VOL. 50 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 17, 2013
(Above) The wide bags are better
left for the weekends.
(Left) Long days in the saddle is
no problem on the comfortable
V-Strom.
leg when mounting the bike the
first time before every ride.
The bags are light and simple
to operate and take on and off,
but they dent, ding and scratch
easily. If this was my bike, I'd
quickly give up on trying to keep
them looking like new and just let
them get beat up, which would
give it that true adventure look maybe even slap on a few travel
stickers to boot.
The bags also seal extremely
well - almost too well. They are
so air tight that it's hard to break
the seal and pull the door open
after a ride down from the mountain. The bags' top-cover latching
mechanism works fine, but the
lock itself is flimsy; ours eventually got mucked up and we couldn't
insert the key and open it anymore. I basically left the bags in
my garage and mounted them up
only when I really needed them.
As good a daily commuter the
V-Strom is, it is most happy on
the back roads. It loves the twisties where it feels light, nimble
and plenty powerful. The tires
(19-inch front, 17-inch rear) offer
excellent grip on the pavement,
and the overall ride is smooth
and fun.
The V-Strom Showa-fitted suspension is relatively plush yet still
very balanced. It feels a bit stiffer
P57
than the previous-generation
'Strom, which gave me more confidence when I decided to pick
up the speed on the new one. If
you need a bit more firmness, say
when you're carrying a passenger
or have the bags filled, the rear
shock has an external preload adjuster that is easy to use.
What's a true adventure ride
without at least a little bit of dirt?
We found some for the V-Strom,
but it is by no means a dirt bike.
The V-Strom is a handful on anything more than super-smooth
and perfectly groomed hardpacked dirt roads, which did
permit some great sliding on the
'Strom. The suspension, however, is way too soft for moderately fast riding over ruts, small
G-outs and loose rocks, which
we also feared would damage or
puncture the seemingly vulnerable oil filter under the motor. It
did, however, survive our testing
just fine, even with our ace test
