Well it's a long and somewhat embarrassing story, which I may tell in another thread, but I had occassion to drop my beloved C50T into Bikesport in Helensville for a check-up on Monday and he gave me the DL as a loaner for a couple of days.
Now Matthew out there, and staff, are great people and I recommend them. Last service he loaned me a 1250S Bandit which I wrote a report on, and I was keen to try the wee V-Strom, or Wee-Strom as it's been dubbed, due to the many rave reviews from testers and owners world-wide.
What a fabulous little bike! Light, nimble, very fast and very comfortable!
Once I adapted to the fact that it was quite tall and the pegs weren't out in front attached to the forks and I moved my arms inwards about half a meter to the handlebars. I set off for home.
As noted, it is a tall bike and I was on tippy-toes despite my 5'11" but once seated and underway it was a great place to be. Great views from way up there!
First things noticed were the light weight, the height and the smoothness of the 650 V-twin. It's a high-revving bike compared to the C50T and 100km/h sees the tach at 4600rpm, a tad under the 5100rpm of my old GSX-F600. But quiet and smooth, so much so that you're unaware of the revs and with the redline up around 11,500, not under any stress at all. Actually 100km/h is probably close to the C50T for revs, but not sure as the Boulevard doesn't have a tach.
Power? In spades, mate! I reckon 130-140km/h would be a comfortable cruise and 160 is passed with disdain! Don't know what the top end would be but somewhere over 180 seems well within it's capabilities. Two-up touring? No probs! Seat is big and very comfy and the ride position just relaxed enough.
Acceleration is impressive and the poor old C50T wouldn't see which way a DL650 went if one wound it out through the gears! It is a seriously fast bike! (Okay, I haven't ridden a Gixxer thou...). I found myself conscious of my licence whereas on my bike I never worry about the HP.
Handling? Well I was in a bit of a hurry to get out to Helensville this evening to pick my bike up, and went out through Albany-Coatesville/Riverhead onto Old North Rd and left onto Peak into Helensville. Traffic was reasonably heavy, so there was some quick overtaking and some, shall we say, spirited cornering... Even on the very tall DL, I was close to touching the toes down on corners and that's a long way over... Let's say the handling is really good - stable, solid, no drama's, no twitching, just goes around harder and faster until I ran out of nerve.
Braking is smooth and strong, one-finger, and again no issues. It just stops as hard as you want or need.
Matthew had been experimenting with different screens and the fairly low one fitted was probably ideal for most. No buffeting issues, but being spoiled by the big window on my bike, I'd try a taller screen anyway, as I'm not used to wind noise these days - not requiring ear-plugs on the Boulevard, but finding them neccessary on the V-Strom.
It is the first bike I've ridden since buying the C50T that could tempt me to give up the cruiser. Not quite, but so close! It I were to choose a bike to tour NZ on or even the world, I doubt I could do a lot better than the DL.
The light weight, the tall, narrow style and the comfort does it for me the way few bikes ever have. Lane-splitting is brilliant! Plenty of power for two-up as well! The engine surprised with it's torque and smoothness, and when asked the question, responded with alacrity! By tonight, it was starting to bring out the hooligan in this old bloke! And I was finding myself making corners out of bends just because...
I even found myself liking the looks after the first ride! A brilliant bike, and I recommend finding one and getting a ride on it!
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