Suzuki V-Strom

The dark shape being hurriedly rolled into the resort's foyer some distance away by Suzuki personnel aroused my curiosity, so I casually sauntered that way once the coast was clear.

"A-ha," said I triumphantly, after entering the main door.

There was Suzuki's new V-Strom in all its glory, complete with Australian registration and an ambushed Suzuki marketing manager, Dean Bonthorne, desperately trying to shield the distinctive bike from my prying eyes.

Motorcycle News ran a story on the bike's world launch in South Africa back in Vol 51 No 17, but this was one of the first bikes to hit Australian soil, and a surprise addition to the Suzuki line-up at the celebration.

Later that night the quirky V-Strom name was explained - "V" is for V-twin, "Strom" is German for stream of wind. Needless to say a few chuckles made the rounds...

SCALED UP
Irrespective of the name, the V-Strom certainly is a distinctive machine, with a very solid look to it - everything from the pillion grabrails to the footpegs look chunky.

But looks can be deceiving - Suzuki claims the 'Strom weighs in at just 207kg (dry), some 3kg lighter than the next lightest bike in the class, the Cagiva Navigator which incidentally uses the same TL1000 engine.

I do like the looks - Suzuki has got the styling pretty much right for this category of bike, and the 'Strom looks better in the flesh than in photos. It just looks like a bike a rider can fire up and head for the sunset on.

The next day (after wrestling the bike out the restaurant doors) I set off on a ride which included tight sections and some open sweepers - a good mix to test the 'Strom out.

There was never any doubt that I was on a big bike, and things got a bit wallowy when I tried to ride it like a sportsbike. But it took a bit of doing to get it to that stage.

The weight is well-distributed though, and the wide bars made gliding the bike through the tight stuff a real joy - in fact when the going got bumpy and tight, I reckon the V-Strom was the pick of the entire Suzuki line-up on hand.

The TL-sourced engine is another string to the bike's bow in the tarmac carving - the engine-braking available and sheer torque means riding lazy is a joy, and finding a rhythm easy to do.

But being able to scurry up biker roads on this bike is just an added bonus - it is also really adept at covering large distances in genuine comfort. Even my short time aboard (around 100km) made that feature blatantly obvious.

BITTER SWEET
I really appreciated the plastic handguards that chilly morning, as my hands stayed functional in just a pair of race gloves, and the protection on offer from the screen is very effective.

I found the seat excellent, including the pillion perch, and I reckon only a Luxury Tourer offers better accommodation in that regard.

The dash layout looks great, although the plastic instrument surrounds seem a little flimsy. It's all there though - odometer, speedo, tacho, clock, fuel meter, temp gauge, etc.

One bitter/sweet feature is the overdrive light which blinks on in top (sixth) gear. It is handy (I can't be the only one who has occasionally tried for seventh gear on the open road!), but is coloured green and positioned directly above the neutral light - also, of course, green.

A bit confusing, but hardly something that would prevent a potential customer from handing over the $15,390 on the price ticket.

Suzuki claims the bike is a Sports Enduro Tourer - in other words a dualsport with a bit more emphasis on zip on the bitumen than prowess on the fire-trail. It will be interesting to see if it sells any better than other models in the category. After all, Honda dropped its Varadero after just two years. BMW's R1150 GS seems to be the only bike to have made inroads in the class.