Hi YouTube! My Suzuki v-strom 1000 has hit 50,000 miles. And I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts on whether or not I think you should consider buying a used be strong with some higher miles on it. Welcome to urban luck TV so in this episode. I am going to share my experiences and my thoughts on. Oh six plus years of ownership of a first-generation Suzuki v-strom 1000 motorcycle. And a little bit about me and my channel if you are new to urban monk TV. I’m mainly a city urban adventure writer. Let’s put it that way. I live in Southern California so wait. There’s traffic we do a lot of lane splitting. I ride the bike maybe four days a week on average to commute to work and that’s at least 80 miles. And each time I take the bike to work roundtrip again. I’ve got 50,000 miles on this bike so what you’ll find on my channel is v-strom maintenance changing. The sprockets and the chain wiring for some auxiliary lights valve clearance check that type of thing anytime.
I come along some routine maintenance that I have to do. And I haven’t already done the video on the v-strom. I do one put it up so you’ll find that on my channel. And then I also working on a vintage Suzuki cafe racer so if you’re interested in that. I am doing a complete frame down with the frame care and restoration build up. I’ve rebuild the top end on the motor and painted the tank. And you know where we’re doing that on urban monk TV too. And you can follow me on instagram at urban monk TV. The v-strom, my v-strom is a first generation from 2002 to 2012. They made the DL 1000 pretty much the same like minor tweaks and changes in those, in that period of time, in that decade but as a adventure platform. I think it is very good if your bias is toward the street riding. It does have some vulnerabilities that I’m sure if you’re researching in eastern. You’ve probably already discovered when compared to some of the other bikes that are an option out there.
One of the pluses I would say about this bike is the v-twin engine a lot of torque down, low, low center of gravity. And this engine is really really reliable. I am one of those guys that has a journal on his bike. And take some notes on all the maintenance that he’s done. I’ve got every oil change all the details of changing tires mileages did. I do the filter did I not with air filter throttle body sync engine coolant valve cap and clearance checks. That’s a big one and breaks another valve clearance. Check the chain and the sprockets. It’s all here and first thing I’d like to say about the engine and how to maintain. It is the engine boy. I’ve got, I’ve got every oil change. I’ve ever done to this bike and I got it with about 2,300 miles on it. I didn’t know whether or not the original owner had changed the oil.
I assume they did maybe a 600 mile service oil change like a break-in oil change but don’t really know when the bike became mine. I just wanted to make sure we start it over so at 2,500 miles. I changed it and I have recorded every single oil change in filter change. Since and on average, I’m going to take a look at this and do a little math on average. I let 2246 miles between each oil change so you know not bad. Some were a little bit longer, all over over 2000 miles. And so nothing were over 2600 miles. So I’m pretty diligent by changing oil. The other thing I’m very diligent about is what kind of oil I put in here. The only oil, I have personally used in this bike since I bought it at 2,300 miles has been Shell Rotella which is Jaso gesso ma2 rated. You need the manufacturer recommends gesso ma 2 rating on your oil. What does that mean, that means. I can buy big bulk jugs of inexpensive oil at Walmart. And say a lot of money by owning a v-strom. I’m not saying that you can’t put in motorcycle oil. But if you have two things on the back. You’re good to go. One key is you do not want energy conserving right here. And you want to see J a s o ma to another thing I’ll say that is a plus about this engine is the compression ratio is such that you do not need to use high-octane fuel this thing runs fine in fact it runs fantastic on 87 octane using the US whatever rating africa 87 octane in the US. If you’re somewhere else in the world figure out.
The equivalent to that I’ve been on a trip. We went oh I’ve got a video a way down in my history of trip. We get around Lake Superior and we were up in Ontario Canada. In some small town gas stations. And one of the guys with me was riding on a Triumph 1200 Explorer tiger. And he needed the high octane fuel. And they didn’t have. They had like that mid grade stuff but not the 91 were better than that bike recommended. I didn’t have any problem. I was putting in the lowest grade stuff. They had like ran great as a commuter and living in California where gas prices are quite high. I had saved myself a lot of money in that price differential over 50,000 miles. You know between the lower octane fuel and the high octane fuel that added up. You know I can probably put the money elsewhere like tires or chains. And other wear items another area that you can judge the health of an engine is valve clearances as that wears you can get some gauge. You know you are approaching the end of the life of this engine. You know end of life meaning, you’ve got the point where you need to rebuild it. And because I’ve done all on my own maintenance. And I have my records.
