles.
Bikes die from neglect and ignorance, not from being used. Things that kill old bikes include:
- Neglected valve clearances (more of an issue on vintage bikes, obviously). Checking the valves seems expensive and/or scary, so the owner just rides it. After sailing through three or four adjustment intervals, the bike slowly becomes harder and harder to start, and doesn't seem to run as well. The owner has no idea what's happening. Eventually, it gets pushed to the back of the garage, and starts to grow a layer of dust...
- Old gas. After three to four weeks neglected in the back of the garage, or perhaps over a long winter nap with no gasoline stabilizer, the gasoline left over in the carbs turns to sludge and clogs the idle passages. Come spring, the bike is hard to start, won't idle without the choke, and the owner just stuffs it back in the garage against the wall... This is somewhat less of an issue with modern fuel-injected bikes, but it's still necessary to use fuel stabilizer for storage.
- Lost carbs. Where, oh where do all the carburetors go? Let's say the owner above understands vaguely that the carbs need to be cleaned. He removes the carbs, takes stuff apart (stripping many of the screws because he knows not of JIS screwdrivers) and eventually gives up, shoves the whole complicated mess into a box, and then proceeds to lose the box. My Freudian theory is that the carb box is a symbol of the owner's ignorance and impotence, and thus eventually his mother comes along and throws it out. I have no idea why, but huge numbers of wonderful vintage bikes are out there moldering away with no carbs anywhere to be found. It remains to be seen whether the same malady will affect throttle bodies and fuel pumps.
- Lost paperwork. Where, oh where are all the titles? Perhaps they vanish down a wormhole and are orbiting a remote asteroid several light-years from here. They're probably surrounded by all the lost carburetors. In most states nowadays, obtaining a replacement title for an older bike is impossible, or very near so. The license branch bureaucrats are under specific orders to keep as many cool old bikes off the road as possible, and they perform these duties with a rare enthusiasm. The joyless take a special delight in crushing dreams and expunging fun.
- Electrical maladies. In a nutshell, electrical connectors are the root of all electrical evil on bikes new and old. Suzuki in particular is especially talented at hiding badly undersized connectors throughout their wiring harnesses, then ensuring that they are open to the weather and thus sure to corrode quickly and bedevil the owner with all manner of interesting, entertaining symptoms for years to come. V-Stroms are no exception -- I've caught several of the same issues in my 2002 Vee that I'm very familiar with on Suzukis nearly 30 years older. For example, the stator connectors, the connections to the headlights, that goofy little connector in the top of the starter relay that's expected to carry up to 30 amps... these are all familiar enemies. Speaking more globally, it takes a lot of skill and experience to track down electrical issues, so many owners just give up at this point. Tired of the bike's appetite for $200 stators and regulators, they never bother to correct the simple root causes, and the bike goes to the back of the garage. Or envision the vintage bike with a no-spark condition. They follow the troubleshooting list in the factory manual, look up the price of a $750 igniter and give up, never understanding that low voltage at the coils, or corrosion in the key switch connector was the real problem.
However, the V-Strom has a very modern, liquid-cooled engine, with the potential to last much longer yet. For example, there's an extremely durable coating on the cylinders and pistons, and as long as the valve checks are done semi-regularly, there's very little in the valve train that can wear out. The engine has the potential to last many hundreds of thousands of miles.
Bikes die from neglect and ignorance, not from being used. Things that kill old bikes include:
- Neglected valve clearances (more of an issue on vintage bikes, obviously). Checking the valves seems expensive and/or scary, so the owner just rides it. After sailing through three or four adjustment intervals, the bike slowly becomes harder and harder to start, and doesn't seem to run as well. The owner has no idea what's happening. Eventually, it gets pushed to the back of the garage, and starts to grow a layer of dust...
- Old gas. After three to four weeks neglected in the back of the garage, or perhaps over a long winter nap with no gasoline stabilizer, the gasoline left over in the carbs turns to sludge and clogs the idle passages. Come spring, the bike is hard to start, won't idle without the choke, and the owner just stuffs it back in the garage against the wall... This is somewhat less of an issue with modern fuel-injected bikes, but it's still necessary to use fuel stabilizer for storage.
- Lost carbs. Where, oh where do all the carburetors go? Let's say the owner above understands vaguely that the carbs need to be cleaned. He removes the carbs, takes stuff apart (stripping many of the screws because he knows not of JIS screwdrivers) and eventually gives up, shoves the whole complicated mess into a box, and then proceeds to lose the box. My Freudian theory is that the carb box is a symbol of the owner's ignorance and impotence, and thus eventually his mother comes along and throws it out. I have no idea why, but huge numbers of wonderful vintage bikes are out there moldering away with no carbs anywhere to be found. It remains to be seen whether the same malady will affect throttle bodies and fuel pumps.
