Now the biggest rival for this bike is obviously going to be the Honda Africa Twin which is close to 11 grand for the base manual model. This is close to 10 grand so there’s near enough a grand difference, this is about a grand cheaper. But does that mean you get a grand less of a bike? well not really on paper this thing has 10 more horsepower and about two more Newton meters of torque. Now that’s not really enough to write home about, it pretty much puts it on the same level. weight-wise they pretty much both weigh exactly the same, people have said that the Africa Twin is better at hiding its weight, i’m not so sure about that once we get out and start riding I will comment on that further but at the minute I can’t really see it really being much different.
What else do you get with this, styling wise they’ve kind of gone for I don’t know it looks a little bit sort of BMW GS like but obviously it’s different enough to not be ripping anything off. It’s a v-twin water-cooled engine surprisingly smooth actually I’ll get that in a bit, that is actually quite smooth considering. nice big bulky exhaust as you’d expect but that does keep it nice and quiet it’s not too bad looking from the back.
I must admit when it comes to the styling of this one I did kind of prefer the previous incarnations, you know the ones that didn’t have the peak they just looked a bit more like the Africa twin. That for me that looks better, I’m not saying this looks bad it’s just in my personal opinion I preferred that look but yeah it’s not too bad looking. So let’s get on the bike, before I even do I can quite happily say that this is a very comfortable seat the Africa Twins was a little bit harder this is a little bit wider a little bit softer, I do quite like that. So getting on the bike another thing with this compared to the Africa twin is that the electric output comes standard, on the Africa twin it is a optional extra you pay more for. Now further goodies we also have an adjustable screen, so this can be adjusted to different levels depending on your preference I’ve got it on about the middle setting for the minute see how we get on. What else we’ve got abs, traction control system, now this actually has cornering ABS as well so what it does whereas normal abs the sensors will detect whether you’re losing grip in a straight line, this also has sensors that detect lean angle and will account for that because obviously when you’re going around the corner you’ve got less rubber in contact with the road than when you’re going in a straight line.
So it takes all of this into account when the ABS starts kicking in and everything so that’s a nice little safety feature. We’ve also got a easy start which I will demonstrate in a bit and finally what they call low rev assist and all that is is when you let the clutch out it will build the revs slightly for a smooth getaway, so you’ve got less chances of stalling it or whatever at least that’s the idea.
Right so we stick the key in the on position all nice simple display here, we can go through the modes it just kind of tells you all the different things fuel economy and stuff like that. That’s the other thing before we get going the fuel tank on this is 2 liters bigger than the Africa twins, the Africa twins is about 18 litres this is 20 but both bikes have around the same miles per gallon they claim around about 60 miles per gallon, so again there’s not really much difference between the two in that respect you do get that extra 2 litre fuel capacity with the Suzuki which is a nice touch so that’s fine. Right so once it’s all turned on this is where the easy start comes in right you don’t have to touch anything else you don’t have to hold the button you just press it very quickly and it’ll hold the starter motor on for however long it takes to fire the thing up and it just does it all for you.
So like this just like that no holding the clutch noting else obviously got to be in neutral but it just does it all for you. Right let’s get her out on the road. So yeah weight wise compared to the Africa Twin which weighs the same I’m not noticing just manoeuvring around using my feet here it doesn’t feel any heavier it feels about the same to be honest. As we’re going along, the engine it is a v-twin it’s never going to be as smooth as a parallel twin but then it is quite a lot smoother than some other v-twins I’ve ridden, so its actually quite nice as I said before the seat is incredibly comfortable.
I’m going to adjust the screen there there we go. The riding position is also very very comfortable, pretty much again very similar to the Africa twin so the bars are in a nice position i’m sat nice and upright and my legs are not too cramped or anything it’s a very nice bike to ride. The other thing is I’ve only been riding it for about 20 minutes so far but the handling feels very nice on this, again people have said that the Africa Twins is slightly better because that parallel twin configuration keeps the weight well distributed but to be perfectly honest I think this has got fantastic weight distribution it just feels nice and confidence-inspiring. I’ve said this before about the R6 I took out the other day it’s got very competences inspiring handling to it. Oh look there’s an Africa Twin there just as I’m talking about them one goes past me how about that. What was I saying, yeah very confidence inspiring again all the modern electronic aids the traction control system and the ABS makes you feel so secure obviously you have to be careful of that because it means you’re tempted to go faster because you feel safer but we are still on a motorcycle. Yeah shes’s a big beasty but not too big doesn’t feel too hard to handle. Right I’m going to go down onto the main road here give it a bit of a blast.
