I’ve long had a soft spot for the Suzuki V-Strom 1000, ever since the phase 2 model came out in 2014. It wasn’t the fastest, the most technologically advanced or even the most capable of bikes in its class, but it was a good, hard-working, do-everything bike. I ran one for around 8000 miles and did everything from touring to commuting to green-laning on it. It’s a shame that a lot of people overlook them in favour of bikes more exotic, not to mention more expensive, as fundamentally they’re a solid, capable and good value adventure machine.
They just lack a bit of attitude and dirt road ability, which is something I hoped to remedy with this loan bike from Suzuki, addressing a few of the bike’s shortcomings and highlighting some of the areas you might want to look at when equipping your own bike for adventure. To help with the job I headed over to the Adventure Bike Shop in Sudbury, ran by global travellers Cliff and Jenny who a few years back went around the world on their own two-wheeled trip and so have the knowledge and stock to help kit out your own bike. We began with the footpegs…
FOOTPEGS
This story is from the December 2019 edition of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure.
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This story is from the December 2019 edition of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure.
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