The big DL650 disappointment

[talbertnz]

Well I had the Wee for the Wee-kend from colmans suzuki, and took it from Aukl to Matatmata for fathers day yesterday With my better half on the back!

I Was hoping she would realy like the bike.
Turns out it was a 4 hour nightmare for her.... (2hr either way)

It was stunning beautiful day and I thought it would probably warm up as the morning sun rose futher up the horizon. but it didnt it was stinking cold on the bike in our SUMMER bike gear.. 14odd degrees id say max ... but thats not the bikes fault.

I was nicely out of the MAIN wind blast on the motorway Which made the motorway quite comfy. the bike had extra adjustable little windscreen lip added onto the screen wich worked wonders compared to just stock which caused a lot of buffeting.

My GF on the other hand was not having any fun!
She experienced major buffeting and what ever we tried ( movig windscreen lip up and down, me bending forward, backward, stretching right out,) nothing helped! (She/we never had trouble on the DR apart from sore bum and bit cramped 2up)

Then there was the main reason why I dont want this bike:
All the (freeking cold) wind that gets deflected by the front of the bike is being pushed to both sides, comes around the tank sucks past your upper legs and right onto mister pipi (who happily retracted to stay warm) ... and from there onwards travels upwards on your upper body/chest and blows a nice amount of cold air onto your chin inside the helmet and disapears towards Missus on the back (hence turbulance?)

So this would have been fantastic, if I was single and lived in HOT Northern ozzi, or was born an air/oil cooled cylinderhead of a DR 650.
But since Neither of the above applies to me/us I/we was verry disapointed and very cold!!!

Then when I had a chance to do a quik flick trough a rounabout something (footpeg?) started scraping on the ground well before I was planning to stop leaning over. didnt try again after that.
The seat is better then the DR ofcourse but still not as good as I had hoped for longer distance touring for the pillion (not wide enough).

On the positive The Engine is soooo creamy smooth right from 2.5 to 10k revs, bike handles great on the open highway soaks up bumps, and seemed well behaved on the gravel and grass around mum and dads orchard.
We where doing 170kmh in no time 2up following a nutcase boyracer on the motorway. (anything above 130 made gf head feel as if it was about to snap off tho (buffeting))

The Venture rack was great! in combination with elastic net thing! held all the lugage well.

I was realy hoping this trip would make me want the DL650weestrom..

I Might have to have another serious Look at the new Xl700V transalp.

The Dl is UNFORTUNLTLY : ...off my wish List.....

PS. Thanks for all the replies I'm not a big KTM fan, dont like the look of the scrambler or tiger and I'm just f***in pickie I guess

[talbertnz]

BTW I had a cold comming up, which is now a major cold from getting stinking cold yesterday voice is gone, snot evrywhere and heavily on the codral trying to soldier on!

[Jantar]

...
It was stunning beautiful day and I thought it would probably warm up as the morning sun rose futher up the horizon. but it didnt it was stinking cold on the bike in our SUMMER bike gear.. 14odd degrees id say max ... but thats not the bikes fault. ....

Its a nice balmy 9 degrees here at the moment, and after a quick bite of lunch I'm going to hop on my Strom for pleasant 400km blast. I don't find the VStrom to blow cold air anywhere that you wouldn't get on a naked bike. So reading your impressions I'd say it definitely isn't the bike for you.

[Eddieb]

Its a nice balmy 9 degrees here at the moment, and after a quick bite of lunch I'm going to hop on my Strom for pleasant 400km blast. I don't find the VStrom to blow cold air anywhere that you wouldn't get on a naked bike. So reading your impressions I'd say it definitely isn't the bike for you.

I met a gent with Aslan at the cold kiwi who has exactly the same issue with where the draft goes. He made up some sort of clipon soft deflector that sat around the tank just above the thighs to stop that.

[talbertnz]

exactly what I dont want. Having to spend another $3000 on ugly deflectors, seats, and screens to make a bike that is supose to be designed for longer distance touring comfy.
I think that should allready be good! before I fork out 15 grand on a new bike!

Quote I just saw on advrider: ...You cant realy see how ugly the weestrom is when you sit on it anyway...

[Padmei]

Prob the best thing you did Tal, imagine if you bought one in the heat of summer & enjoyed the nice cool breeze as you rode. You prob wouldn't have thought about winter.
Keep on trying other bikes, there's one out there with your name on it. What about a beemer?

[talbertnz]

r1100 1200 etc beemers look scary big
I like the look of the new f650/800 but they are verry pricey

[Eddieb]

r1100 1200 etc beemers look scary big
I like the look of the new f650/800 but they are verry pricey

They do look scary, not once parked next to a v strom though, the size difference isn't much if anything.

[jafar]

r1100 1200 etc beemers look scary big
I like the look of the new f650/800 but they are verry pricey

Have you looked @ the BMW G650 GS ??
$15k new
http://www.bmwmotorrad.co.nz/scripts...lCategoryID=71

[Padmei]

r1100 1200 etc beemers look scary big
I like the look of the new f650/800 but they are verry pricey

Go have a try on the 800 at Experience BMW. Great guys & I'm sure you'll like it

[2much]

Don't like the nakedness? put some clothes on her... still the best bike you mentioned there...

[Kokopelli]

The new F650/2GS is an excellent bike. If my wife's bike didn't have the low seat and the fork tubes pushed through a bit, I'd be riding it more often than just for a warrant or to get new tyres.

Some people rate it over the F800GS. The F650 feels about as quick as my R1150GS and is a lot smoother. It has a nice exhaust note right out of the box.

They appear to be selling really well, but I am sure if you keep your eyes peeled, you'll come across some secondhand bikes. Just make sure all the updates have been done.

[talbertnz]

Yeah Ill just have to make do with my van for now...
I should realy dust off the old ss50 as well and
save up for transalp or beemer.

[jafar]

Yeah Ill just have to make do with my van for now...
I should realy dust off the old ss50 as well and
save up for transalp or beemer.

Or a BIG WEDNESDAY

[Winston001]

The thing I have always liked about BMW bikes is the engineering. Admittedly my experience is limited to air-heads. The design is so clever and efficient. One shim to release the tank. One nut to release the back wheel. A lot of thought has gone into this.