- Lost paperwork. Where, oh where are all the titles? Perhaps they vanish down a wormhole and are orbiting a remote asteroid several light-years from here. They're probably surrounded by all the lost carburetors. In most states nowadays, obtaining a replacement title for an older bike is impossible, or very near so. The license branch bureaucrats are under specific orders to keep as many cool old bikes off the road as possible, and they perform these duties with a rare enthusiasm. The joyless take a special delight in crushing dreams and expunging fun.
- Electrical maladies. In a nutshell, electrical connectors are the root of all electrical evil on bikes new and old. Suzuki in particular is especially talented at hiding badly undersized connectors throughout their wiring harnesses, then ensuring that they are open to the weather and thus sure to corrode quickly and bedevil the owner with all manner of interesting, entertaining symptoms for years to come. V-Stroms are no exception -- I've caught several of the same issues in my 2002 Vee that I'm very familiar with on Suzukis nearly 30 years older. For example, the stator connectors, the connections to the headlights, that goofy little connector in the top of the starter relay that's expected to carry up to 30 amps... these are all familiar enemies. Speaking more globally, it takes a lot of skill and experience to track down electrical issues, so many owners just give up at this point. Tired of the bike's appetite for $200 stators and regulators, they never bother to correct the simple root causes, and the bike goes to the back of the garage. Or envision the vintage bike with a no-spark condition. They follow the troubleshooting list in the factory manual, look up the price of a $750 igniter and give up, never understanding that low voltage at the coils, or corrosion in the key switch connector was the real problem.
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8 Posts
How many miles for a 2003 Vstrom 1100
As others have said you ride the bike don't let it sit in the garage and you will have no problems other than regular maintenance, oil changes, chain maintenance and replacement, sprockets and tires. I have a 2006 vstrom DL1000 with over 100,000 Km's with no problems other than a fuel filter. It is still strong and handles like new.
As others have said you ride the bike don't let it sit in the garage and you will have no problems other than regular maintenance, oil changes, chain maintenance and replacement, sprockets and tires. I have a 2006 vstrom DL1000 with over 100,000 Km's with no problems other than a fuel filter. It is still strong and handles like new.
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Care to elaborate? I will go out to the garage tonight and fix it if it will indeed make the stator more reliable...
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Remove the left side cover, unplug the connector into the R/R, and look for signs of corrosion and/or overheating. You will very likely find corrosion starting in the stator connectors, and possibly heat damage. I believe there's another connector between the stator and the R/R that will need attention as well -- follow the three yellow stator wires.
Fix if needed, clean thoroughly (DeOxit spray, or "Tuner Cleaner" from Radio Shack), apply dielectric grease, and reassemble.
Do the same for the connector into the starter solenoid -- two of the wee little terminals in the stupid tiny little connector on top of the starter solenoid carry ALL the current to run the bike.
Then keep going -- strip the tupperware and do the same to every last connector on the bike, paying special attention to connectors carrying a lot of current. Inspect, clean, grease, reassemble.
For example: there's one connector on the left side of the bike behind the front fairing that has nine terminals (3X3). Six of these are for various low-current functions, but if you look closely, three of the wires are very slightly larger, yet the terminals are the same. (Plus the connector is open to the weather -- it's not sealed.) These terminals carry all the current for the headlights (ground + high and low beams). So basically, you have more than 10 amps going through these teensy tiny terminals at all times.
The headlights stopped working on my Vee one day, and I found this connector was heat-damaged and corroded. I bypassed the headlight wires around the connector by using individual shielded spade terminals -- you could add a sealed WeatherPak connector or something similar if you were so inclined.
On older bikes with headlight buckets, I routinely have to replace the melted headlamp connector with a high-heat version from any auto parts store.
This crap is nothing new -- the only advantage over earlier Suzukis is that they finally stopped using those unspeakably rotten bullet connectors.
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Not out of the question, but highly improbable in the cases we've heard of.
It's otherwise because the contact hangs up (light spring pressure) and introduces high resitance. This contact is plenty beefy for headlight current draw, when it's working properly - it's just poorly designed and built, but nothing you can't correct with nothing other than your time.
What you can't correct without additions is the undersized wiring - That's all the EB kit corrects, the rest it just compensates for. Even if you do install the EB, the rest needs to be adressed.
BTW, this is not the starter contact, it's the headlight contact. It just happens to be housed inside the starter switch assembly.
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