Having just completed a 1500 ml trip up the west coast of Scotland and back I'm now on 3000 mls on the Stelvio.
My fellow travellers were on 2x Triumph Explorers and a Kawasaki 1400gtr.
Bearing in mind that that the other lads where staying B&B and I was camping, I was carrying an awful lot more weight than they were,plus when I camp I don't travel light,taking everything I'll need for the trip including all food,a Khyam biker tent,Exped megamat sleeping mat and a down bag,Trangia and fuel and the rest of the gubbins that goes along with camping'
I'd spent some time playing with the suspension settings a couple of weeks ago and now I've got the setting sorted for every scenario and it only takes around 30 secs to alter the settings,and I must say the suspension is great,if it does have a down side it's that it can dive quite markedly under heavy braking,but even fully loaded the bike handled faultlessly.
The bike preferred to be kept singing whilst under load i.e. going up steep hills etc and I found that whilst fully loaded using 6th gear as an overdrive made the bike feel much happier plus it stopped the weight pushing you on going into the bends.
So, here I am on a trip with 3 bikes that on paper are much faster than mine plus I'm loaded to the gunnels.Where they much faster than mine ?
I wouldn't describe any of the group as slouches and if possible we all like to get on but in the real world the Stelvio was never left behind, there where times when they might pull away from me on a long straight but not so far that it was difficult to catch them up when we got back into the twisties.
I can't say that I never noticed the extra weight,of course I did but the Stelvio carried it very well and was an absolute pleasure to ride at all times, plus at very low speed it was much less of a handful than my previous 1200wc.
It was just a great bike to ride up in Scotland it's just so soulful and very engaging to ride.
Nothing came loose nothing dropped off and since it's 600ml service it has used not a drop of oil.
I'm even thinking about giving it a name
If your thinking of changing your bike soon,go try one I dare you.
Averaged 43mpg which is not great, I spent around £15 more than others in fuel during the trip which I'm more than happy to live with.
Steve
My fellow travellers were on 2x Triumph Explorers and a Kawasaki 1400gtr.
Bearing in mind that that the other lads where staying B&B and I was camping, I was carrying an awful lot more weight than they were,plus when I camp I don't travel light,taking everything I'll need for the trip including all food,a Khyam biker tent,Exped megamat sleeping mat and a down bag,Trangia and fuel and the rest of the gubbins that goes along with camping'
I'd spent some time playing with the suspension settings a couple of weeks ago and now I've got the setting sorted for every scenario and it only takes around 30 secs to alter the settings,and I must say the suspension is great,if it does have a down side it's that it can dive quite markedly under heavy braking,but even fully loaded the bike handled faultlessly.
The bike preferred to be kept singing whilst under load i.e. going up steep hills etc and I found that whilst fully loaded using 6th gear as an overdrive made the bike feel much happier plus it stopped the weight pushing you on going into the bends.
So, here I am on a trip with 3 bikes that on paper are much faster than mine plus I'm loaded to the gunnels.Where they much faster than mine ?
I wouldn't describe any of the group as slouches and if possible we all like to get on but in the real world the Stelvio was never left behind, there where times when they might pull away from me on a long straight but not so far that it was difficult to catch them up when we got back into the twisties.
I can't say that I never noticed the extra weight,of course I did but the Stelvio carried it very well and was an absolute pleasure to ride at all times, plus at very low speed it was much less of a handful than my previous 1200wc.
It was just a great bike to ride up in Scotland it's just so soulful and very engaging to ride.
Nothing came loose nothing dropped off and since it's 600ml service it has used not a drop of oil.
I'm even thinking about giving it a name
If your thinking of changing your bike soon,go try one I dare you.
Averaged 43mpg which is not great, I spent around £15 more than others in fuel during the trip which I'm more than happy to live with.
Steve
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