DIY Review

[Suzuki Al]

Rate your bike/bikes according to the following scale (1-5) in the following 6 categories:

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : After a 20 mph drop - score 5 if you can pick it up and ride on with little or no damage. Score 1 if you can't pick it up or when you do you discover £100+ of damage.
2 - Obstacles: Score 5 if you could complete an enduro course. Score 1 if you wouldn't dare.

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: 5 for doing all day ride outs comfort and 150+ tank range.
4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: 5 for keeping up with sports bikes in the twisties and being a great town bike.

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: 5 if you'd trust it to do 10,000 trouble free miles.
6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: 5 if you can envisage riding 300mile days carrying all you need over mixed terrain for 30 days non-stop.

Try to be objective and this could be a really useful list for prospective buyers.

[Pete Rock]

Coming from a guy with next to none motorbiking experience, with a 1500 miles bike, take it for what it´s worth.

2004 Transalp 650

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : never went down, but I guess about - 2 or 3

2 - Obstacles: no way I would dare to try an enduro course - 1

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: I ride slowly :grin:
not very confy over 130km/h - 4

4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: town - 5
handling, cause it´s so easy - 4

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: only 1560 miles yet but - 5

6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: I expect 4 after a taller screen

[XTreme]

2004 Honda Transalp

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : 3
2 - Obstacles: 1

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: 5
4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: 5

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: 5
6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: 4

Total= 23


1994 Yamaha TT-R250

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : 5
2 - Obstacles: 4

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: 2
4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: 3

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: 4
6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: 2

Total= 20

[Cupid Stunt]

So where's yours Alan ?

PS
150 miles in a day isn't a score of 5 it's pathetic in touring/cruising terms as is a 150 mile tank range ?

As for long term reliability...
There are quite a few bikes here that simply haven't been around long enough in their current guise for anyone to be able to judge.

A decent off road rider on a large traillie would slaughter me or Pete at overcoming obstacles even if we were on little strokers, this score is for a rider not a bike

[Suzuki Al]

Originally posted by Cupid Stunt@Jan 4 2005, 05:58 PM
PS
150 miles in a day isn't a score of 5 it's pathetic in touring/cruising terms as is a 150 mile tank range ?
12712


You misread. All day ride outs eg as many miles as you want AS WELL AS a 150+ tank range. 150 tank range equates to about 20 litres at 35 mpg, most road oriented DS bikes can do better than this, the ones with 10litre tanks can't. My XT has a tank range of over 200 miles.

[Suzuki Al]

Originally posted by Cupid Stunt@Jan 4 2005, 05:58 PM
As for long term reliability...
There are quite a few bikes here that simply haven't been around long enough in their current guise for anyone to be able to judge.

A decent off road rider on a large traillie would slaughter me or Pete at overcoming obstacles even if we were on little strokers, this score is for a rider not a bike
12712


1 - The only new DS this year was the XT660. The rest have been around for a while now and most reliability issues are well known for most models.

2 - All things being equal. Average competent rider would do more off road on a TT-R than on a V Strom.

[XTreme]

Originally posted by XT Alan@Jan 4 2005, 09:41 PM
Average competent rider would do more off road on a TT-R than on a V Strom.
12752


That's me excluded then. :(

[Creeper]

OK Alan... I'll bite. Support the "Alan lists" we must.


KTM 640 Adventure

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : A 5 for mechanical damage, a 4 if cosmetics are an issue.

2 - Obstacles: A 5 here unless this is compared to an actual enduro bike, then a 3.5 to 4 due to weight. An enduro would not be a problem, I would be a quite a bit more tired however than if I had ridden a lighter bike. Advantage to me in a (very) long enduro... no gas stops!

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: I do not understand the guidline on this as I don't know what a A road is.

4 - Handling: I'll say a 3.5 to 4 here as well. Tires are a limiting factor. A set of SM wheels and tires would put it in a solid 4.5... accelerative power, relatively soft long travel suspension and top speed preventing a 5.
4.-1 Day to day usefullness: A 4... not as practical as a true street bike, but actually more capable under certain circumstances.

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability: The '03 and later Adventure a 5... as long as required maintinence is performed. The '02 and earlier had a well known "issue" with a transmission shaft bearing and would require an upgrade to be a 5. There are several individuals that have over 40K on their Adventures with nothing more than regular maintinence.

5.1 - Ease of maintenence: A 4... On the Adventure, once you get used to it, it's no big deal. Valve "adjustments", although called for every 3K miles, are really inspections. I didn't actually adjust anything the last go 'round. There are easier bikes to work on however. :D

6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: A 5 for "my" '03 Adventure with panniers and RDSS seat. A 4 for a stocker, and a 3.5 for a '02 or earlier.

