Hi, I am Kelli on tools and I am again at Smick tech to test drive the Suzuki v-strom 650 bike compared last time. This one is the bigger version. And again Suzuki V Strom 650 has made not an ugly bike, this one actually looks quite good. It still looks a bit like a duckbill at the front, but now that duckbill is nicely integrated to the rest of the bike with very cool optic. AndI like to look the windscreen on one of this part is still a bit too exposed but it seems like there’s something missing here, at least this one looks pretty darn good. Now, the a version of the ABS has spoked wheels for 400 extra bucks, I think this is 9,000 euros or eight nine nine nine and the other one is about 400 extra.
I think the change is nothing else, so you got your mixed tyres. These are in between but these are more road than trail, but still you have a mix between which is a trail max. I think trail wing has the dimensions and on one of these are actually important. I believe, this is a 110 at the front and 150 F to the rear if I am not mistaken and trail wing radio yaga yaga yaga o 110 at the front. It is a 150 at the rear 108, it looks like a 150 and it has a 150 at the rear. So, slightly thinner tyres, the more off-road dimension than the 160 at the rear one 120 at the front or my tracers 120 180 at the rear. I am going to compare this to my very own mq7 tracer which makes sense, since this is a competitor although this is supposed to be more off-road than on road. In the trace is more on-road and off-road so backwards you have your normal suspension with the mouthguard protecting your Forks looks good with dual headlamps for low beams and high beams. I like that quite a lot, I hate it when it is just one lamp wing bolt because it is not in the flight.
You have your v-strom engine, we hear two cylinders with one exhaust being very exposed. The other one is going somewhere around the back. Your gigantic hero 4 exhaust preload is adjustable which is very nice. You don’t actually have the things that your 50 has the little Clips but you can see where the pioneers go. It doesn’t seem too hard to fit it yourself if you have your rear rack stock so I think a little base plate here and you can put on a top case easily. This is a trail bike so it is going to be carrying these and you got chain drivers, normally you have your rest of the suspension. There is normal dual disc brakes at the front of abs. It must have ABS because that’s mandatory, I don’t see the ABS ring, oh it is on the other side. This is imported directly from v1000 and it has my preferred configuration of a analog tech and a digital speedo. You also have a power outlet something the tracer does not have and this should really be stuck on all bikes. You have a lot of stuff here let’s go hop on way way taller than 250 taller.
I’m on tippy-toes almost but it is very easy to keep it on tippy-toes with no issues. To turn on will be complicated that old traction control we have a 9000, it’s not this bike it’s DeLong for the shop. Something fell over so you have got traction control on a nine thousand euro bike, well done. Shoe rookie trip, one trip too and something mild range. You have a voltage for the battery which is very useful, you have a very complete here very complete. I like it quite a lot and you can then press select the middle button here to select the traction control one or off let’s go. This is very complete now, well done Suzuki very well done. I don’t like kilometers per litre but I think that’s configurable but I am NOT going to configure it now because I don’t know how to.
Let’s just do, what is this age, this is will probably turn off ABS, no oh it is to change to mph instead of kph. There ought to be something and abs is probably possible to disable at the rear wheel, but if you don’t know how to disable ABS, there is a tiny trick you put it on the side stands. Then, you pull it off the rear so the rear is off the ground like I am doing, it is not hard you turn it off, put it in first gear and you break with the front wheel. The ABS crashes the software and your abs is crashes often. This works for all bikes so let’s just turn around and listen and from of a v-strom engine sounds very civilized. Okay, let’s get going to the very first impression and usually this is wrong until I get used to her. The handle of our seems to be a bit forwards, I’m sitting in where I’ am supposed to be sitting, I think where I am comfortable and the handlebars are just a bit of a reach and I am a bit stretched forward. This will probably take some time to getting used to, at least some five minutes. Also, I have something inside my gloves I will have to stop it and take it off.
