Overall V-Strom Appraisal Now With Some Miles On It

August 1st, 2013
me on my Suzuki V-Strom

Me on the V-Strom on a pass in New Mexico. My jacket even goes with the color of the bike!

Having just ridden 1,611 miles over nine days on my new V-Strom 650 I’m finally able to state some opinions and give an appraisal. Here’s my take.

I know for certain I’ll be spending some money on this bike to make it fit me. It didn’t take very long before I found myself reaching repeatedly for highway pegs that were not there. I reckon it’s going to take installation of a case guard–not a bad idea on its own–to have something to mount highway pegs to. That’s exactly what I did with my Honda CB750 Custom many years ago and its definitely going to happen with the V-Strom.

I did find that it’s a reasonably comfortable alternative to shift my feet to the buddy pegs. On the Honda I do that all the time and it’s probably the most comfortable position of the three. On the V-Strom it’s not as good, but it’s OK. Better than nothing. But highway pegs will be very good.

The next thing I’ll be getting is a throttle lock. We had pretty short days on this trip but it still got to my right wrist after numerous hours. This will be simple and cheap.

Third, I’ll be getting a top bag for the rear. The side bags on the bike now are huge, so much so that I loaded everything I needed and had a phenomenal amount of space empty. In fact, they’re really too big for daily needs. I park in a pretty tight space at home and it’s much easier to do so without the bags on the bike. But a top bag won’t get in the way and will be plenty to carry all the day to day stuff I need. The side bags will just be for traveling.

The bike has incredible range. Suzuki says it holds 5.8 gallons of gas and I never got less than 52 miles per gallon. That’s a minimum range of just over 300 miles. And one time I got 70 miles to the gallon, so at that pace you could go more than 400 miles on a tank of gas. Amazing.

The seat is very broad and reasonably comfortable for quite awhile but it’s not as good as the seat on my ’99 Concours. The Connie will continue to be my main traveling bike, especially when I’m going a long way. But that’s not what I bought the V-Strom for anyway. I bought it to ride on gravel roads.

The seat is a little high but so is the one on the Connie so that didn’t even take any getting used to. It feels perfectly normal.

The little bikini windshield does remarkably well. I’m used to the big, full fairing on the Connie but I was never uncomfortable. I guess as long as the main blast of wind is deflected that’s all that matters.

On the gravel, where I intend to use it, the bike handles very nicely. I got a little nervous one time when the loose gravel on the road surface started getting pretty thick but there were no problems. And I’m sure the more I ride it on those kinds of roads the more comfortable I’ll get.

In the twisties the bike really shines. It’s so light and agile that it’s really fun to ride fast. After I met up with Brett and Jason in the Poudre we stopped to say hi and then I took off in the lead. They said later that they saw me for about 15 seconds before I disappeared ahead of them. I was having fun.

The one thing that does not excite me is that this bike has a chain that needs oiling and adjustment. So does my Honda, and it’s done in exactly the same manner, so it’s not onerous. But it is an annoyance. Shaft drive is so nice.

The riding position is just about perfect for me. I like to sit up straight and I like my feet underneath me. None of this feet-forward, slouched back sort of thing. On my Concours even after I added risers there is still a slight reach forward. That’s OK, I’m not unhappy with that. But on the Suzuki I sit bolt upright and that’s very nice. Of course, being a dual-sport bike, it is also designed to be ridden standing up on the pegs and the fit there is perfect as well.

All in all, I’m extremely pleased with it. If I didn’t already have the two other bikes I might not buy either of them, except, as I say, the Connie is the better traveling bike. Not that I’m going to get rid of anything; I’ll just get by with three motorcycles. It’s that old business of a dirty job that someone has to do, you know? And I’m glad to have added this third one to the fold.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
OFMC is off on its 2013 ride

Biker Quote for Today

That road less traveled is a toll road, and sometimes the charge is more expensive than we ever expected. Most of the time, it’s a one way road. Make the decision, hope for the best, and start traveling. Carry lots of coins. — PecosBill

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Posted in Suzuki motorcycles, V-Strom | No Comments »

First Ride Up Phantom Canyon

July 29th, 2013
V-Strom On Phantom Canyon Road

The V-Strom on Phantom Canyon Road.

