Carry on Doctor!

Suzuki’s big V-Strom has some new retro clothes for 2020 and we love the look!

- MIKKO NIEMINEN

The retro-wave has been washing our shores for a good while now, but for big adventure touring bikes it’s a new thing.

Suzuki is the first to the party with the V-Strom 1050, although we can expect plenty of other brands to follow suit, judging by the recent concept bikes from the likes of Ducati and Husqvarna, as well as paint jobs on the likes of the Yamaha Ténéré 700.

With the new V-Strom, Suzuki has taken inspiration from the DR-Z Paris-Dakar race bike and the DR Big production machine from the 1980s – and we love it!

Suzuki designers took the rectangular headlight as a key design concept, maintained the familiar ‘beak’ (which they claim was introduced to the world on the DR-Z, then copied by pretty much all adventure bike manufacturers), mimicked some of the lines of the old bikes, but kept the look modern and recognisably V-Strom. For me, the looks work a treat, especially in the DR Big-inspired white/orange and the Suzuki off-road racing yellow colour schemes, which are limited to the XT model (more about the differences in a moment). The links to the old Suzuki machinery are not just a nod to the past – the styling of the new bikes has been led by the same man who designed the DR Big.