Had a couple of hours to kill this afternoon so demo’d a new Vstrom 800 around the Surrey lanes for 90 minutes courtesy of those nice people at Bulldog Suzuki.
First impressions- very comfy riding position and feels light and manoeuvrable.
Nice controls , great quick shifter and the stand out feature - that motor . It’s amazing . So much grunt at any revs.
In sixth it’s got plenty of shove from as little as 3000 rpm and redline is 9500 !
I can see why so many reviews have preferred it to the Transalp !!
Less peak power (82 v 92 ish ) but MUCH more shove where you need it in the midrange . It’ll even make the CP2 Yamaha motor feel a tad asthmatic!
Feels just fine if you need to stand on the pegs ( arriving at Dent ).
I’m 6 ‘1” and wouldn’t need bar risers .
Brakes were good and the handling on the 21/18 wheels was very planted with nice compliant suspension ironing out the worst potholes .
Negatives ?
Only two .
The screen is crap . Very noisy at speed . I think it’s just a bit too tall as you don’t get clean air over your torso .
Either needs virtually no screen or a tall screen , which is an option .
Same issue on Transalp yet I rode for a decade on a KTM950SE with the smallest screen and it was great .
The other issue is the seat .
After 90 minutes my arse was uncomfortable. But it was 30 degs c and I was wearing normal jeans so might have not helped the issue .
But overall a cracking bike and the engine is the star .
Prefer this colour though
Bigger screen and a comfort seat and I could see myself getting one . But not yet .
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