Suzuki V-Strom 650: An RE Continental GT owner shares his observations

With its 19 inch front wheel and mild off-roading credentials, the V-Strom 650 swallows up bad roads without even furrowing its brow, forget thinking about breaking into a sweat.

BHPian neil.jericho recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A friend of mine tossed me the keys to his Suzuki V-Strom 650 XT, for a ride in the mountains. Here is some feedback on the most overlooked big bike in Suzuki's Indian lineup.

• In the Champion Yellow paint scheme, the V-Strom 650 is a very handsome motorcycle. The visual symmetry between the yellow and black panels is perfect. The golden wheels are simply lovely.

• The dash is old school but it works so well. On the move, you just need to take a quick glance, for your eyes to lock onto the exact information that you need. There's none of the unsafe puzzle solving due to a poorly design TFT dash nonsense (I'm looking squarely at you, Tiger 900), that makes you take your eyes off the road for 2 - 3 seconds.

• The ergonomics are just perfect. If you want to ride from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, in comfort, this could be the perfect motorcycle for you.

• I rode the bike in the hills and the performance was more than enough for these conditions. I didn't get a chance to ride it on the highways. For the few kilometers that I rode the bike, the engine's performance was exactly what I wanted it to be. You don't need 160 BHP in the hills.

• Each of those mirrors are the size of the television that my family owned when I was a kid. The view out of them is phenomenal.

• If you have never stood and ridden a motorcycle, you can do so on the V-Strom 650, without thinking twice about it. I'm not a stand and ride guy, but within 30 seconds of being on the bike, I was confident enough to try it and maintain it, for as long as I wanted.

• The motorcycle's balance is so on the money, that you easily can do what you want with the bike. The owner (who is a fellow TBHPian) did tell me that the balance of the motorcycle was something to be experienced. Oh, how right he was!

• With its 19 inch front wheel and mild off-roading credentials, the V-Strom 650 swallows up bad roads without even furrowing its brow, forget thinking about breaking into a sweat.

• One might think that the large front wheel and mild off-roading focus, will make the bike handle like a whale in the twisties. You couldn't be more wrong! I was immediately able to corner the bike with complete confidence. In the moment, this did surprise me but in hindsight, it shouldn't have. Suzuki has spent years perfecting this motorcycle. There is a reason why it is so dearly loved around the world.

• If there was one minor gripe, it was that the footpegs fouled with the natural position in which I would like to keep my feet on the ground. It would probably take me a day or two, to find the ideal position to place my feet. In this regard, the V-Strom 250 was a bigger offender.

A lot of motorcycle enthusiasts end up finding that the V-Strom 650 and the Versys 650 are boring motorcycles. They fall into the category of being the bikes you need, rather than the bikes you want. Granted, neither of them are going to win a spec sheet battle, when you bring in the bigger, more glamourous and much more expensive adventure bikes, into the fray. However, the VStrom 650 and the Versys 650 are like your old childhood friends who have stuck by you through thick and thin, and watched you grow up in front of their eyes. They are the folks who were there for you yesterday, who are there for you today and will be there for you tomorrow. No tantrums. No fuss. No midnight drama. No hot messes.

Over the past few months, Ive started warming up to the idea of owning a middleweight adventure bike, like the Suzuki V-Strom 650. After this short ride, Ive started toying with the idea of buying a middleweight adventure bike, like the Suzuki V-Strom 650, in the year 2023.

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