DL 650 Adventure
 

While at the Utrecht (Netherlands) Motorbike show today i saw a wee-strom Adventure. I guess big company exec's are noticing......

No major mod's apart from a fairly thin factory bash plate and engine/faring and handguards etc. It certainly looked the part. No doubt they were the 3 most common aftermarket mod's done to the strom.

Bmw's 800GS was very nice indeed but what really took my eye was the new Yammie Tenere... whoa who whoa! I came over all funny I did! I just couldn't walk away from it. Now I just have to hope a lot of cafe tourer's buy it and then i can get it 2nd hand next year with 1500km on the clock ;)

That's the DL650X Steve; as you say, it has a few extras and sells in the UK for around £5200-5300.
There are a range of other DL650s with various add-ons, all aimed at different users of course.

The new Tenere is going here for around £4900, but I have seen an advance advert offering one for £4800, TBC (on ebay UK). I asked a Yam dealer the other day and he says they won't be in the showrooms here until April.

The 800GS waiting list is probably getting longer by the day!!

Cheers,

ps I have never bought a new bike, ever, but there is always a chance of that changing - no rush!

The stand price for the Tenere was 5999 euros. Right next to it was the XT660 Dakar for 5500...... I think an extra 500 would be worth it!!!

And too right Dave; just getting someone to break it in for ya! A perfect exaple is the sheer amount of 1200GS's for sale with 3 & 4000 km's on the clock!

That's a good price at the current exchange rates!

A "660 Dakar" has not been shown over here to my knowledge from the annual bike show in the UK last Nov (and the Tenere is not at the current show that is running in London, according the Yam UK a few weeks ago).
What is/are the difference(s)?

Odd that they aren't selling the Dakar in Ol' blighty!?

See the link below it's in Dutch but the numbers are the same ;)

The Dakar is really just a standard XT660 with a perspex windscreen (about 250mm higher than the std front. A set of alu Hepco and Becker boxes.( i think these are included, I've seen plenty for sale secondhand and they've all had the boxes I can't read Dutch so I'm not sure about this) The comparison show's a different weight but i suspect that's a typo.


Motorcycle Comparison Details

Got a DL650A
 

...though the A on mine stands for ABS!

I think Suzuki should make a REAL Adventure-version of this bike. More ground clearance, suspension better suited for offroad, and some more protection to enhance its crashability (which I have been lucky enough not to test, but i think wont be very good as it is).

In general, however, its more suited for adventure than it looks. Even the cast wheels seem to handle a certain amount of abuse quite well. It works like a clock under any condition, on almost any type of fuel. Ground clearance is the only thing that it needs desperately, and that can be modified rather easily. A little less weight of course would not hurt, if there will be any mud-wrestling or similar activities involved.

My K7's now got over 36.000kms on the clock, and we've done a trip from Europe to India to the Far East with it, over 20.000km (and thats 2-up, and HUGE amount of luggage onboard!) I must say Im gladly surprised of this bikes abilities, and the engine really is a peach. Getting this much load to move around isnt an easy task, and its handling it superb (for only 650cc).

Be interesting to get to try the new Transalp 700 and BMW 800GS.. the Honda on paper doesnt look like its going to be a DL-beater, but maybe the Beemer might be. For the price, I think the DL will still be a bargain compared to these.

Pecha,
Nice post, your trip seems to be going very well, as is your DL650.
Yes, there are a few versions of the WeeStrom now - I think there is a GT (Grand Tourer) as well, with all the boxes (plastic) fitted.
They are all very competitive on pricing.
Of course, this is Suzuki marketing to keep up the sales figures - the bike has not changed in the basics for some years, and I would also like to see them change it a bit and make it a bit more "rugged" off the shelf; the plastics for one.

