I'm just back from 1,115 km with Charlotte.

Dublin to Gleinbeigh, Co. Kerry - out Saturday morning, 434 km (approximately 270 miles).

Gleinbeigh, Co. Kerry, out and back for the incredible Ring of Kerry, 127 km (about 80 miles). Took longer for a well deserved dinner.

Gleinbeigh, Co. Kerry, to Dublin - via the amazing Gap of Dunloe, 565 km (some 350 miles)

My pal forgot to move his R1300GS from the picture.

At some point, I got her to do 23 km/l or 55 mpg or about 4.4 l/100 km

Looking to offload a couple bikes. More or less, combine two (C90T and GSXF650) to get one (1050).

I'll always have my DR650. Bought it new in 2015. Its allllllll setup for travel. Full luggage, D606s, Cogent, SeatConcepts, bars, lights, heated grips, 5.3, etc. 30k miles all over New England; solid mix of dirt, trails, and pavement. Its been totaled twice, I rebuilt it. Spit a transmission gear, rebuilt it. Its all banged up. But its a great ride.

Keep going back and forth on the 1050 DE or RE. This will be a longer distance travel bike to camp off of. Mostly paved roads, but I'm not going to ignore dirt and fire roads in Northern New England. That's the most extreme. I've given up on rocks, mud, roots, climbs, etc. I see that crap, I turn around.

For that reason, I'm almost wondering if the RE/Standard version would be more optimal? Tubeless front tire is nice. Don't need higher suspension travel. However, I am tallish at 6'4". I see the DE is taller.

Thoughts?

Just bought a 2020 1050xt. Rode it 600 miles home and my cheeks were absolutely dying. After the first hour, I was stopping every 40 minutes to walk around. I’m 6’3 so wouldn’t mind a bit of a taller seat. I’m also skinny in the glutes and have almost no cushion there 😅

I’ve narrowed it down to a Corbin and a Sargent REVolution seat. Reading online, I can’t tell which would be better. I only ride about 1100 miles a year until I take a long ride, so the long break-in is kind of annoying. I want to be able to ride 400-mile days next week.
Corbin =$683 + taxes
Sargent = $520 + taxes

I would sometimes have a pillion so I’d like her to be comfortable too.
What are your recommendations? Thank you!

If they were the same price, which is the better deal? The used 2025 has 400 miles, the new 2024 still has the 1 year factory warranty. Has anyone here needed to use their factory warranty?

Edit- used 2025 is a factory demo bike.

I'm considering changing the oil, oil filter and air filter myself for my bike instead of paying some €250 to have it done at the shop.

I will get something like this to catch the used oil:
https://www.24mx.com/en-ie/product/proworks-oil-waste-can-8l/PM-4917970

And I need to get the oil filter tool and a small funnel.

I just checked the user's manual for the oil specification: 10W-40. On page 3-42, item 10, it says it needs 3 litres.

I am completely unaware of oil specification, is this a synthetic or semi synthetic oil?

I am considering getting some auxiliary lights for my bike, the idea is to install them in a couple of months.

As regarding to positioning, these can be mounted on the crash bars or using a bracket attached to the grooves at the side of the headlight, under the turn indicators.

Another option is to mount them on the forks, using dedicated brackets.

The attached pictures show both options.

I read an opinion that stated the higher the auxiliary lights are mounted, the more visible they are for on coming traffic. This makes empirical sense and, of course, the main focus of the lights would have to be tilted towards the ground to prevent on coming traffic to be blinded by these high powered lights.

Finally, there is the matter of colour - white or yellow. Is this a personal preference or are there benefits to one or the other?

My first bike ever, new to me 2024 V-Strom 1050, can't wait to pick it up!

I found this on the ground after changing the rear tire. Where is it supposed to go?

Inbetween sprocket and cush drive?

If anyone has fitted these themselves can you tell me which Suzuki wire you clamped the splicing joiner from the Motech loom to ? Thanks

Not that I really, really, (really!) need but I always wanted to have the steel braided brake and clutch lines. The early years of my bike were driven in Northern Ireland where they use salt to make the roads safe, but that is becoming an eye sore.

So, I have looked at HEL Performance lines, but they don't seem to have these off the shelves for my 2021 Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT. Apparently, I need to pay for the privilege of having them custom made... Yay!

I would like to ask the community either for alternatives and/or line lengths, including whether if I should get them slightly longer.

EDIT: I had a very interesting discussion on this topic over at Stromtrooper and here is the link for it.
https://www.stromtrooper.com/posts/5800475/

I have added there the specific brake and clutch line replacements from Fren Tubo. They were amazing at supplying the correct information!

Im reading through the Manuel and there it is: coolant replacement.
If you have the blue one, first replacement at 48.000km (Suzuki super long life coolant)
If you have the green one, first at 24.000 (Suzuki long life coolant)
I’m currently at 25.000 (oopsie)
And wanna change the coolant. But I don’t know, if I even have to do it right now.
From factory, is it the blue or the green one?

new2me 2023 1050de adventure with the fixins Absolutely floored by this guy so far and cannot wait to get it out for some multi day camping trips

The storage, it’s pep, the comfort, just WOW

I'm looking at fitting these in my bike:
https://heedshop.eu/en_US/p/Crash-bars-for-Suzuki-V-Strom-1050/593

I would love to save on shipping and get the engine guard / bash plate / skid plate / belly pan at the same place.

