Calling on the VStrom (DL1000) folks

Have a thread over in the general forum already about lowering bikes for my short 29" inseam, and you can read there about why I want to do this so I'm not going to rehash it all here.

But, my question is, is it possible to lower the Vee 2" to get me at a seat height of 31.1 (going by the specs saying stock is 33.1") without completely ruining the bike. I will say that I wouldn't be using the Vee for it's intended purpose. It will be a 100% commuter bike for me, with two up riding on the weekends or if I am alone exploring the dirt roads of the hill country. It will not ever be doing any serious off roading, I would get a dirt bike if I wanted to do that.

I just really, really like that bike and think it would perfect for what I want to do with it, but I am not going to tip toe one. I will assume from what I have read that it is a great two up bike. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

2 inches is pretty drastic. My biggest fear would be how much the lean angle would be reduced. The Strom drags pegs pretty easily if you tend toward spirited riding. I was pretty surprised to find that my peg brackets actually have drag marks on them! You would also pretty seriously muck up the steering geometry by dropping the rear 2 inches, since you can't raise the tubes up front enough to match.

Here are my suggestions: Remove the rubber bumpers from the bottom of your seat pan; that will drop your seat about 3/4 inch. Have some custom seat work done to lower the seat and narrow the front to make reaching the pavement easier at stops. Lower the rear pre-load and raise the fork tubes. Then maybe 1 inch lowering dogbones if you still aren't satisfied.

Otherwise, I'd look for a bike that fits better from the factory. (Btw, I'm about 5'10", 30" inseam, and I can't flat foot my Strom, but I've had it since 2005 and it's not a problem for me. YMMV)

If you are taking about the 1000 then just put the seat from the 650 on it. That alone buys you over an inch. Then go from there with hard part if you really need to.

DFW_Warrior said:

If you are taking about the 1000 then just put the seat from the 650 on it. That alone buys you over an inch. Then go from there with hard part if you really need to.

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I forgot about that. A 650 seat with the bumpers removed is almost a 2 inch drop in seat height.

The 650 seat just bolts right on without modification? Is there a big change in comfort when removing the seat bumpers? I'll be honest, I don't know what those are. If that is all there is to it, that is great news, and I think I have decided on my next bike. The wife informed me a few nights ago that she would enjoy doing the occasional hill country ride with me. Do you agree that it is a good two up bike, or what I intend to use it for, especially my commuter? There is guy who rides one where I work, and he says he loves his.

JRW69 said:

The 650 seat just bolts right on without modification? Is there a big change in comfort when removing the seat bumpers? I'll be honest, I don't know what those are. If that is all there is to it, that is great news, and I think I have decided on my next bike. The wife informed me a few nights ago that she would enjoy doing the occasional hill country ride with me. Do you agree that it is a good two up bike, or what I intend to use it for, especially my commuter? There is guy who rides one where I work, and he says he loves his.

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I sat on one with a different seat and if it was one inch lower it would have been fine. The bumpers are on the seat pan just take the seat of yours and look at the bottom. Those rubber "bumpers" fit into holes in the seat pan and can be removed. Might be a pain to get back in! A DL would make a good one to go two up on. Just a thought my Concours is 31.1 from the factory and the BMW might be slightly lower. I touch completely flat footed and with all the gear for camping I have on it now it sits even lower. I am 5'7" and have no trouble flat footing either bike. Paging Hizzo3 and others that have the DL this man needs help.

JRW69 said:

The 650 seat just bolts right on without modification? Is there a big change in comfort when removing the seat bumpers? I'll be honest, I don't know what those are. If that is all there is to it, that is great news, and I think I have decided on my next bike. The wife informed me a few nights ago that she would enjoy doing the occasional hill country ride with me. Do you agree that it is a good two up bike, or what I intend to use it for, especially my commuter? There is guy who rides one where I work, and he says he loves his.

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The older 650 seats are 100% interchangeable with the 1000's. That was one of the big bonus points of the Strom lineup for me was that from Suzuki I had something like 5 or 6 different factory seat options.

They make a phenomenal two-up bike, as I have probably logged well over 15k miles two-up on mine. Other than the BMW GS there probably isn't a roomier passenger cockpit on the market today. Even my new to me Tenere is not as spacious for a passenger as my Strom was.

All that being said, I still prefer the Strom 650 over the 1000. They are lighter, handle better, get better fuel economy, and don't have any of the weird "quirks" of the 1000. If I were to do it again, I would have bought a 650 over the 1k. And this is coming from someone that has a Strom1000 sitting in the garage with 100+k miles on it.

What "quirks" are we talking about? I went today and sat on a 2013 Vee, just what I thought, I love it, but won't be getting anything newer than 2012 unless its a fantastic deal. Won't have a choice but to lower it, I was on my tip toes, but the weight (compared to my FJR) was a lot more manageable. So the 2012 model seat isn't interchangeable with the same year 650?