Steve,
That NL Yam webpage is interesting; there is no direct equivalent to the 660 Dakar in the UK Yam page. It is possible or even likely that Yam NL are marketing this bike themselves.
I have learnt not to trust the information in webpages - as you say, they can have too many typos or even simply wrong information.
In this case, there are quite a few differences between the 3 bikes on there, not least in the weights quoted - the Tenere is the heaviest and the 660R with boxes is lighter than the donor bike!

Fuel capacities is another set of figures to study, but one of the bikes has an engine that is 1 cc smaller than the others :rolleyes2:.


New Transalp: there are some posts elsewhere about this bike.

F800GS: stand clear of the rush at the dealers!!

KTM 690 Adv: where is it?

Pekka,

Sounds like a great trip! (photos??) I haven't personally heard much about the strom. You obviously enjoy the bike. Approx how much was your total weight on the bike? (Including yourselves and the lugguage) On good roads what does the bike comfortably cruise at loaded like this? Fuel consumstion?

I swung a leg over one at the bike show on the weekend and was plesently surprissed how comfortable the riding postion was. ( for the 1 minute i was on the bike at least!)

Cheers,

Steve

"Approx how much was your total weight on the bike?"

Frankly, I dont know... but we have 3 large panniers (2 aluminium), a very big tank bag, a set of spare tyres hanging on the sides of the fuel tank (!) and two approx 10-15 litres luggage rolls strapped to the crashbars. That is a LOT!! Even loading up the bike with these in the morning, and taking them off for the night is an exercise in itself...

I have probably never ridden a bike with this much luggage on it, and its managing the situation quite well. The suspension (which is stock) is way too soft now, but the thing is still rideable, you just need to keep the weight in mind. Next time Im going to upgrade the springs to stiffer ones, and maybe even replace the rear unit. But we have been able to cover all this distance with the stock setup, so it aint that bad.

"On good roads what does the bike comfortably cruise at loaded like this?"

In Turkey & Iran, and later on in Thailand and Malaysia, when the roads have been smooth and fine, we can easily cruise at 120-130 kms per hour all day. If the need arises, we can go up to 140-150, but after that the spare tyres start vibrating, and they make the front end feel unstable. At 130 the thing is totally stable (the mass of course might help to make it so, but Im still pleasantly surprised)... I know how a Transalp or an Africa Twin would be, if loaded like this, and ridden at such speed, and I must say the DL is way better for highway-cruising with big luggage.

"Fuel consumption?"

One of the big highlights of this bike (and remember, Im talking about the 2007-model, which needs to comply to the latest Euro3-emission norms, and it has several modifications compared to the 2006, twin spark heads, for example). It really uses very little gas. Of course we've been mostly riding at steady speed all day, but I wouldve thought that this much load means the consumption will skyrocket. It doesn't.

Before this trip, when I mostly rode 1-up, and with very little luggage (no panniers) it used some 3.9 - 4.5 litres for 100km. During the trip its been using around 4.2 - 5.5 litres... usually the number starts with a 4.

Its got a 22 L tank, so we're able to go 400 kms easily, or 450 if we need to (I think that if we rode at steady 70-80, we might be able to go 500 kms, havent tried, though).

That (low consumption & long range) in my book is a very big plus, when on a trip like this.

This bike is not perfect.. but for the money, its damn good. Besides, you can really enjoy the curvy roads with it, too (better leave most of the luggage at the hotel, though!).. not many touring bikes handle as well as the DL.

Thanks for the great write up Pekka! Sounds like the DL is the "quiet achiever" of the touring world. There certianly seams to be plenty of them out there.

Some good food for thought!

Steve

"There certianly seams to be plenty of them out there" - yes, in Europe and probably in many places in the western world, you see a lot of these bikes.

We havent seen even one since the coast of western Turkey, and have since that gone through Iran, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia and are now in Sumatra. Must be at least 15000 kms since we last saw a DL other than ours!

If your not planning to do a lot of real offroading, and your travels will include plenty of the open highway, or any amount of smaller roads with (relatively) good surface, I would take a careful look at this bike.