Right here we go. So she’s got good strong performance, really pulls quite nicely. The Africa Twin pulled very well as well. But this just feels like it’s got that tiny bit of extra grunt. Only a tiny bit more but you can just about feel it. This is very nice, very smooth. She does vibrate a bit once you get to the higher revs but then so does the Africa Twin.
These bikes so far are are really on a level playing field. I can’t think of anything right this second that would make the Honda worth the extra thousand pounds. We will discuss that in the summary at the end I think but so far I’m just not seeing it. As adventure bikes go Suzuki have done a good job with this one. with this model they’ve even added the hand guards. The thing is though unlike the BMW’s unlike the other Africa Twin this isn’t actually quite as much of an adventure bike. so the Honda and the BMW’s are marketed as ADV bike’s that you can off-road with. Now this will off-road and it will do so relatively well but Suzuki haven’t marketed it as an off-roader they’ve market it as an adventure bike for the road and as such they’ve tuned it as a road bike primarily.
So I’ve heard people say before that this is 95% road bike maybe 5% off-road bike now I think that’s a little bit unfair I think that actually all things considered if you were to take this off road it would be absolutely fine. You would want to upgrade the tires I mean this has got road tires on it they’re not designed for off-road. If you switch those out for some duel sport tires this will quite happily off-road and it’s got the torque the v-twin engine is a nice torquey engine it’s got all the same specs as the Africa twin so there’s no good reason why this wouldn’t make a good off-road bike as well but it’s just that’s the way they’ve decided to market it. But then as an adventure bike for the road I think it’s great it’s definitely very very comfortable I would quite happily go long long distances on this very happily.
I really like this I’m not going to lie I am a little bit biased towards Suzuki’s not for any commercial reasons or anything like that it’s just because I’ve had bikes from many manufacturers over the years and the Suzuki’s I’ve had have just been, they just tend to be a little bit better value for money I think and they’re such good bikes I mean at the end of the day it’s a Japanese bike it’s a Japanese engine it’s really good and the build quality on this thing is fantastic the plastic is nice and strong. It’s build beautifully. Suzuki’s do have a reputation for having slightly naff bolts and I don’t imagine this is going to be any different but the seem to last so I mean you know I’m not complaining. I tell you what the handling on this thin, just going back to that, I don’t know whether it’s because it’s got full road tires on it or whether it is just because the weight distribution is so good on this it feels so much better than Honda. I mean there will be people out there that disagree with me but I think it does, I think it feels fantastic certainly going at low speeds around corners it just yeah feels pretty good pretty damn good indeed.
what else was I going to say sorry got a bit distracted so traction control settings I’ve currently got it on the middle of the road, this only has three settings basically you’ve got fully on, half on and off. There’s not really a lot of complicated stuff on this bike. You can select traction settings and turn the ABS off for off-road and that’about it. You get a good amount of your money but it’s not over complicated and the instrument setup so this here is nice now if anyone from Honda is watching this you can learn from this or just go back to your original design look at it there’s your indicator nice and easy to turn on and off you use them quite often and the horn you don’t use quite as often is underneath still easily accessible but it’s not in the way yeah just a little hint there for honda go back to the original design see Suzuki do it this way and its fine. Right I’m an bit bored now i want to get past these people.
yeah I’m really comfortable very comfortable indeed I mean this is, I’ve said it before when I rode the Africa Twin this style of bike suits me down to the ground it terms of my high and because I’m kind of like usually a laid-back rider anyway I just like to cruise mostly. I do like the idea of going on a long-haul adventure this is perfect absolutely perfect. its got such smooth handling. I think the problem is though this is a 1000cc I mean I’m doing 40 odd miles an hour but it feels like about 20 it’s because the bike is so big and comfortable it’s like when you have a big powerfull car bigger more powerful ones kind of feel like they’re going slower than they actually are which again I see as a bit of danger because it kind of encourages you to speed a little bit but then if you’re going on a long haul adventure you want that extra power you know to make a comfortable ride so swings and roundabouts.
If I had to pick between the 650 and 1000 i’d pic the 1000 because the fuel economy, I mean it claims close to 60 miles per gallon that’s fine out of a 1000cc bike with just over 100 brake horsepower this is ideal. I will test the 650 at some point and do a comparison but to be perfectly honest I think if you’ve got the option, if your license will allow you to go for the thousand that would be my personal opinion.
I’ve got a lot more bikes to test ride I’m going to be doing a lot more test ride’s for you guys but so far I’m looking at buying a new bike in the next year or two to replace my ageing 600 and I’m airing towards this style of bike anyway but you know so far this is winning it out for me I mean I’m going to have a go on the Kawazaki Versys and a few other things but so far out of the bunch she’s of beauty I mean I can even forgive as I said before she’s perhaps not the prettiest one I’ve ridden I preferred the look for the Africa Twin but I think overall performance and overall what you get your money and everything else I think this wins for me.
