Although it’s never really had the off-road prowess of several main rivals, the Suzuki V-Strom remains as popular as ever in the adventure sport motorcycle market.
Recently the Japanese bike manufacturer flew some of the world’s top journalists to Spain to test the new 650 & 1000 ‘XT’ models from their temporary base in Tarragona.
The baby 650 V-Strom has received a face lift to bring it in line with it’s big brother, and both bikes now offer two levels of traction control along with ABS, but none of the fancy electronics you might find on a BMW R1200GS or top of the line KTM for example.
Also new for 2017 is the choice of Original Equipment rubber, with Suzuki choosing Bridgestone’s latest Battlax Adventure A40, with a special ‘F’ spec version developed just for the 650 models.
Motorcycle New Web Producer Liam Marsden attended the launch, and gave some feedback in this week’s edition of the paper:
“This is a bike you instantly feel at home on.
Off-road the 650XT proved more than capable for this dirt novice. The suspension soaked up most of the terrain in a controlled manner, and the Bridgestone Battlax Adventure A40 tyres provided more grip than I knew what to do with.”
Replacing the standard Battle Wing in the most common sizes, the Adventure A40 boasts a big improvement in wet grip whilst maintaining it’s predecessors famed dry weather handling and rock solid stability.
You can view the full range of Adventure A40 sizes here.