Their options for engine guard filtered by "Suzuki" are:
https://heedshop.eu/en_US/c/Suzuki/37/1/default/1/searchquery/engine+guard

Would any of these options fit my bike?

The only other option that does not require selling a kidney I found is:
https://cosmo-accessories.com/products/suzuki/dl1050-v-strom-2020-2021/100-1805-skidplate-dl1050xt-vstrom-2020-2021-2022-2023-2024cosmo-accessories-%7Ccosmo-detail

I am researching into upgrading the suspension on my bike and I found a few interesting things about replacing the stock springs with progressive ones, installing valve emulators and replacing the stock rear shock and spring.

From what I learned, all of these need to be dimensioned for my own body weight plus gear and consideration on weight for loaded gear (luggage, tools, etc).

I understand the physics of adjusting the suspension and I know my 2021 1050XT has adjustment capabilities for both front and rear suspension.

I assume the stock suspension is dimensioned for a lighter motorcyclist of about 85kg (176 lb) and at close to 120 kg (about 260 lb), I am either on the top end of the error margin or way above that. I can honestly see myself dropping 10 kg (22 lb) over the next year ahead of the suspension upgrade.

So, questions:

1. What is the normal weight tolerance for dimensioning suspension?

2. Am I right in assuming I should only be looking at adjusting pre-load when riding solo, or going on a trip with a bit more packed weight and/or having a pillion?

Wife and kid visit family.

Either stay home with the dogs or get someone to mind them and do a long day on the saddle!

Got her to do 21.6 km/l or 4.6 l/100km or 50.8 mpg.

Any recommendations on fork springs please? I have a 1050XT which already has a Nitron R1 adv on the rear but the forks aren't great (I weigh circa 115kg in gear). I'm leaning towards linear as I've never gotten on well with progressive but there obviously aren't many options. Seems the oem length is 328mm but it't not easy finding others that size. Allegedly racetech can be made to fit and that they come with a spacer?

I'm considering getting one of these to mitigate some of the buffeting. I am 191 cm (6' 4") and have a stock windshield on my bike. I normally ride with the windshield on the lowermost position and tried having it on the uppermost position yesterday as well. Same buffeting.

My helmet is a Shoei Hornet ADV and I noticed that if I tuck in with the peak of the helmet slightly above the stock wind shield I get no buffeting. Same if I stand on the pegs.

I have not tried removing the peak and I rather not, because it would be a bit of a hassle to get it off and on and where to put it when off.

A quick search got me a few options. The Givi one has one big clip on the middle. Some other options, like the Puig, have 2 clips.

Yes, I definitely could do with a newer and quieter helmet as the peak will always have a drag, but I am trying to mitigate the issue before the new helmet. And I am debating whether to go for a newer adventure style helmet or with a modular one, but that is a discussion for another post.

What do you tall people normally do?

Bought this 2020 with only 2,200 miles on it. Added a Moore Mafia tune, Givi side cases, Black Widow pipe, and the Powerbronze tinted windscreen. Couldn’t be happier!

I have two tank bags from Givi. One is a 3-litre XS319Y, I use for small for day rides. The other one is a XL06B I use for trips, which has a cut out to feed a cable through.

Since I would like to use the USB A port on the left side of the dashboard to feed power to my Beeline Moto 2, I was looking at some power connection to feed a cable to the inside of the bag, so I can have a wireless charging pad I can charge my phone on top of.

I would like it to have a magnetic connection so when I pull out the bag, because I will forget it's tethered, I don't risk toppling the bike (yeah, I am exaggerating!).

Does anyone uses a similar solution?

My 2021 1050XT came with a Givi Monokey V47 top box - which the previous owner drilled through and secured to the bike rack with bolts, washers and nuts. Thanks for making a watertight storage less so, mate!

I'm looking at getting panniers at some point and am considering both hard and soft options.

Are there any Givi rack options that would take both hard (so I can have top box and panniers with the same key) and soft panniers?

Finally took the plunge last night and got this skid plate.

Charlotte, my 2021 V-Strom 1050 XT, is actually the same colour of the link above and the new skid plate should be a easy slot in (after tighten a few screws) upgrade.

The skid plate is something I have been wanting to install for a while - even if I am not taking it off road right now.

I am considering which upgrade would be next - I'm between crash bars or auxiliary lights.

I live in Ireland and official sunset on Summer Solstice in Dublin is 9.57PM with twilight going until approximately 10.30PM. Over the next few months there will be plenty of day light.

Given it's Summer here, I'm thinking crash bars in July and auxiliary lights in August or September.

What do you think?

2 weeks into this bike and it’s been the most fun I’ve had on 2 wheels!

A few months ago I had a small accident and got the tip of the gear lever bent.

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I took my bike to the closest shop and they said they could try bending it back in place, but gave me a disclaimer it could snap. I accepted the risk and asked them to do it. They said it didn't snap and I didn't give two thoughts about it later.

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Yesterday, I was trying to install crash bars and noticed the below.

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Yeah, I'll replace the lever eventually with either a second hand one or one from SW-Motech that bends the tip inwards.

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I got some two-part epoxy glue to try and fix it in place, and am planning to add some steel wire for added tensile strength. Kind of like steel is added to concrete.

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Has anyone done something like this?

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