One great way to look at that is the valve clearances. So I’ve done the valve clearance check is every 15,000 miles on the v-strom which is good that’s a high number you don’t do it that often if I were to buy a used v-strom, I would be one. I’d ask if they’re keeping good records of when they did it. And if they can’t produce that seller. I would at least quiz them and see if you trust their response to the question. And hopefully they’ve said that they have done it but so three times. I’ve done this and measured those clearances compared with the service spec. And here’s what I can tell you is there was one exhaust left in the front. Front cylinder head that wore, just one one size step down. And I replaced it and since then it has completely settled in. And I haven’t had to do any changes here so what does that mean Shing in this bike. And it is still within spec so the three times.
I’ve gone in there for the most part. I’ve just inspected and done nothing. The wear has not occurred except in that one but the one changed it one time. And now it has settled in and doesn’t seem to be wearing anymore when you look at all of the available shim sizes. So as your valise you know we’re up into the seat a little bit more. You need to shorten and shorten order or make the thickness of those shims thinner and thinner to maintain the correct gap. And when you run out of available shins well then. There is a point at which you should rebuild the engine. So a measure of the life of the engine is how close are you to the last available sham sighs. I am nowhere near. I mean given the shim sizes that are available. I think they go down to that so maybe at least could be lower. I don’t want to remember off the top of my head but I know I’ve looked at it. And at this rate I’m gonna get over three hundred thousand miles on this engine before I need to you know. Before I run out of available shim sizes. So whether or not other parts of the engine last that long. You know of course that’s debatable but from the perspective of valve clearance. It’s amazing another thing that I’ve read about the DL 1000 engine. And I believe it is the same for the dl650. By the way a lot of what I’m saying here will apply to the 650 other than you probably get.
Every gas mileage with a 650. And you probably pay a little bit lower insurance on 650 but I don’t think the Delta is too much anyways. Back to the engine they treat babying Suzuki when they manufacture these engines. These cylinders are lined with something called NICUs ill and nicosia lined cylinders lasts a very long time typically. And but another way to judge whether an engine is healthy or not is to test the compression. Because an engine essentially is a pump. It’s an air pump and you try to pump as much air through it. As you can with some fuel and you ignite it along the way. And you get a bunch of torque and energy out of it and heat. But let’s go ahead and see what kind of compression I have after 50,000 miles. And compare it to the speck in the surface main. And to do it full the fact that I have to reach in here with a needle nose pliers to get the spark plug out is not a fault of the v-strom.
It is a fault of the crappie insert. I have in my spark plug ranched. It doesn’t hold the recommended service interval on spark plugs is 7500 miles. But I didn’t do these well. I put this in at 36 500 something like that. And I’m at 50,000 now. So, I went well beyond that service interval. And you know it’s still fine. I could keep running these plugs but I’m in here. I’m gonna change them but just a side note maybe you don’t have to follow. If you buy a v-strom don’t follow that one so closely. One caveat with the compression test. I’m going to do here is I did not have the opportunity to warm the engine up before. I did long story but we’re going to be testing a cold engine here. So more than likely we will have a little bit lower reading than is actual here’s. The rear and here goes the front. So standard is 142 to 199 psi. I’m at like 160 170 ish so squarely in a very good place in. The compression range limit is as low as 114 while I’m miles above that. And the difference between the two cylinders can be 28 psi, well. I’m within like 10 ish so it’s fine everything looks great from a compression standpoint. So, I’ve got a really solid engine there with many more miles left in it. If I take care of it with you know 50,000 miles on. It already so you’ve gone to your local dealership. And they have a first-generation v-strom for sale. A little bit higher miles you know 30 40 maybe 50 thousand and you’re wondering.