I think it is a little rock but on this one, it is funny because on this one I don’t feel that eagerness to clean which I felt immediately on the other bike on the 250. On the first two minutes this one just felt progressive going around, again it is very likely due to the tires. The other one has some very thin tires, there’ is a bit of that here too but not that much most likely just due to a slightly higher center of gravity because of between my legs. Again this feels just so smooth the suspension is very nice and we do do the same thing I did on the last one exactly the same routes. I am really amazed how smooth this is. I know this pavement is horrible, none of my tracer I would be jumping everywhere, but I am just comfortably riding along with no issues. Wow! This is okay this is not standard suspension on upside-down nothing fancy. I do not see any special adjustments here, there are no special adjustments but just work so well. Only the big bump that I know intimately really try this out because I am confused to be honest. Let us go up this but this time I am going to sit down, mega comfy although I was a bit thrown out of the seat because there was a huge bump. I am absolutely amazed at just how nice this feels over bumps. It is great however, there is something I’m not feeling correctly because it should not be this nice. I was expecting this to be slightly alright. I have the feeling the road is just not bad enough. It is horrible doing this with a tracer. I would be standing up because I would not want this to jolt through my spine. On this one I do not care about bumps what a lovely suspension setup this is the same route I did last time. Let us go back the XR height though compared to my tracer is a bit bothersome but it is very balanced. This does not really matter now, let’s go to my test track which in case you don’t know it goes from there to there it is hill up ahead. I am running out of battery already. I have already felt the engine and it feels great very great. I am now going to be feeling how it corners like to widen the turns a bit maybe I did it wrong let’s see but I’m expecting this to be more wobbly than usual because of this fantastic suspension setup for bad pavement and for off-road footage. This bike is also tuned for me so I’m expecting this to be not quite as good on defense as it should. I am also half expecting to be proven wrong because of the experience with the last one. Smoothness is the key it feels a bit slow and it’s not agile but it does not meant to be. Let’s try to do a quick insertion and it’s not a very agile but it is more than enough. It is normal for this range. Again, I am comparing it with the tracer which is a hooligan machine dressed up as a an adventure bike and so the tracer is much faster doing this one. She did not really like what I just did now, oh the rear was wobbling going. Let’s go have fun again contrasting with the 250 where nothing like this happens to 50s. For beginners, this one is not shoot I have to overtake that truck or else this whole section will be ruined. Here, we are going to put this engine through the tests. I mean, I am going to have to jump you, this not an issue whatsoever. Just as you will expect, now the right part initial bite was a bit weak though I have to try that again. It is stable, the traction control went on right, these are not 100% road tires so it kinda make sense. The TC going on now again. The tc1 allowed the rear just a slightly off balance and then you are not going anywhere, but traction control does give you the ability to do what I just did. I wish I would never do on my tracer which is to lean over and throttle. I wonder if I can turn it off and see what happens. This will probably be a very short trip now. I will do it later I would really like to do that, turn that off and see what happens. Here we go off, let’s see what happens on this last bins I am scared I am too scared to do this. I am not exactly skilled to leave a turn at high speed going with the traction control completely off. I am very sorry about that. The clutch needs to be okay and I have no idea. But on cornering it does feel it is stable however, at a best show it is a more off-road. Tuned suspension and a more off-road tire is having the throttle and exit does cause the ABS the traction control to turn on while cornering it is a bit more wobbly than you would expect or feel on a tracer. It is a bit boring more nervous but it s fun. It can do perfectly well. Great bike on roads but you do feel that the tires are mixed tires and the suspension is a bit softer. It is not dramatic it’s a great bike, look at this very carefully I shall do this only once just go to the test. I must rather theropods stem estrada not afraid to a test drive clock. Tom Estrada Betemit is normal now, that is a fascist calm wind quitter the inner moment will not impair. Not in payments funciona do not know to top fight there is no time out. The CD push mental control traverse the third tier control I gotta create bigger controller so off my focus. We will got an OC squared, he