I’ve known about the Phantom Canyon road for years but had never been on it until Saturday. Chalk up one more first on the V-Strom.

There are two roads leading up from Canon City to the Cripple Creek/Victor area. One is the Shelf Road, which I have been on before, and the other is the Phantom Canyon road.

On the last night out of this year’s OFMC ride we stayed in Canon City. Brett and Randy got going early wanting to get home to Denver as quickly as possible. John was heading back to Montrose, and Dennis, Friggs, Bill, and I weren’t in such a hurry to get home and decided to get there via Cripple Creek. As John headed west, Dennis, Bill, and Friggs headed north, following the pavement. I headed east and then north on the gravel.

The Phantom Canyon road is an old narrow-gauge rail bed so it is narrow and twisty and goes through some gorgeous country. At first it was very smooth, the sort of thing a street bike could handle easily, but up close to Victor it got rougher, particularly where the water runs across the road and eats trenches. It was nothing the V-Strom couldn’t handle with ease but again, a street bike could have done it. In fact, as I went up the canyon I encountered several bikes going down. The first were two dirt bikes, so of course they were fine. Then there was Can-Am Spyder and two trikes. With three wheels they were fine. And then there was a couple on a Harley. I’m sure as long as they took it easy and picked their path along they did just fine, too.

The canyon is very tight with steep walls at first, opening out later into something a bit more spacious. While the road does not show any “improvements” over the basic rail bed there are a few bridges that are clearly much more recent. And there are a couple railroad tunnels that give you an idea just how small those old trains must have been, because they would have been tight for two bigger motorcycles passing in opposite directions. In fact, much of the road is one lane and while a car and a bike could pass, two cars could not have. My biggest concern was not the road surface so much as the thought that a car might come fast around a blind curve and we might have an encounter. But that didn’t happen. A few cars going the other way were moving a bit fast on the more open stretches but on the tight curves it seemed everyone recognized that taking it slow was mandatory.

So this was the third time on this trip that I took the gravel while the other guys stayed on the asphalt. That totally works for me. I’m not keen on riding in such a big group to start with, and the reason I bought this dual-sport bike was to go places I would never go on a bike before. My wishes are now coming true.

Biker Quote for Today

Where a motorcycle takes you is more important than where you take it.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, motorcycle touring, OFMC | 1 Comment »

Kebler Pass on the V-Strom

July 24th, 2013
V-Strom on Kebler Pass

V-Strom on Kebler Pass.

It’s not a challenge in any way but I’ve now ridden Kebler Pass on the V-Strom.

After spending the night at Powderhorn, at a ski condo, we ran over Grand Mesa and down to Cedaredge and turned east. At Hotchkiss all the other guys headed south through Crawford, to the north rim of the Black Canyon, over to Gunnison and up to Crested Butte. Me, I kept going at Hotchkiss, through Paonia, and turned off to ride Kebler Pass to CB.

I told these guys Kebler is a great gravel road but I had no idea just how great it would be at this time. My friend Kevin, in Gunnison, who I called once I got here, said they went hog wild with the mag chloride on Kebler this year and it’s practically paved. I would agree. Heck, there was even a guy on a bicycle. You don’t ride bicycles on really bad gravel roads.

Of course I’ve been on Kebler before, too, so the only thing noteworthy about this whole thing is that once again I’m getting out on unpaved roads–the reason I bought this dual-sport bike.

I did have a little trepidation heading for Kebler, however. Talking with a guy at a gas station at Cedaredge, he told me they had had a lot of rain lately and there had been mud slides and roads had been blocked. He thought Kebler Pass might be bad. He told me to take it easy because I might come around a curve to find a boulder lying in the road.

