Never owned a Suzuki, so i'm not talking from my own experience, but I do know hondas, and the Transalp will far outlive the others in terms of build quality, and those engines are derived from the old Reveres/ntv's, which were couriers favorites, and bloody indestructible. I have seen suzi's fall of their stands and the footrests/levers are made of chocolate... they just snap. I know this because i've replaced them on my mates sv650.
In a nutshell, good engines and gearboxes, but wont take the punishment of a Honda.
Good luck!
PS. And better on the road than any single cylinder.

thanks for advices and comments leevtr.

yes, honda's are solid bikes. many people says 'as reliable as honda". hovever, as I stated in my first post, honda is the reserve options. TA is like an apple, it is not bad, but you see it everywhere and you get bored of it.

enjoy!

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Ozhanu--were you not happy with your BMW--just curious--since I was considering buying a Dakar 650 for similiar riding

hi weaklinks,

my bmw was 1997 make strada model. so, it was quite different from the f650gs models. it was a good bike, many people did rtw with it (even a woman benka pulko). the problem with bmw is, it is expensive to fix when it is broken. and also the parts. it might be cheaper in the US, however in many eu countries and in Turkiye it is expensive.

if you do a search on HUBB there is a deep discussion going on about bmw's reliability. many claims that bmw's are not as reliable as the japanies one where the other claims bmw's are worlds #1. I am not an experienced rider like them. but, for my two sent worth, if you dont push toooo hard f650gs dakars can go everywhere, can do everything.

a friend of mine just complited his trip from France to Malaysia and will continue to Australia and had zero problem on a brand new dakar.

hope this helps

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Had an SV before, now I got a DL, and ridden 60.000+ kms on each one of them. Never had any problems whatsoever with sidestands or levers... dont know, if UK models are fitted with those made of chocolate, though!!

I had a few Africa Twins before, so I agree with Honda´s build quality and durability. The Vstrom, however, is just as fault-free, and matches Honda in taking a considerable amount of abuse. And it will outperform even the new 700 Transalp, nevermind the older 650 version. And carry more stuff on it, the Suzi´s got by far the sturdiest frame, so its handling will not be affected as much. Vstrom´s headlights are also an example for many, of how they should be.

1 vs 2 cylinders, which is better, I think will depend on where you´ll do most of your riding. A lighter thumper is naturally much better when the going gets tough (but you must keep in mind if its heavily loaded, might not be much fun either!) and the 2-cylinder will eat up the better roads and highways much smoother.

hi petcha and others..

thanks for the comments. i have found a 07 make black (not the shiny black) abs v-strom. the price is incredible even better than the UK price. it includes bash-plate, top-box, engine guards and new anekee tyres. i just need to get hand guards and TT rack. i'll see the bike on monday. however, the bad bit is that the odometer. he says that, after the changed the front tire with the odo connector was broken and it is still out of use. so, i am worrying about the real km that the bike has done. the owner said it was 25.000 km before the odo broken and he did something like 5000km after that. so it should be total 30.000-31.000 km.
and also it had a minor scratch on the left site because of dropping the bike while parking.

anyway, i'll take it to suzuki service before i buy. i think it should have a service history and the service guy should tell everything.

i am not worring about the cosmatic damage. i'm sure i'll drop the bike in morocco a few times. my only concern is the engine part. i dont want to spent money for mechanic in italy or in spain. if the engine is ok, i would buy it. i dont care if it is 30.000 or 35.000 km. there was a picture on HUBB of a dl650 odometer which shows 200.000 KM!!!

by the way, do you have any tips where should i pay attantion when i buy t he v-strom?

thanks

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Cant remember how it is on the DL, but on the SV you could easily crack the odometer spindle teeth, unless you aligned them correctly during assembly. Happened to me once, and also happened on a service shop when replacing the front. That should have been fixed right away, though.

But you can never be 100% sure of the odometer reading, when buying from someone you dont know. I would look at other things, the general condition of the machine, evidence of crash repairs, etc.

Here´s a tip: check the steering stoppers located on the frame outside the steering axle. If crashed hard, it is normal the bars hit the stoppers violently, leaving marks on them, that are unlikely to come from anything else. But because of fairings, you probably wont get to see them on the DL, you must feel them with your hand, which is more difficult. (On most bikes with lower pipes, crashing usually also leaves marks from them on the rear swingarm, when the pipes are bent against them, but on this bike thats unlikely). All these components can be replaced of course, but renewing a frame or a swingarm is expensive; more probable those marks have at best been painted to hide them.

Dont mean to scare you off any bike, and most people do not sell a crashed bike without mentioning it.

thanks for the comment and tip petcha. and you make me feel better with your experiences on SV odometer spindle teeth. I think he is not lying. He said that he is going to buy a house and his name is on the list on the net. So, most probably he needs cash for the house.

Will check the steering stoppers anyway

Thanks again!!

Did I mentioned it was black so it should be faster then the other DL's

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ozhan u.
website under construction

It is all about choice. Light or heavy; one or two cylinders.

A Beemer guy will never give up from his BMW. Others will say, finding parts easily around the world is more important.

There is no maintenance free and indestructible bike. Some prefer simple bikes, some more electronics, etc.

The best is IMHO, the bike which you are familiar and think you will be happy with. A short test ride of several days helps a lot.

To me, it seems a 2 cylinder bike suits more to your needs as you will ride more on tarmac. If you are going to ride to longer distances like TR to east Russia via Mongolia, ok go for XT. If you will ride through dunes, ok XT is the answer. Othervise I don't think that you will be happy with XT.

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"where the traveller goes, nobody knows ! "