You see, the '03 to present Adventure is a smoother more powerful bike due to the "high flow" head and second counterbalance on the camshaft. Not to say the earlier bikes were crap, just not as good where smoothness is advantagous.

Creep'd

[Suzuki Al]

To give all the bikes a level playing field, give the ratings for bikes in stock trim: what can they do with no aftermarket improvements.

I will hold off giving the XT 30 points :laughing: and let the other XT owners have a go this time. Come on WRANT and jmc.............

[XTreme]

Not sure if XT owners can actually count to 30 Alan! :roflol:

[nav18tor]

Cagiva Navigator

Rate your bike/bikes according to the following scale (1-5) in the following 6 categories:

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : If it fell of the sidestand it would do more than £100.00 of damage, but I could just about pick it up again
Score:2
2 - Obstacles: I would complete an enduro couse if I could get suitable tyres, but I cant (18" front)
Score:1

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: 5 for doing all day ride outs comfort and 150+ tank range.
Score:5
4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: 5 for keeping up with sports bikes in the twisties and being a great town bike.
Score:5

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: 5 if you'd trust it to do 10,000 trouble free miles.
Score:5
6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: 5 if you can envisage riding 300mile days carrying all you need over mixed terrain for 30 days non-stop.
Score:5

Does that mean it not realy a D/S bike? :poop:

[Suzuki Al]

Originally posted by nav18tor@Jan 5 2005, 03:52 PM
Does that mean it not realy a D/S bike? :poop:
12852


Do you need to ask?

[Suzuki Al]

You're all giving your bikes too many 5s. In each category here are examples of bikes that would get a 5:

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : After a 20 mph drop - score 5 if you can pick it up and ride on with little or no damage. Score 1 if you can't pick it up or when you do you discover £100+ of damage. Honda XRs
2 - Obstacles: Score 5 if you could complete an enduro course. Score 1 if you wouldn't dare. KTM ECXs

On-road (anything from smooth gravel to A Roads)
3 - Cruising ability: 5 for doing all day ride outs comfort and 150+ tank range. Yamaha FJR
4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: 5 for keeping up with sports bikes in the twisties and being a great town bike. Honda Hornet

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: 5 if you'd trust it to do 10,000 trouble free miles. Bandit 12
6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: 5 if you can envisage riding 300mile days carrying all you need over mixed terrain for 30 days non-stop. Africa Twin

12691
[/quote]

[nav18tor]

XT Alan

I know, but in my little world, I can believe whatever I like
:laughing: :laughing:

Its a bike and thats all that matters, who cares what genre group it fits, or doesent as the case may be.

[Cupid Stunt]

Originally posted by XT Alan@Jan 5 2005, 03:40 PM
5 if you can envisage riding 300mile days carrying all you need over mixed terrain for 30 days non-stop.


Damn that's a toughie
I don't think even the all singing God of bikes (the XT :w00t: ) can save you having to stop for a piss at some point

:P

[XTreme]

Alan's fucking lists are brilliant aren't they? He should be writing in the mags you know. SAGA's for instance! :roflol:

[Suzuki Al]

No other forums have lists like mine. :P
Without lists, this would be just another boring forum where people slag each other off in between telling each other what riding gods they are. A nice balance between moronic and intense has to be maintained.

[simon]

Suzuki DR350S

Off-road
1 - Rugged Dropability : 5 (not a lot of plastic, hand guards and engine bars)
2 - Obstacles: hmmm. let's say 3.5 I probably couldn't do an enduro but I think it could in the right hands :D

On-road
3 - Cruising ability: 2.5 it's pain in the arse, literally and only does 100 miles per tank, but can manage 300 miles a day.
4 - Handling and Day to Day usefulness: around town it's too big for me so 2.5 and on the twisties not had chance to try.

Adventure
5 - Long term reliability and ease of maintenance: 3 (easy to work on but you need to keep an eye on the valve clearences which is a pain on the roads! they recommend every 1000 miles)
6 - Long distance comfort and luggage capacity: 1

It's a good bike but one you start to load up the back is gets a little cramped and difficult to kickstart (for me) Good off road and can even handle motocross tracks if ridden with care.

[XTreme]

How is it too big for you round town? How high is the seat then?