Then I pulled off at a station in Paonia and spoke to some guys there who were on dual-sports and they said they had just been over Kebler recently and it was the best they’d ever seen it. That was reassuring. And they were right.

So it wasn’t an adventure, but it was fun nevertheless. And of course it was gorgeous. Kebler Pass runs through some terrific country and if you haven’t been up there you owe yourself that treat. And if you’re on a Harley, do it anyway. You won’t find a gravel road in better condition.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you won’t ride down a gravel road.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Dual sport bikes, V-Strom | No Comments »

Finally Getting Some Real Time on the V-Strom

July 22nd, 2013

The V-Strom on the road to Pagoda.

There is no better way of getting truly familiar with a new motorcycle than living on one for a week. Today is Monday of our OFMC weeklong trip, having left on Friday, and I’m really getting to know this V-Strom that I bought two months ago.

The first thing that hit me was that I have got to get some highway pegs on this bike. After a few hours on the road I’m looking for a place to move my feet to in a different position, and where the heck are those highway pegs? I’ll probably need to put on a case guard–which won’t be a bad thing–and then attach some pegs to that. That’s what I did with my CB750 all those many years ago and that’s still how the bike is equipped today.

The second thing to hit me was that I need a throttle lock. Again, after a few hours, your hand is starting to protest against hanging onto this grip all this time. That one will be easy and cheap to address.

We headed out on Friday, meeting up in the Poudre and that gave me an opportunity to try out the bike’s capabilities a bit, too. I rode up the Buckhorn road, over through Stove Prairie to the Poudre, and was heading up the Poudre when I saw for an instant, a couple curves ahead of me, two bikes. Not just any two bikes, but two Harleys with suitcases mounted on top of the top bags at the rear. Nearly all these bloated OFMC biker types have those on their luxocruisers these days.

So I figured I needed to catch up and see if it was really who I thought it was. Now there were a couple cars between me and them but these are motorcycles, so even if the center line is yellow a quick flip of the wrist and two seconds later you’re ahead of the guy you used to be behind. And I was. So it was a pleasure to see that the V-Strom had that pep. And it had it in spades.

I caught up and it was indeed Brett and Jason and they recognized my jacket, even though the bike was unfamiliar, and pulled off. When we took off again I was in the lead and they said it was about 15 seconds before I was gone out of sight. This bike is so light and agile that I just blasted up the canyon and it was fun.

Nothing particular to report about Saturday, just a few passes and then a night in Dillon where one of our group is the sax player in the featured band at some summer festival they do in Dillon. We left there Sunday morning, headed up CO 9 along the Blue River to Kremmling, west over Gore Pass, up to U.S. 40, and then for them, to Craig and down to Meeker.

Not for me. I saw that a road heading south out of Hayden looped around through some little nothing town called Pagoda and met highway 13 coming down from Craig somewhere north of Meeker. And there were about–by my judgment–8 miles of gravel. I went that way. As it turned out, there were closer to 11 miles of gravel but no problem. I was riding a dual-sport bike and it likes gravel.

So I got to see more of Colorado that I’ve never seen before. In this case, high cliffs on both sides with a lush green valley down the middle with a few ranch houses, some hay fields, some cattle, some horses, and a stream meandering down the middle. Nothing special, just the typically beautiful thing that ranch valleys normally feature. Has anyone ever noticed that ranchers live in some of the most beautiful places imaginable?

My route was probably half the miles that everyone else rode but I got to Meeker about 10 minutes later than they did because I was going slow on the gravel and they were blasting on the asphalt. That suits me just fine. It was a really nice ride. I love how I have so many more options now.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re becoming addicted to riding when you find yourself gravitating to the center of the lane, only to remember that you are not sitting in the center of the vehicle!

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OFMC Heads Out on Friday

July 18th, 2013
the OFMC on the road

The OFMC on the road last year.