controlled Raza not very different so my khaki winter Lada no control. Suzuki will probably murder me for taking one of their machines off-road okay well that wasn’t actually an off-road that was more going to first gear. This just like you saw there is a nice fifty-fifty. It is that bike that does both things well so that it can do both now. The riding position as I told is I think the handlebars a bit too forward in too low for me. I have relatively short arms so I have this issue on many bikes. On this one is a bit more than most so it is your city. It is not quite an adventure style setting, you are sitting down but you are not completely straight like a BMW or like this on the beginning on the Beemer. This one your back is straight, but your torsos tilted forwards slightly. You have to sound like sitting down and grab the bike. There is a deliberateness to bending forward to grab the handlebars. The tracer is straighter up for some reason or I think it is might be wrong. These things are often feel and sometimes I screw up. I am not perfect and while standing up like so the handlebars for proper off-road. It just feels a tad too low it feels slightly higher than my tracer but still not quite enough which is exactly and this is not a criticism this is exactly what you want because this is supposed to be the in-between. If it was higher, it was off-road to be very high we’d be riding with your hands up so if you want to take this to off-road, there you can just take it stock which is great, but if you want to do a bit more series you can just do some tiny adjustments. For example, some foreign razors with the bar slightly raised it’ll be perfect for reference. And if I was going on my old ANSI 700 which was a bit more off-road II than the tracer, I was just bending forward even slightly more. This one is that riding position on an off-road machine that you go perhaps I will do some bar risers to be a bit more comfortable. It is a off-road position but it just needs a few centimetres up to be like the full die standing up routine instead of just the let’s get up which is what we do now. Let’s get up to cross through this nasty air path and then we will sit down back again. This is what this handlebar is for, right now it is just for the occasional standing up not for the let’s go down that path the whole time standing up. Very in between machine let me just show you the engine and bending, it corners pretty well and gives you a lot of confidence too. Let’s see if I can show you the engine there might or might not be radars here. I think those are cops behind me let’s go she pretty fast but this engine comparing with my tracer and let’s get this out of the way. The tracer engine is sublime. It is off the charts compared to the Yamaha, it did an excellent job on it. There is really very little comparison or possibility of an actual competition to that engine. The bike itself is another matter but that engine is cool by far the best on the range. This one I would like I might be wrong but I don’t think I am this has been changed from the last version. I wrote this feels more raw, more violence. The third gear full throttle and it does pull you back and keep to pull back until the red line literally the tracer gives you that huge jolt and big smile on your face. Then keeps pushing you violently and then that’s 9,000 rpm, it starts sputtering out starts going and you feel the engine going soft so you are being pulled back. Then when you reach 9k that is when you start going back slightly. It is still accelerating but it starts not accelerating as much starts running out of steam. When it reaches the redline you already shifted up because you notice that it is no longer on its happy place. This one when it starts pulling it will not stop until you hit the redline and I have a nagging suspicion that if the redline was higher it would just keep on going so it’s different. It is very good than the last one I liked. It also have this just keep pulling think but it was not the same. I think this is a bit more wrong especially when you are going in. It is heavy place 5,000 rpm or so and then suddenly you get scared and you just choke the throttle and it just tries to lift the wheel so it’s not slouch. This one feels less civilized this is a bit more of an uncivilized engine which I love. I have the memory, I wrote the other one a long time ago but I have the memory the other one was just too civilized was a very suit and this is more of a not even going to say it is a casual dressing or a casual casual office tie this is more like a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy it is not yet the hooligan with the Mohawk and the spikes that the tracer is but it’s a bit more a more relaxed guy, it is a bit more or less formal which is good now. Comparing this directly with the tracer who would get the tracer and who would get this. If you want to do some more further if you want to off road, this is the Machine this will do both okay. If you just want to do roads you can choose any of it either a traitor or this if you only