I have been told and read, that THE only draw back to the 650 is when you are two up and needing to pass, and especially if your needing to pass while going up hill. I don't want there to be any hesitation, I want to hit the throttle and boom we are around whatever it may be. If its lowered to get more feet on the ground, then I think my commuting with it I can handle the weight, it seemed a lot lighter than my FJR.

JRW69 said:

What "quirks" are we talking about?

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Lean stumble issue, mysterious clutch chudder thingy, the death wobble, carrier bearing spacer issue, and a dead feeling clutch. The 650 has none of these.

Don't forget the buffeting, but I believe both 650 and 1000 have that issue. Can you say madstad.
PCIII corrects the stumble, mine never had it, but the PCIII makes it a dream to ride.
The chudder can be fixed, mine had it.
Death wobble, carrier bearing and the dead feeling clutch, again I've not experienced it, but many have and there are corrections for them as well.
Bottom line, all bikes have some kind of "quirks". The great thing is the Strom has great support from the strom community. Not all bikes have that.
For me the DL1000 was a no brainer. I wanted the extra passing power. I travel long distances and for safety reasons I believe , at least for me, it was necessary.
I don't ride 2 up, but I do load down the bike when on a trip with enough weight I might as well have a passenger.

louwest said:

Don't forget the buffeting, but I believe both 650 and 1000 have that issue. Can you say madstad.
PCIII corrects the stumble, mine never had it, but the PCIII makes it a dream to ride.
The chudder can be fixed, mine had it.
Death wobble, carrier bearing and the dead feeling clutch, again I've not experienced it, but many have and there are corrections for them as well.
Bottom line, all bikes have some kind of "quirks". The great thing is the Strom has great support from the strom community. Not all bikes have that.
For me the DL1000 was a no brainer. I wanted the extra passing power. I travel long distances and for safety reasons I believe , at least for me, it was necessary.
I don't ride 2 up, but I do load down the bike when on a trip with enough weight I might as well have a passenger.

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What year is your strom ?

louwest said:

Don't forget the buffeting, but I believe both 650 and 1000 have that issue. Can you say madstad.
PCIII corrects the stumble, mine never had it, but the PCIII makes it a dream to ride.
The chudder can be fixed, mine had it.
Death wobble, carrier bearing and the dead feeling clutch, again I've not experienced it, but many have and there are corrections for them as well.
Bottom line, all bikes have some kind of "quirks". The great thing is the Strom has great support from the strom community. Not all bikes have that.
For me the DL1000 was a no brainer. I wanted the extra passing power. I travel long distances and for safety reasons I believe , at least for me, it was necessary.
I don't ride 2 up, but I do load down the bike when on a trip with enough weight I might as well have a passenger.

Click to expand...

I never had the buffeting, but that is just me. I've had friends that even with a Madstad couldn't seem to get rid of it so who knows. Unless you have modified the carrier spacers, then you do have the problem you just don't know it yet. After the third or forth set of rubber bumpers in your cushion drive you will probably have it modified.

The dead feeling clutch is EVERY Strom 1000. It really is horrible compared to the 650's cable clutch. Granted, I am really picky about how my bikes "feel" but I'm not alone in thinking that the 1000 clutch is not that great.

So yeah, you can certainly fix the issues on the 1k. $300 for the chudder, $300 for a Power Commander (+$200 for a dyno tune), $100 for the spacers, and live with the clutch. The death wobble can be fixed by dropping the forks in the tree just a little bit. It only seems to appear once heavier springs are installed so it keeps the front end up higher in the stroke. Who knows what really causes the problem though. But the Wee has zero of the above mentioned issues. Just buy it and ride.

That being said, with thousands upon thousands of miles two up, and tens of thousands of miles loaded with camping gear heading all over the country, if I were to do it again I would still buy the 650 instead of the 1000. It is lighter, smoother, devoid of all the quirks, and still has really good power even at speed, as long as you know how to downshift one time.

But hey, different strokes for different folks. I'm glad the 1000 is a better fit for you. Mine never let me down once, so I can't really complain about it.

It's an '07. About 30K miles on it.

Ya know I've never actually ridden a DL650. I've had smaller displacement bikes and found 1000 cc's a good size for me, but you are not alone, many riders feel as you do and prefer the 650. So I can't really make a truely informed comment till I can ride a 650. The best advice would be to ride both, but dealers don't allow test rides and neither do most individuals.

I would like a lighter bike, I dropped it last year on a fire road near Palo Duro and it took 2 of us to lift up.

You are correct on the costs, it only takes money which is harder to come by these days.

The clutch is hard to pull and real tiring in stop and go traffic, but I quess my left hand just got stronger because I don't notice it much now.

You figure out what your getting yet?