Suzuki V-strom 650 XT
Suzuki V-strom 650 XT £7,899 + 645cc V-twin + 69bhp + 216kg + 20L tank + 830mm seat Tester: Gareth Ashman, commercial director
THE ARRIVAL OF the new Suzuki V-strom XT was greeted with a mixture of excitement and a little trepidation. It’s a very long time since I have ridden anything smaller than a litre bike (apart from enduro bikes off-road). It’s not that I’m a capacity snob – I know you can have fun on all sorts of bikes – but being 6ft small and carrying over 15 stone I was a touch fearful that the new Euro4-compliant variant of the V-strom would be, well… just too small. Especially due to the fact that I’m planning a trip back from Spain with a pillion in September.
Strolling out to have a first proper look at it, even from a distance, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a really nice looking bike – and physically much, much bigger than it looks in pictures. It’s actually a full-size chassis. At a quick glance, it looks extremely similar to its bigger brother, the V-strom 1000. In fact, most people who’ve seen me on it do think it’s the 1000 – only a small graphic behind the rear rack gives it away.
The new model has a purposeful looking beak poking out just below the headlight, right above the mock-carbon front mudguard, just like the bigger model. The engine has to be run up to 5000 revs until the first 500 miles have been covered. Despite all the short-shifts required to do this, it rides really nicely. The smooth V-twin provides plenty of low-down power and will cruise at just under 70mph in top gear, so no trouble for everyday riding. The only things that reminds you it’s a 650 is that it takes a few more revs to get off the line quickly from a junction.
One job I had to do straight away was adjusting the screen from the lowest setting to the highest of its three positions. This provides a quieter, more comfortable ride for me, but is still a little blustery. I will be researching the aftermarket options available to see if any of them provide any further options for height adjustment.
“I’ve adjusted the screen to its highest setting”