OK, I know I intended to tell about the road to Silt here but that’s going to have to wait. It’s time for the annual OFMC trip.

We leave on Friday. That’s tomorrow as this is published. There will be nine this year, at least at times. Everyone is leaving at different times, and in some cases different days.

Most of us are heading up on Friday to Poudre Canyon, where we’ll be staying at a lodge in the canyon. The next day we’ll ride several passes to get to Dillon, where Johnathon will be joining us after his band plays a gig there.

We’ll head up through Kremmling and over Gore Pass and ultimately to Meeker. Next day our destination will be Powder Horn ski area. I don’t even know where Powder Horn is.

From there we head to Crested Butte, then to Pagosa Springs, and then into New Mexico to Eagle Nest. This will be our only night out of Colorado.

After that it’s back into Colorado, to Canon City, and on Saturday some will head home while others stay out one last night at Cripple Creek.

What we’re doing here is trying to vary things a bit. We’ve been riding all around Colorado for so many years that it’s hard to go some place new. If you leave Denver and ride a reasonable time that puts you in a fairly consistent arc of possible destinations. So let’s try this: Make the first day a really short one. Then your next day’s arc hits some very different places. Then pick out some place we’ve never stayed before and that’s that day’s destination.

For instance, we’ve never stayed at Hot Sulphur Springs. We’re not staying there this time either, but some day we will. We’ll just make a point to. And as I said previously, I’m adding Vega State Park to the list of future destinations. As for this year, we’ve never stayed in Pagosa before. We’ve never stayed in Canon City, we’ve never stayed in Dillon, and we’ve sure never stayed at Powder Horn.

So it should be fun. I’ll tell you all about it.

Biker Quote for Today

People tell me I have a motorcycle problem. I tell them, I may have problems, but motorcycles are the solution.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, OFMC | 2 Comments »

Exploring Colorado Off the Pavement

July 15th, 2013
Mountain rising above the road behind us.

The view going the other way.

Off onto some new gravel again this weekend. This time taking Pitkin County Road 265 from where is comes off CO 133 on the southern side of McClure Pass.

I’ve been over McClure many times and on occasion have noticed this road heading west, with the sign saying Collbran. I figured it was time to see what was out there.

Right away the road runs up a wide ranching valley, with what looked like a mix of working ranches and some rich-folk “ranches” that are more retreats than anyone’s way of making a living. The gravel in through here was pretty good, well-maintained. That changed pretty abruptly when the ranches ended; the road got a lot rougher. Still, it’s the sort of thing a dual-sport bike is built for so no reason to hesitate. And it was somewhere along through here where, looking back, we had that great view of that mountain in the photo above.

The road began to climb and at times it was hard to be sure which gravel road to take. They all looked inviting but if you stopped and read the small print on the signs you could tell which was which. We went up through forests and could see a lot of the mountains around us and while none of it was the kind of scenery that leaves you awestruck, it was all pretty darn beautiful. This is backcountry Colorado that you’ll never see if you stick to the pavement.

Passing into Delta County the road becomes 74.4 Road, the funny way they number things out in the western part of the state, and comes down another ranching valley before meeting up with Highway 330E. North from here takes you to Silt or New Castle, depending on which turns you make, while left leads soon to pavement and on to a turn-off–paved–to Vega State Park. That was where we headed, to camp for the night.

No, we’d never heard of Vega State Park before but it’s a very pretty place. The park itself has campgrounds and cabins for rent and there is also a private lodge on the lake that has cabins. I’m definitely going to be pushing for the OFMC to make a night’s stop here on one of our summer rides. If you come from the Collbran side it’s all paved. I’m the only one of the group who likes doing gravel so pavement is important.

So as I say, there was nothing spectacular here but there was sure nothing that was ugly either. This is beautiful country. And I’ll tell you about the road to Silt the next time.

Biker Quote for Today

Why do I ride? Because this is out there and it never ends . . . and about 50 other reasons.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides | 2 Comments »

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