Ayup everyone.
This is a short video of a faster ride than usual on my 650cc Vstrom. Many people talk about how you need a big and powerful a bike to be able to ride fast, and don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy riding my faster bikes at times, but getting ready to do another European tour, after a major service I thought I would give the Vstrom a proper shake-down.
I travelled up through South Yorkshire towards Goole, onto Malton and into the South bit of the Yorkshire Moors. There is some footage of the moors at the 7 minute mark, but most of the video is just me following random empty roads I found.
The riding is faster than usual here because the roads were very empty, and I did want to make sure there were no issues with the bike and that everything was set up right. Having said that, I’m not trying to break any records.
With the camera mounted low you can see the damping on the front forks working hard at times. It confirmed what I was feeling, and I do feel like I have finally got the front dialled in as good as it is going to be with the DL1000 front fork internals. It still might not have the extra travel I would really like, but the damping is much improved now. The front end just feels more planted and even over very uneven roads it just tracks cleanly through the corners. Even when pushed hard.
Anyway.
Do you need 100HP
The question in the title is something that gets asked often. People will tell you that you NEED a litre bike or at least 100HP to have a real bike.
Well, I think you can see here, that even 2 up, a mild mannered DL650 Vstrom is plenty fast enough to have some fun.
This is a series 1 DL650 Vstrom for those of you that dont know, As standard I think it was 65HP at the crank, so probably around 55 at the rear wheel.
The engine has been breathed on a bit over the years but not much, I would hazard a guess that it now gets about 60HP to the back wheel, but I doubt it would be any more.
Tyres aren’t anything special for fast riding either. The Mitas E07’s are chosen more for their sure-footedness off road, but they do road work fine, as you can see.
These were empty roads so it did mean I could stretch the legs of the Vstrom a bit more than usual, and I think it shows you that the little 650 Vstrom is more than capable of doing a great job.
There was about 100 miles of motorway before I got to these roads, but most of it is covered with speed cameras so it had been a steady journey up there until I got to some less travelled roads.
Anyone who has ridden a 650 Vstrom will I am sure agree, they are a great all rounder, and an example of the fact that you really don’t need 100HP to have fun and get where you want to.
Remember, don’t believe the hype. You can have fun on any bike, and 60HP is more than enough to take 2 people away on a long tour with all the luggage they need.
I will try and get some videos up while we are away, but Much of it will probably be raw unedited footage from the roads we ride through France Germany Switzerland and Austria. We may make it as far as Italy but that is yet to be seen.
We will go where the road takes us.