She’s strong, this is a strong engine. I didn’t ride the 2014 model so I can’t really comment as to whether that one foot pound of torque loss has made any difference but honestly if I has it’s not made enough difference for me to care this still has plenty of power. I mean we’re in 6th gear, top gear and its pulling up this hill like and absolute beast. It’s got good strong breaks on it as well actually. Should probably mention that brakes are really good.
I’m not going to push it to the limits I’m not going to test cornering abs or anything else but it’s kind of reassuring in the back of my mind to know that it’s got it, I mean on a day like this it’s a bright sunny day the roads are dry as a bone is you know not such a big thing but if you are going on an adventure especially if you’re going for a couple of weeks or something you know you’re going to come across the bad weather eventually.
and just knowing that this has those aids in the background there is just really reassuring. I like it’s really good and I keep saying that its really good but it is. I certainly think it’s well worth well worth under 10,000 I mean because you’re getting you’re getting all the same things as you get with a high end bikes because I mean this cornering ApS and all that stuff are actually off the top spec GSXR super sport but you know you’re getting all of that technology for under 10 grand, maybe just over by the time you speced it out a little bit with a few accessories I mean if I go ahead and buy something like this obviously I want the whole touring pack, panniers, back box all that kind of stuff. I do like that you get alot of stuff standard the hand guards and the electric output for your sat nav etc.
I’m hoping that you guys getting a good idea of what it’s like right I’ll pull over in a minute and do like a little summary. I took this through some villages Before I started filming actually and I was taking in the corners and it just flows around them so nicely, as I said before it’s so well balanced so well planted it’s really grippy and I’ve said this about quite a few of the bikes I have been on recently but really you know the current crop of bikes this year are really good you know bearing in mind that you know they have to be restricted for euro4 emissions and manufacturers are trying to save money and make the most money by cutting corners where they can but even with all things considered the current crop of bikes this year I think in my opinion are really good.
Tell me if I’m wrong but I think they are. We’ve been spoiled this year I reckon. I wish Suzuki had bought out more bikes tho they are a bit lacking they are bringing out a few 250’s they bought out this but really that’s it for a couple years now they’re not going to bring out many new models for a while which is a bit of a shame they’ve had a bit of a slow period recently anyway they’ve only recently starrted coming back and you know it’s a shame that they’re only bringing out a few this year but that’s fine you know what they have bought out so far has been really good so hopefully in a couple years time when they start bringing out more models they all follow that trend and we’ll get some really really good bikes because I like Suzuki like I’ve said before it’s a personal preference just because the value for money and stuff like that and I’d like to see more from them.
That’s not to say I don’t like other bikes as anyone who has seen my previous reviews will know I absoulutly loved that Honda Rebel that was a good bike, really good bike. But Suzuki is a personal favourite so yeah. Right there’s actually a pub coming up soon so I will put over there and give you guys a summary because everybody likes a good summary. Right guys, so to summarise I think this is absolutely fantastic a bike, the value for money is brilliant for what you get I mean it costs a grand less than the Africa twin you get more as standard, getting the electrical output everything else the cornering ABS I’m not entirely sure but I don’t think you get that on the Africa twin which is great.
One thing you certainly don’t get on the twin is this adjustable windscreen which again I think is a really fantastic thing to have as standard. Overall the performance is fantastic I mean the handling i’ve said before is brilliant the power it pulls so brilliantly even in top gear it pulled up that hill like it was nothing incredibly good power. I definitely recommend this bike I can honestly Had on heart say I would recommend it. Another little thing I’ve literally just noticed that I quite like is this part of the tank so you know you’ve got the tank and then you’ve got this you stop you from scratching it and it’s really good it’s really good I like extra fuel capacity as well and I love this seat it’s so comfortable.
That’s all I’ve got to say about this really it’s absolutely brilliant between this and Africa twin there’s not masses of difference I think for me personally this wins out just because of the value for money mostly and the little extra bits you get but it’s really down to personal preference on that one I mean you know they’re going to be people that are going to prefer the Africa twin and it’s not really that much more expensive and also the thing you don’t get with this, that you can get with the Africa twin if you want is that automatic gearbox the dual clutch transmission you can’t get that on this unfortunately but it’s a small sacrifice. I don’t really mind but you know some people might so that would kind of make you go towards that but overall this bike is absolutely fantastic I can’t see that many bad points to it. So yeah that’ll do for this review thank you guys so so much for watching as I’ve said before there will be more reviews coming please do keep an eye out for those if you did like this video please please do give me a like and SUBSCRIBE I do try and put out new videos every Tuesday and Thursday and so far I’ve been keeping to that so hopefully you enjoy it and for now yeah once again thank you very much and goodbye.
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