bbtowns

I've put in 30K miles on the V-Strom. Very reliable bike, great motor, decent fire road explorer, decent track bike, decent tourer, decent peg scratcher.

The only real problem with it is I have a bunch of bikes that fit into one category really well, and this bike is a generalist. But with the Vulcan as your existing ride, you won't have that problem. The one thing it isn't is a cruiser.

__________________
What kind of man can abandon his family like that?
Seriously, who is he, I'd like lessons.

Fenton

Suzuki +1

lcarlson

I've got a BMW R1150R (2002), a Buell M2 Cyclone (2000), and a Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Nomad Fi (2000). I like to ride all of them.

dpontow

I have an '03 Road King and an '05 650DL V-Strom. Just took the Harley from San Diego to Denver on an Iron Butt last weekend and earlier this Spring took the Wee-Strom from San Diego to Morro Bay on the coast and did that one 2 up. At this point, I couldn't bear to part with either one of them. The Road King "cruises in comfort" and the Wee-Strom is "just plain fun". They are each fantastic in their own respective talents.

wauseona

Had a KZ1300 Naked. Loved it above 80.

Replaced it with a 1500 Drifter. Love it under 80.



Local law and my wife thank me for making the change.



Sure do miss my 1300 naked though!

dlhampton

i own a V-Strom 650. great bike, comfortable, light, handles well. only complaint, its under-powered. if i had to do it over again, i would probably have gone with the DL1000. reports of being top-heavy and too-high seat pushed me towards the 650. but the lack of go when you twist the throttle is disappointing. that being said, i will probably keep the 650 for a long time since its an awesome commuter, and will probably buy a 600 sportbike in the next year or so.

longride

KZ1300 was one of the coolest bikes I never owned.

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I'm a knucklehead

sv1000rider

Definitely the V-Strom. That Suzuki 996 cc twin engine has got to be one of the best engines ever. The torque of that engine never ceases to amaze me and the sounds it makes is pure heaven.

tx2whlr

I spent 2 years and over 20,000 miles on a 2004 DL1000 and agree with a lot of the previous posters about it doing many things well, but like all bikes there are some negatives (top heavey,a handful in cross winds and the worst fuel injection mapping I've ever experienced on a bike) a pcIII and a good map will fix the latter, but the others are just side effects of a tall high profile design. I've also owned a cruiser (roadstar warrior) the two styles of bike are different enough that if you can swing it own both.

briangorrell

Wow!



Thanks for all these great posts. I have just about convinced myself with no real logic whatsoever that the "best" thing to do is of course keep my Vulcan Classic and just buy the 06 V-Strom DL1000...



Everyone I know thinks I'm nuts of course - goin' through a midlife crisis - but I think my fellow riders here do understand!!



Thanks - any other thoughts bring em' on!



Brian