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Blasting into the future... 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years later..Wow, what a strange looking bike from 25 years in the FUTURE! Or so it seems that way when I'm going from my last bike, a 1982 Yamaha to a 2007 Suzuki. Does this mean my next bike will be a 2032 model? Will it fly?



I picked up my 2007 Blue Suzuki V-Strom 650 last night from Mountain Toys in Cochrane, Alberta (403-932-4828) and rode it home. What a difference a new bike feels like! Wow, lots of fun and so much new stuff to get used to.

Mountain Toys had to order a Blue DL650 in for me as they only had the garnet red and silver ones in stock (the blues were sold out), but after a week wait it arrived and they put it together in 24 hours!

Matt Schmidt at Mountain Toys made sure the bike was setup properly and gave me a very detailed run down on the bike, it's features, equipment and everything. The bike had 0.4 km's on it when I picked it up so I'm not sure if they took it once around the block or not, although the tires did look dirty so it's possible they did. The only pre-delivery issue was it needed it's chain tightened a little and they did that in 5 minutes.

After the 47km journey home it will have it's first oil and filter change today.

I decided to go with the Monotune breakin method: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm and I'll let you know how that worked out for me.



Initial impressions:

The bike is very comfortable, even for a 6'4" with 34" inseam guy. The riding position is quite nice and I can see myself going on longer trips with the Vstrom than with my Seca. It feels a little more top heavy mostly due to it's height and it's a narrow bike. I choose to have the windscreen at it's lowest height as I've read about the poor design with wind turbulance for the rider's head, and I didn't experience any turbulance. Although it was quite windy out my head didn't get knocked around any.

Acceleration is impressive for a 650, it has very good torque and will kick you in the pants a bit when at WOT. Usually stock exhausts are quite quiet, but this one was actually a little louder than quiet, which was a nice surprise.

Handling is something to get used to in tight turns as the bars are wider than I expected, but it doesn't have an issue with turning itself.

Engine vibration is not really there, just subdued in the background and enough to know your riding a motorcycle. It's a low frequency V-twin vibration that is subdued even at 120km/h.

Build quality is excellent for the price, although I think they use a little more plastic than I'd like to see, but It's definately a great value as it doesn't feel cheap in any way.

I'm not sure why Suzuki has chosen to not include a center stand as standard equipment, hopefully they do so in the future.




Ok, here are some new bike shots of me and the bike:


Me at the dealership picking up the bike


Me at the dealership picking up the bike


Stopped at Taco Bell on the way home.


The Vstrom in my garage waiting for it's oil change and new life with me.

My motorcycle detail page: http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/DL650-Vstrom650.htm

More updates and news to come on my blog here.



Mike

Yay!!!!!! Mike got his new bike!!! Go zuks, go zuks! Congrats Mike, and !!!
Let us all know how it works for you! And how the break-in goes!
Wrider

Very nice bike!

Mike-

You couldn't have made a better choice. I haven't noticed the buffeting either. I decided to go looking for it and found it at 90 mph in heavy commercial traffic... of course my head gets bounced around in that anyway.

Welcome to the club!

-Ste

Woot!!!

Looks GREAT Mike! Can't wait to see it in person sometime!
That mile-wide smile on your face & behind your helmet says it all.

YES! Happy Bike Day MIKE!!!!!

That machine looks great.....nice Blue color as well!

I can't wait until you put on a sweet system to make that V-Twin sing with a cool low rumbling 'Tone' (Not noise) that V-Twins are famous for.

Yes that's right.....Mods Mods Mods....well at least a few, can't keep it stock forever Mike.....It's fun to modify a bit & make it distinctly yours.

Ok, before I respond to everyone above (thank you all for your comments!), here is my first oil change at 72 km. (about 50 miles). People called me crazy for changing the oil at only 72km, but look at this stuff, would you WANT that in your bike for 600-1000km?

Please take note how opaque the oil is! And the filter was a full 1 lb, 3/4 lb of that was metal. It is 10w40 oil from Suzuki.

Ok, now for the long list of replies to everyone who replied to my reply that I'm now replying to...ah, ya.

Wrider - Yay!!!!!! Mike got his new bike!!! Go zuks, go zuks! Congrats Mike, and !!! Let us all know how it works for you! And how the break-in goes!

Thanks Wrider, I'll keep this blog updated with the break-in stuff (just posted the first oil change pic above) and let you know how it's all going in general too. Go zuks!

MicheleZ - Very nice bike!

Thanks Michele! I think it's looks best from the side profile, and has a lot of...umm. character from the front.

Scoutmedic - Happy bike day

Many thanks! Not sure when my next bike will be but it's great to have had the opportunity to own a new bike in my life. The newest bike I owned before the 2007 was a 1984.

storysunfolding - You couldn't have made a better choice. I haven't noticed the buffeting either. I decided to go looking for it and found it at 90 mph in heavy commercial traffic... of course my head gets bounced around in that anyway. Welcome to the club!

After reading about your V-Strom I started to more seriously look into it. You've only had positive things to say about it and thanks for the welcome into the club!! BTW, when does the hard stock seat start to get softer?? Man, it's hard when its new... haha. I was out today and didn't notice the buffeting at 100km/h. I do have the screen on the lowest position and will try it in different positions during the summer to compare. I've read that if you use a cerlox binder coil on the top of your screen will reduce the wind by 75-90%... I'll have to try that myself and see as it's a 10 cent test.

KarateChick - Woot!!! Looks GREAT Mike! Can't wait to see it in person sometime! That mile-wide smile on your face & behind your helmet says it all.

Yes, we need to get all together again like we did last year for the BBQ. It was AMAZING. I'll make a pub night for next weekend and hopefully lots will show up inc you. Yes, you noticed that smile eh? haha. I'm happy.

CentralOzzy - YES! Happy Bike Day MIKE!!!!! That machine looks great.....nice Blue color as well! I can't wait until you put on a sweet system to make that V-Twin sing with a cool low rumbling 'Tone' (Not noise) that V-Twins are famous for. Yes that's right.....Mods Mods Mods....well at least a few, can't keep it stock forever Mike.....It's fun to modify a bit & make it distinctly yours.

Thanks Al! Your always so positive and supportive. Hummm, yes, I'll have to add some mods to it for sure to make it distinctly mine. I'll look at exhausts but they are pricey. I was very surprised to find that the stock exhaust actually is much louder than I would have imagined. It's not LOUD, but it's not whisper quiet either, sort of in the middle. I am enjoying the V-Twin, never owned a bike with a V-Twin before and it's fun. Nice low down power and grunt. Although I do love the sound of a screaming Inline-4 or my favourite, an Inline-6. If I really enjoy the V-twin I'll have to get another in the far future...


Thanks again to everyone for their comments!

A blue bike? I dunno about that color...

Looks good and you look like you couldn't be happier!