Gosh the price is great and they usually are but is this a good buy. I mentioned that I commute a lot I work so a lot of these miles are commuting in Los Angeles traffic splitting lanes in tight between cars. Why is this bike fantastic for that excellent brakes. The right ability is fantastic. It’s got a low center of gravity. You can respond quickly. I personally think that the beast 1,000 is less dirt bike. And more sport bike but it’s sitting higher. And that sport bike sitting higher that’s where it really shines in city traffic. But also when you’re sitting higher. You’ve got that thousand cc’s about 94 95 horsepower good torque. Because it’s a v-twin and this thing will eat up the miles. Recently took a trip up to the Monterey Peninsula. And back 750 miles riding with a friend who was on a BMW GS 1200. Which is the benchmark cook for adventure touring bikes. And he will tell you that you know he had trouble keeping up with me. And this thing holds its own against those big adventure bikes no problem. And I’ve also been out like I said with a friend riding on the 1200. Triumph Tiger explored and again you know is he this much faster. Yes, he’s got a like a race engine in that 1200. And he’s got some displacement on me but we’re talking about speeds that we should have been right anyway. So at some point you just let it go be crazy idiot. And I’m still flat so point is thousand cc’s.
You get a lot of power, you get a lot of engine. And for a low cost compared to those other bikes another place. I think the v-strom 1000 shines is you get that 1000 liter bike power. But you don’t pay the insurance rates that you would for a sporty leader bike. You go into a thousand CC sport bike category. As far as your insurance underwriter goes. And you better get your wallet out here. They’re much, much more. You on the insurance area so another big savings but you still have plenty of power. And you can still go fast if you like to go fast. The other thing I’ll say about the longevity of this engine which is long proven history out there. But these first gen ones especially the 2012. I don’t know if they all do but many of the first generation have the oil cooler down below. So you’re not only getting good water cooling but you’re also cooling the oil and a cooler engine that isn’t running at high temperatures is a happy engine. That should run longer. I feel more true that I have that a little cooler there. But is it a weakness mmm yes in certain situations. If you’re a serious off-roader you’re going to be going that direction and things are going to be flying up off of here. And hitting into here and that’s where maybe the v-strom is not the strongest competitor out there in adventure training. So you really have to just ask yourself what kind of riding am i doing.
Mostly if you’re mostly riding on the street like I am. And but you want to get out into the canyon roads. And you find a gravel road warrior. You know just a more remote place. And you don’t want to be stopping. You do want to go down that gravel road. Or that fiber road and explore the v-strom can do it especially with the you know the right tires on it. Just it’s not going to do the serious serious off-road stuff with big rocks. You know it’s 80% of street 20% off road. But it is off-road capable. They’ve done a good job of keeping the seat and tank narrow. Where your legs are and I’m comfortable standing up on this thing. So you know for off road it’s very comfortable. Very maneuverable, low center of gravity. It just has that Achilles heel on the front.
The engine and you could do some things about that. There are you know guards for putting underneath. The crankcase that are pretty robust out there. So, there are options the first generation DL 1000s come in array of colors. There’s red, blue, yellow and silver even Burgundy and good luck. Keeping me clean parts are relatively inexpensive. I got these Givi crash bars for. I think a hundred and fifty dollars and I did drop the bike. Once just doing something stupid at low speeds. And you know it saved all my plastics and did. Its job exactly as its supposed to. So I was happy. I had them if you’re lucky enough to find one of the adventure models. Like I did comes with some cases that work. They work in that they hold a lot of stuff hang pretty low. So, I would say as far as center of gravity goes there. They’re decent but they’re built not by Suzuki but by another manufacturer. And I did have a lot of problems with these. I don’t want to spend too much time talking about them but the little cables inside when you open the door up they just broke right away. So the door swings all the way open and everything falls out.
If you’re not paying attention and up here on the top case. I had a recurring problem that I’ve dumped the money into on the adventure series top case. I’ve had a lot of trouble with these reflectors on the back. There’s two screws quite small holding these down here. And here from underneath there. And there and they crack. And they’ve broken off and I’ve lost this one more than once. And the other one a single time well these cases are not something that you can continue to buy through Suzuki. I don’t know why these reflectors are nearly impossible to find but I had to buy an entire case off of ebay. That was in pretty rough shape and you can see. This one has still got a bunch of tape residue on it just to get. This one and then this thing broke again. And now I’ve got it glued on there. And it doesn’t quite sit all the way down. You know the cases they work if you’re buying a used visto my guess. I would recommend if they come with it fine use them in my case .I did that if they don’t then you’re probably better off just getting something aftermarket.
