2008 Suzuki DL1000 One year owners report

[BikePilot]

Well I can be a pretty good maintenance skipper If suzuki would make a DL1000R with 17" wheels and sport bike spec brakes/suspension, minimal bodywork and minimal mass I'd be all over it. I'm just used to smallish bikes and as comfy, smooth and competent as the DL is its not for me but I can definitely recognize how amazingly capable it is

I rode a ducati hypermotard and liked that a lot, only real complaint is its tiny gas tank, but that's a killer. Trying to do 1000 mile days while stopping every 90 miles would get old pretty quick

[slash]

unreal writeup, thanks for sharing...

[N2wheelies]

again, great writeup. totally appreciated. often thought i would enjoy that very bike. i only mentioned the top box because the only time ive riden without a passenger or my box was to the races one day, and it a very noticeable difference at speed with my little givi screen.

[BikePilot]

The small smoke screen really does look good on the bike, I think that's the best looking DL I've seen One thing I just remembered, I saw a guy once on a Wee who had these little plastic vortex generators along the side of the front plastic, not on the screen but down around where the "vstrom" is written. He was some sort of airplane guy and insisted that they made a world of difference in buffeting

[gixxerjasen]

Great writeup. Looks like the top box is a little faded or needs some armour all.

Glad the big V is doing well for you, looking forward to next years review.

[gixxerjasen]

Great writeup. Looks like the top box is a little faded or needs some armour all.

Glad the big V is doing well for you, looking forward to next years review.

[D'Ecosse]

Nice rounded report - I wish we'd see more posts like this. Although that type of bike doesn't really fit my personal usage, I can see the appeal and regardless of whether I would ever consider one, I enjoyed the report.

But - how do you stop that thing? Those brakes are woeful on the SV650 let alone that heavier more powerful enitity.
Check out this post - same part applies to the VStrom also.

[BikePilot]

The Vee I rode felt like it stopped ok. Perhaps the soft stock forks and skinny front tire reduced my desire to really get on the binders super hard looking back, but when I rode one the brakes felt just fine - interested to hear WS's take

[Wingspan]

The bike stops just fine, and my last bike was an Aprilia Mille R with pad per piston Brembos. It takes more of a squeeze, but I've had no motivation modify the brakes.

[BikePilot]

See what you need to do is fit 05+ SV1 TB's, heads and ECU and set the squish to .9mm to get TL-like thrust, then perhaps you'll need some blingy brembos