V Strom DL1000 '06
 

What's "you all's," opinion of this bike for trecking? CA - CR, possibley further.

I love the bike very comfortable for me. I am going to burn a whole bunch of gas though.

Spare parts to bring??

I'm guessing; Chain / Sprockets, foot pegs, shifter / break, O-filters, rear tire??????

Thanks for any comments / suggestions !!

Great choice! I would consider crash bars even though they add weight, worth it to save radiators in a fall. Hand guards too and bash plate.

Plenty of Vstroms have done this trip before you. I would consider running a TKC80 front tire for more security on dirt roads but this will hurt on road manners. Take it slow off road and the bike will do OK. Stay off beaches, out of Salt water and mud. Rough roads are OK, up graded suspension can help a lot on a loaded up bike.

If gas mileage sucks it probably means you made the mistake of putting a Power Commander on your bike, Right? Take it off and go back to stock F.I. program ... or close to stock. You should be getting 43 to 47 mpg on average. If you go 90 mph all day, MPG will suffer and tires and chain will be gone quick.

Take spare levers (cheap)
Start with new Iridium plugs
Radiator service (fluid flush)
All fresh brake fluid
Grease shock linkage (all bearings) before you go
Spare air filter (dirty in 10,000 miles. Don't try to clean old one and do start with brand new filter)
Spare countershaft sprocket (change after 10k miles)
Put together nut /bolt kit and good tool kit.
How many miles on your bike?

Going slower on fast highways will really save tires, chain and sprockets. Rear brake pads wear quick, bring spare set. Front last well. (15,000 plus miles)

Thanks Mickey D
 

YES, your right about the Power Comand Mod. I bought the bike with it on. Had to spend allot of money to get it tuned initially when I took it over.

Can I (mechanic) pull the Mod. w/o going back to stock pipes? The guy put Holeshot pipes on. Sounds like a monster which only encourages me to use more throttle. I'm in the process of breaking this pattern though.

The bike has 27k on it.

Many thanks for the time you took to write!

You can take the PC out of the loop and re-connect all stock plugs in stock configuration. System will "re-learn" and go back to default F.I. settings.
A dealer can "Tweak" the stock F.I. map to get rid of the infamous 4K stumble if you've got it. Have them use the Yosh Box to do this, or if you can get hold of a Yosh box, you can do it yourself. I did mine. Takes five minutes.
Richens up lean areas, leans out rich areas. Better MPG, Better performance.

Aftermarket pipes are fine with stock F.I. tuning. I ran Remus Titanium pipes with stock F.I. settings. Then did Yosh Box tuning. Ran fine, better fuel economy, better performance everywhere. Remus were 18 lbs. lighter than stock. 70K miles. Perfect, no problems ever.

27K is a young bike. The Vstrom will easily go over 100,000 miles and many are there now. I had an early one ('02) and did have the clutch "Chudder", replaced it twice under warranty, and did a 3rd time using an SV1000 basket/bearing which eliminated the problem 100%. Your lucky, your '06 has the new design and is quiet. No other problems I know about.
On the road the Air filter is the only thing you've got to watch. In really dusty conditions can clog up quick. Some car filters work. Find out which.
Vstrom boards someone will know. Or go to ADV Beasts forum and ask.