That is built a little bit better. These are sized the same as the BMW 1200 GS. So, there’s a lot of tire options available for you anything that will fit the 1200 GS or the 11 50 GS will fit. The be strong so you know you’re gonna find tires. You’re gonna find options and you can get exactly what you want if you’re really a street rider. You can put street bias tires on and you’ll get some incredible performance out of this thing. Let’s not forget this engine came from a race bike. The TL 1000 originally that was really kind of Suzuki’s answered to the Ducati Panigale. So, it’s got the spirit of a race bike and on tighters. I will say if you’ve watched my channel before you know. I’m a fan of chico. This bike price is fantastic. These tires are half the cost of just about everything else out there. I buy them online haven’t shipped in my house. And I mount them myself and balance them myself.
I save a lot of money in that way of course you can always just have someone else do it. You’re still saving tires cost what they cost. And watch my reviews on those Tigers to see. What kind of mileage I get out of them but I regularly get 10,000 out of a rear and I’ve gotten over 30,000 out of a front. So I love the fact that that good performing inexpensive long-lasting tire is available to fit on this bike. Or that this bike fits those tires however you want to look at. It’s a win for me. In my wallet are there any problems with the v-strom. Well maybe one thing, well let’s say one thing from the factory many if not all of these first gen beast drums. I don’t know if EPA emissions drove this decision. Or what but the fuel mapping meaning. How much fuel the computer is giving the engine during certain places in the rev range fuel mapping .This way to lean from maybe twenty six hundred rpms to thirty three hundred rpms.
There’s this range in there by the way. It’s where I tend to be the entire time. I’m at a comfortable pace when I’m lane splitting. So lane splitting. I’m a fool around. I’m really good they’re good brakes. Good fueling. Good control because I need to make some pretty quick decisions. Sometimes when I’m lane splitting anyways runs to lean in that range. And hesitates and backfires and I think there’s two. If you do your research there’s two solutions to that. One is a recall. And you get a new computer from Suzuki. And I’ve read that guys have found that solves the problem for them. I’ve also read that some guys did that. And you know it was a little better but not entirely solved. I don’t know. I didn’t take that route what I did was put a little bit of money into a Power Commander. So, with the power commander this bike runs fantastic with the power commander. You’ve got a couple options. It’s about 375 to 400 dollars for the one that fits. This bike you can either get a map which is a program that says you know you’re giving it. This much fuel here and this much fuel here. And all the way through different throttle positions. You can go get a map offline download them. And go to strong troopers and go.
You can take your bike to someone who has a dyno and mouths of Mike. On the dyno what’s the power commander on and then tunes that power commander to your bike. And goes through the entire rpm range in all the different gears. And in that route you can actually dial in spots where you’re well. You just get a really custom map, let’s put it that way. And each bikes a little different so when you’re giving a generic map online. You know, you know maybe that worked for one guy’s bike. And it’s not exactly perfect for yours. I ended up spending $700 full disclosure on the Power Commander. And having the having it die node and mapped specifically for my bike but now anywhere in the rev range. I am just silky smooth all the way and essentially what we did is put a little bit more fuel in to that 2600 to 3300 rpm range. But then also tend to travel at about 75. And I know the RPM range of the bikes added sixth gear. And I haven’t just leaned that out just a little bit in that spot to help my fuel economy. And it just I’ve been so thrilled with the Power Commander ever since. I put it on this bike but it was an expense but let’s talk about where I have not had expense in the entire time. I’ve owned this bike that is the original battery.
I’ve never once changed the battery now it’s six years old and 50,000 miles. I’m actually thinking about changing it just because eventually it’s got to let me down but no money spent there. So far the clutch still original clutch have not had to do anything not even sure what the clearances are now. I had to pull it apart. And measure the plates but when it starts slipping well then I’ll throw a video up. And let you guys know be sure to subscribe and follow you. Then you’ll know when I finally hit that point. I did have a little trouble here on. I guess what all calls a dashboard on the top of the cowl. Or cowling but this is not a Suzuki problem. I don’t believe the Sun gets pretty intense here in Southern California. And I have this taller aftermarket windscreen on here that’s a see Bailey.
