Review - Suzuki V-Strom 650 XT

[@UncleWally3]

I’ve been riding long and hard on many bikes for about 50 years. After purchasing three new ‘Stroms (‘09, ‘12, ‘15) and collectively putting well over 180 000 kilometers on them my not-not-so-humble opinion has merit. My opinion: The DL650 is a decent motorcycle. I could gush hyperbole and cherry-pick the strengths, but why bother . . . anyone hungry for hyperbole shouldn’t buy a ‘Strom. Anyone hungry for a bike with an extremely low cost of ownership and an extremely knowledgeable and supportive group of owners (Stromtroopers) should consider it. My one piece of advice: If you’re buying a V-Strom for the first time, don’t do what I did three times, instead, buy used. There are tons of perfectly good fully farkled examples out there at a third the price of a new model.

[@falchiherve2024]

that s wrong!!!!!!!! fot the first time of my long long motorcycle life i bought a brand new v strom 2018..... and i m in love with that bike, the best bike i have ever had......i love buying new bikes and this one is a blast

[@richardhretczak536]

And that is what I did - 13 V Stroms. All of them used.

[@branislavstanic5195]

What an honest review! As a V-Strom 650 XT owner I must agree with everything you said. After almost a year and 8000 km, only major disappointment are the brakes (will try with upgrading pads with EBC double H ones). Other than that, I am more than happy with the bike and what I want it to do (touring, twisties and a bit of unpaved roads). PS. I really hope you release the second part of the your V-Strom-XT project bike build.

[@njbification]

Rear shock is also adjustable for rebound damping as well as preload

[@RahulCowasji]

Hi. You guys didn’t mention the best part. It has tubeless spoke wheels! Something that’s only available on the Tiger 1200 and GS1200 Rahul Cowasji BMW S1000XR Vstrom 1000 Kawasaki Z800 KTM Duke 390

[@anxiousappliance]

They're pretty, but with little offroad ability it's a style decision not a function decision.

[@kending8502]

@@anxiousappliance says who ?

[@anxiousappliance]

@@kending8502 My uncle's son's friend who works at a gas station.

[@kending8502]

@@anxiousappliance that settles it. Mist credible assessment of a bike and its capabilities

[@skyworks1621]

I did buy the new Vstrom 1000 XT with 2019 yellow color option, and put a Remus exhaust and LED blinkers on. I love the bike, just perfect in every category, great power and handling, super user friendly. Just great.

[@TexasMan77]

sky works Cool. Love the versys, but since the 2017 redesign the strom seems to be the superior bike.

[@nicolassolberg5652]

I loved my 2004 WeeStrom as a backroads tourer, but it was much off-road-especially with cast wheels. I gave it up to get something more dirt capable. I’d love to see Suzuki take that gem of an engine into a read dirtworthy ADV/enduro bike.

[@falchiherve2024]

i do own one........just the best bike i have ever had...... fore real

[@victorherrero4790]

My future bike, love it...just a reliable sturdy balanced bike. The good: 1. Reliable. 2. Smooth 3. Great Value 4. Good built 5 Balanced 6. Great bulletproof engine 7 Traction Control and ABS The Bad 1. You cannot turn off the ABS. 2. No Hazard switch ( at least in my country). 3. No Cruise Control For me is a 9 out of 10. Bonus: love the oldie analogue/digital dash. Nice video.

[@OurDeepSpace]

Чтобы дойти до цели, надо идти!", поэтому никогда не вешаем нос, а учимся на своих ошибках и помним, что терпели фиаско и кумиры миллионов

[@johnybigarms]

Great review, to the point with great riding shots, love the scraping of the lower hanging parts, well done

[@BrakeMagazine]

Thanks 👍

[@BritishBikerPhilippines]

Very nice curvy road would make us all happy. I bought an SV650 for my son many years ago and he loved it, and the 'Strom is available here but Suzuki is one brand I never owned. Good informative video with curves :-)

[@flyingdutchman4you]

Ha, the V-Strom, any news/progress on the V-Strom-XT project?

[@BrakeMagazine]

It's coming. Our original bike was stolen so we're rebuilding a new one 😊 it'll be about four weeks.

[@abhishekmalik9240]

@@BrakeMagazine Damn! Well.....really looking forward to what i suppose would be Phase II of the project.

[@1947roswell]

Can't wait to see it

[@ioandragulescu6063]

so did the second V strom got stolen also ? or ... where's episode 2 ?

[@tuanoful]

@@BrakeMagazine Yeah man, waiting for the episode, stop getting them stolen

[@GroovyStyleUnbox]

You deserve more subs and support.

[@BrakeMagazine]

Thanks!

[@pauloalvimborges4490]

Great review. Big fan of the channel. As I supose from the video is a bad bike for off-road (not technical riding I mean gravel, mud, a shallow sand)?

[@wisemolar]

progress on the V-Strom-XT project?

[@mattcm32]

What happened to the project bike? I was really looking forward to that continuing!