[Icecold]

Navigator : Already done quite nicely by Nav18tor,thankyou :P

Suzuki DR 250 Djebel

Off-Road :

1) 5
2) 4 (with original tyres)


On-Road :

3) 2?? Don't be silly :( , but It'll do over 150 miles to a tank :grin:
4) 2 on open road, 5 round town . Couldn't keep up with anything really,but round town :devil:


Adventure

5) 4 Easy peasy :laughing:
6) Now you're being 'kin stupid :unsure:

[stormy]

Ahem, ok before I put the numbers up for my V Strom (stop fooking laughing at the back ya bastid), just want to clear a few things up about the bike.

I had more than my fair share of niggles when I first got the bike, but I do believe that most of them were avoidable had my supplying dealer been a little more interested from the outset. As it was, he wasn't, so me and the Strom suffered as a result.

I am first to take the piss outta my bike, but that's just the way I am, and I have also said here and on other forums, that I hate the thing, but to be perfectly frank, my opinion has changed with the ever increasing length of ownership. A supportive new dealer (Stamford Superbikes), has helped tremendously in this area.

Cutting to the chase, I've done nearly 15000 kms on the thing in about 16 months, so it cannot be all bad. It has let me down by the side of the road just once, but here I have a confession to make. Yes the clutch slave cylinder did fail, but I could have ridden the bike home using clutchless changes and sorted the problem myself, but as I needed Suzuki UK to get involved with the other clutch issue (noisy basket problem) it was to my advantage to have the bike recovered direct to a dealer and then ask "as it's here, can you also have a look at the basket aswell".

The ongoing investigation into the "knocking" sound that a lot of V Strom owners are hearing, has revealed nothing of major concern, no main bearing failures, no crank failures etc etc. Suzuki believe that the most likely cause is build tolerances of various components, and when running together, sometimes they give a large, but acceptable, backlash on the primary drive to the clutch basket assembly, hence the noise some of us are hearing.

So, to the numbers for the list, and taking all the pisstaking out of the equation, I'm hoping that these numbers will give a better indication of what the Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom is really like.....

Off Road:
1 - Rugged Dropability: not dropped mine, but others who have and reported on the V Strom Forum report that they crash well (i.e. little or no damage at 20 mph) and Givi crash bars save almost everything at that speed. so a 4

2 - Obstacles: Enduro course? on BT 020's? don't think so somehow, but then again, no idea personally, but others have done some extreme riding on theirs and have reported favourably, but a bit heavy, so call it a 3

On Road: (The V Strom's natural habitat)
3 - Cruising ability: with a 24 litre, long legged 6th gear, a 300 km+ fuel tank range, the ability to sit at 180 kph all day two-up (I know, I've done it), the lazy power of the motor, lack of vibration above 3500rpm, excellent legroom and eronomics, this bike can cruise all day, and every day, so a 5++

4 - Handling and Day to Day :lofty riding postion, light controls, make for easy town work, fit BT020's, drop the yokes by 15mm, fit braided hoses and EBC HH pads, forget 6th gear and use the revs, then the sports bikes will need to keep up with you, only a relativly soft front suspension stops this getting another 5, so call it a 4+

Adventure:
5 - Long Term : Rectified Clutch issues, and early failure of my original engine aside, I have done nearly 10000 miles, almost all of it two-up with lots of luggage. Can't give it a 5, cos of the problems I had early on, but I think this is justified, so a 4

6 - Long Distance and Luggage Capacity: Lake Garda (Italy) to Hamburg in one day (approx 775 miles on our route), two-up, with 45 kilos of luggage in the three hard cases, plus a fully extended tank bag, plus other stuff under cargo nets on top of the panniers, stopping only for fuel, toilets, and a quickie ( :grin: :innocent: ), proved to me that this bike will tour with the best, and then beat most of 'em. We are planning a run across Europe again for our summer holidays, down to the south of France/Northern Spain area, and I have no doubts at the ability of the bike to do this. Got to be a 5


so there you go, probably a more balanced view of the V Strom than you've seen me post previously.

I'll try to be more "constructive" in my comments about it in the future, but that won't stop me takin' the piss outta of it (or any other bike for that matter!)

regards

Stormy :FFonRF:

[Suzuki Al]

Originally posted by stormy@Jan 6 2005, 12:21 AM
so there you go, probably a more balanced view of the V Strom than you've seen me post previously.

I'll try to be more "constructive" in my comments about it in the future, but that won't stop me takin' the piss outta of it (or any other bike for that matter!)

regards

Stormy :FFonRF:
13040


This fits in with the mainly positive reports about the Strom I've read by other owners.

[Suzuki Al]

Originally posted by Icecold@Jan 6 2005, 12:18 AM
Navigator : Already done quite nicely by Nav18tor,thankyou :P
13039


Agreed.