RUST magazine: RUST#37

LONG TERMER
SUZUKI PART ONE
V-STROM 650XT
With a plan to ride the adventure class at the Rallye du Maroc in
October, JB was super-keen to revisit a bike he tested two years ago,
and rated highly. Suzuki liked JB’s plan, too, and now this V-Strom
650XT is going to be heading to Morocco…
LONG TERMER
Words & Images: JB
SETTING THE CONTEXT
Was it two years ago?
Maybe longer. Anyway,
it was Ireland in winter,
with snow, and Suzuki
were there with an uprated and updated
V-Strom, delivered in adventure ‘XT’
format with wire-spoke wheels, ready
to test. And was I impressed? I was. (see
https://www.rustsports.com/metal/
adventure/suzuki-v-strom-650xt_405.
html)
Suzuki’s vee-twin 650cc motor has
been brilliant right from the get-go,
when it was first sat in the SV650
roadster of 1999. Yeah, n-n-n-nnineteen
years ago. So it’s a long-lived
and super-reliable power unit, with
great character. Then, when the first
V-Stroms arrived in 2004 it proved itself
to be a great ‘all-rounder’, too, being
a capable comfortable commuter as
well as tourer – while a few adventure
w
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