And it doesn’t have you know any shielding down here and essentially it acted like a big magnifying glass. And it intensified the sunlight here to the point where it melted. These plastics so this isn’t a Suzuki v-strom problem. That is a windscreen problem and where I live problems. So I just wanted to mention it in case you have a similar situation on your hands brakes. I have replaced the rear brakes one time and the front brakes one time in fifty thousand miles when was that. I did the rear paths at twenty one thousand five hundred. And well it says I changed the brake fluid on the front at twenty four thousand two hundred miles. The pads were still okay so I left them in changed clutch fluid at twenty-four 200 is brake fluid did. I just miss I missed the front raise well alright. So I don’t know when I did them but I know I did them. And it was after the rears by months so anyways the brake pads for this bike are inexpensive. I’ve I’m off eBay and get the six six eighty brand that whatever sintered pads not a lot of money again. The scene is just. It’s a little cost to acquire and it is low cost to own but it performs and it gets it done and it will get you there and it will eat up the miles.
These first generation these drones do not come with anti-lock brakes and at least not in the 1,000. And you know I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 12 years old. So that puts me 37 years and motorcycle riding. I’m okay with that if you feel that your skills are at a level where abs just really isn’t going to do a whole lot for you then don’t hesitate to look at Abby strum. If you’re maybe a little bit newer rider and really want abs. And feel like you want that safety net. No shame in it and maybe then consider one of the newer generation beast drums because it still has everything that was great on this bike including that anything. But I don’t think have the oil cooler anymore the front suspension is preload adjustable. And only preload adjustable rear suspension is preload adjustable. And there is some adjustment for damping. I have changed the chain and front and rear sprockets one time then I changed the front sprocket a second time. And the chain because I chose the wrong chain and I’ve got a video on that. The Western power sports changes did not hold up on. This bike even though the specs really were in alignment with. I’ve got a bike master chain now that’s holding up fantastic inexpensive. So I would recommend that but if you bought one of these with high miles on it. You may want to consider at least changing the front sprocket. But frankly what I change in the rear are still in very good shape. So, I would not be afraid of a high mileage bike in that regard. But you may have to throw a little money at that front sprockets are like sixteen dollars. It’s nothing and they’re easy to do.
I got a video on it just follow those steps in conclusion. Should you buy that lowered priced higher vinyl v-strom that fits your budget if you are mainly a street rider. But you’d like to get out and have some adventures and you like to conquer a lot of miles. And and eat them up with ease my recommendation would be yes so much. So that at fifty thousand miles. I’m the kind of person with the finances to go buy a new bike now. And trade this thing in but I’m not going to. I will ride this bike anywhere right now and trust that I’m going to get there and I’m going to get there comfortably. I’m going to get there inexpensively if I’m riding with other riders on bigger displacement bikes or bigger brand names. You know that Suzuki isn’t a big brand name but you know what bikes. I’m talking about they’re gonna have a hard time keeping up with me to be frank. Some of that is my riding skill level but you know. It’ll do it and even if they’re fantastic riders you’ll be right there in the pack with them. The whole time don’t worry about that you will be burning up so much less money. As you’re having fun doing that you will have burned up.
So much less money acquiring it. In the first place so the savings between this. And some other used option out there that savings can go into some of the parts that you know. You do need to do there are breaks. There are chains there are sprockets things like that. You know fluids you got to change those but that’s all I’ve done on this bike. Well, then the power commander that may be the only Achilles heel to this thing but just accept it upfront. Go ahead and look at the price of that used to be strong with 30 40. Maybe even 50 thousand miles on it and then just throw on 400 to 700 dollars in your mind. And compare that with what those other bikes are used with the same mileage. I have had fifty thousand miles of motorcycling bliss on this thing.
And it couldn’t be happier so my recommendation is go ahead and buy that used high mileage be strong with confidence. Hey if you like what I’m doing here and you want to be strong or you’re now going to own of Eastern um subscribe to my channel. And if you like this video click the thumbs up. There’s a little bell if you want notifications when I put something else up and again. I work on 1978 Suzuki GS cafe racer project you can learn a lot about rebuilding and restoring a vintage motorcycle there and I just appreciate your watching thank you.