[@BrakeMagazine]

It did. Have a look through our videos 🙂

[@CoveredBridgeukulele]

what about the project bike

[@trekkydelirium-vroom5821]

It’s a great bike, but can you tell me why the stock exhaust is so big, heavy & ugly. Its a very good adventure bike who is alone in a large price range; but Suzuki need to design a new front nose & a new head led lights as its so ugly & a new smaller stock exhaust would also be awesome. Common Suzuki: please do those changes, those improvements & i will highly consider an upgraded, improved, modified V-Strom 650 XT 2020 to upgrade my CB500X 2017. An aluminium bash plate would also be better then the actual plastic one.

[@MotorosVandor]

nice-nice, but we would like to see the V-Strom-XT project! ;) BR, from Hungary

[@BrakeMagazine]

It's coming. Our original bike was stolen so we're rebuilding a new one 😊 it'll be about four weeks.

[@MotorosVandor]

​@@BrakeMagazine ohh, crap! 'O.o' I cant wait to see the new project! '-.-'

[@MotorosVandor]

any news about the V-Strom-XT project?

[@longranger5226]

What the heck is that intro music?!! I love it!!!

[@massageminds935]

where in Spain ? looks like nice roads there

[@staffordvideoproductions5788]

I actually like the production values. Music is kind of interesting and I’d like the point of you of the driving shots but I wonder? Why do you have so many jump cuts while you’re standing there talking about the engine and the steering and all these other parts that you could’ve shown us?

[@TexasMan77]

How would you compare it to the versys 650?

[@theradiantchild]

∆this

[@ElProfeMoto]

Is this the same engine as in the 650sv?

[@BrakeMagazine]

Essentially yes. It's tuned a little different.

[@alanwright9112]

What happened to the project one

[@BrakeMagazine]

It got stolen. We're working on Episode Two now with a new bike 😊

[@erttsmaster]

Brake Magazine when is it coming?

[@davidrivera1727]

Hello just bought a 2017 anyone know what the standard suspension is set at So I have a starting point. Thanks if you can help.

[@BrakeMagazine]

Your best bet is to google for an owners manual or ask one of the V-Strom forums 🙂

[@themittonmethod1243]

Stromtroopers (forum) is your friend... :)

[@coolmaverickguy]

what is the service interval ?

[@frankperham5629]

6000km, I've got one

[@robsonenduro3316]

12000 km

[@marklloyd4153]

I like hearing about the good and the bad . The brakes aren’t great the suspension isn’t great , but they really could have improved those two aspects of the bike in house for not a lot of money . A little bit more bite on the front brake wouldn’t cost that much . They could have done a little better on the suspension . I would like to c a little more critical reviews on the bad side of things because u guys r spewing the positives enough not to offend them I feel. Thanks

[@cheetah694]

Mark Lloyd I get you. You want top-shelf suspension and brakes for free or almost free. That’s not how it works though.

[@marklloyd4153]

Aleks Nestserau I’m not saying top shelf . Just a little better . The 1000 has had adjustable suspension before for years . I think they may b able to do something even using in house existing parts .

[@BrakeMagazine]

It's our opinion, but we're plenty critical when it's due. Watch our Enfield Himalayan review. We don't have a problem being honest, but the review is placed in context of the cost of the bike. We agree it could be better but in the price range it's probably the best bike in this class. It's easy to ask for more from brands, but more complex components are surprisingly expensive. Every dollar spent on one bike extrapolated out thousands of units eats at tight margins. We agree, slightly better is always better but in the case of the V-Strom it's pretty good, especially for less than £8000. £2000 more on the 1000 gets a little better everything, but it's £2000 More to achieve and Suzuki probably make the same percentage margin on the two bikes 😊 I hope that helps and answers your questions. 😁

[@anxiousappliance]

They did upgrade the brakes - apparently not the feel. Change the pads and have a nice day.

[@photoheritage]

They should offer the better equipment from V-S 1000 as an option for ppl looking for smaller lighter bike with better fuel economy, but not stripped down from important things like cornering ABS or clutch assist etc !

[@fedswithful]

Re-upload.......

[@BrakeMagazine]

Definitely isn't a re upload 😂

[@fedswithful]

@@BrakeMagazine - kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2OQn4NmqLucgM0

[@bernardjameswilson]

What's with suzuki and that plain ass swing arm? They did the same for the SV650

[@BrakeMagazine]

What is with Suzuki and that plain was everything 😂😂

[@anxiousappliance]

@@BrakeMagazine The less they "style" things, the better off we all are.

[@Hithere-ek4qt]

Terrible music. Let's just hear the bike and speaker please.

[@billknows1980]

Never never take these guys reviews seriously and buy or sell a bike .. these guys borrow a bike from some dealers (never expect them to say anything bad about such bikes, otherwise dealers will not lend them borrow their bike again!!! just be smart !!!!) and since they wanna be wanna be youtubers they talk bulshit... they are NOT owners, do NOT have the bike whole year, no OWNERSHIP just crap talk for the sake of recieeveing more likes, subscribtions!!!!

[@BrakeMagazine]

Sounds like you know Bill... I mean, our bikes come direct from the manufacturer and we say lots of bad things about bikes but you're right 🤣

[@sv7017]

Old and unnecessary

[@anxiousappliance]

You talking to me?