want to do the road because this is very comfortable on the roads and the wind protection out of the box is great much better than the tracer miles. Better if there is no wind here my hand is getting no kind of impact. can feel the wind here then here there is no wind on my hand. There’s no way oh there’s a bit that’s coming in through me down here. It is very colorful on the road so you could choose both. If you want more relaxed right and you don’t care about turning your rear tire into smoke this is the one. If you want pure hooliganism while the engine will ease stop is basically being annoying as hell then you have the tracer for you. Both will do great on big trips without having done the end to end. I would say that this would be much better on a big trip than the tracer but after having done a huge trip on the tracer accorded itself spectacularly. This one will be even better this doc seat is very country. I am just going to put it to her faces so you can see this box seats, it’s very country better than the tracer stops. It is not quite as good as a tracer comfort seats but I do believe there is the comfort seats for this one. This will do easily 200 kph or more kills faster at the top end than the tracer. I am talking about the tracer because like it or not Sukie tracer is your competition to this bike. It is a huge leap up being right for very many good reasons and your prophet Suzuki is very good alternative. We will not directly competing because this does not appeal to the same people. If you want to do off-road, I would highly suggest this little baby. I am just amazed at just how well it copes with all kinds of stupid terrain and stupid bumps and it is just I still can’t quite get through my thick skull just how good it was there. That road would be murder on my butt on the tracer and I went through. If you remember on the Portuguese in two ends we went through a big a big road with cobblestone roads, a gigantic cobblestone road and I had to stand up because I just could not stand it and I said it’s trying to shake my bike apart because I was going the whole time. The windscreen was going completely nuts. You can check that video out just for comparison. This one on the road that is easily worse zero issue. I am absolutely amazed and then the most amazing part is that it actually works on the roads too which I don’t quite get how that is possible but I just tell you how it feels and it feels great over bumps. And it is very good on the roads. You do feel the height on the road when you’re cornering but you already need to be a bit experienced. You need to have ridden other bikes to feel in this detail when you’re cornering it. Just the 250 is completely stuck on the road. This one is a bit more nervous when you’re leaned over on the roads. It is not dramatic, I am not saying it is bad. I am just saying it’s not as good as a more sporty bike which is exactly the points. The point is not to do corners at our six speeds. The point is that you can keep up with an r6 you will capture in a few up ahead. You will catch her again or just stay in the general vicinity as a with an r6. A guy going fast you can’t do that won’t be able to keep up with.It is just soon, it’s just more tuned for comfort and for city riding. Marvelous, it is so good actually that I would be tempted. I would be tempted by this one truthfully. I love the trail I just adore my tracer. It is like the best bike I have ever had not that I have had that many but it’s just perfect for me. Super exciting elements but this one has that little star. Exciting star because if I had this on, if I bought full of these I knew on this one I can go off-road whenever. I can just go on the tracer and maybe not this one has these tires which work on the road but they also work very well. Off-road has these mixed tires are more on-road but there are better than real tires on the dirts so it is I can actually work on the dirts not perfect They will work I am, this one is quite tempting and it’s no longer and the engine is I think it’s improved. I don’t know what they did I hope I get back and then he doesn’t tell me now. It is the same exact engine didn’t change a thing. I will feel pretty stupid if it’s the exact same one but I’m nearly 100% sure this has been changed from the last version. It feels more raw more fun more tracer which is going to start being a verb and it’s agile enough it’s not quite as agile as the sporty tracer but it can do this you saw me doing that roundabouts easily without even thinking so it’s not a slouch. It just moves, it’s not a superlight 250 cc bike which just goes whenever you think that’s corner there and just flies there but it’s still an a pretty agile bike to to run around the city on the 250. It is just brilliant. It is just on another league but this one is still very good. It’s easy on the same league as all the other adventure bikes so yeah it’s a very good adventure bike and I’m going for lunch at McDonald’s. I’m going to regret it later so yeah that’s it’s the v-strom 650 again what a wonderful bike Suzuki interrupts.
