My dad had one that I would ride on occasion. It was the 1000 cc version. It was alright, but it had this uncanny way of stalling at lower rpm's, and when it did, it was a bitch to keep up. Its a tall bike, and my dad is 5'10'' and had a hard time of keeping it up. He's no wimp either. It was hard for me as well even though I'm 6'2''. In my opinion, its too heavy and too finicky at lower rpm's during clutch engagement. He sold it after awhile and got a Yamaha FJR1300 which he's now had for 5 years.

My advice is to look at other bikes. If you're looking at it for its sport tourer type set up, look at the Honda ST1300 or Yamaha FJR1300, both come equipped with dual side "bags", and you can put a top rear case on as well. The Honda will be a little more of a tour than the Yamaha, but the Yamaha will have a slightly more sporty and aggressiveness to it over the Honda. If you have $$$$ to blow, you can look at BMW 1200GT, although, his biking buddies with BMW's were always riding their Goldwings because their BMW's were in the shop

stalling at low rpms is usually a tuning issue - a visit to the Suzuki dealership would have fixed that, especially if it was new.

As far as getting them - I know several owners and they all swear by their V-stroms. As I am not a dual-purpose rider, I don't have a lot to say. The high seat sinks a lot as you sit on it and the one I demo'ed was a great responsive bike.

If dual-purpose is your thing, do it.

Originally posted by MagoSA
stalling at low rpms is usually a tuning issue - a visit to the Suzuki dealership would have fixed that, especially if it was new.

As far as getting them - I know several owners and they all swear by their V-stroms. As I am not a dual-purpose rider, I don't have a lot to say. The high seat sinks a lot as you sit on it and the one I demo'ed was a great responsive bike.

If dual-purpose is your thing, do it.

Great bikes,few guys in the club i ride in have them,the stalling isue is due to the way these bikes are tuned(like all modern bikes) to pass emissions,try getting a re-map to boost fuelling in the low end(idle to 1/2 throttle)

Always kind of fancied the V-Strom but still haven't ridden one.

If you want it mostly for on-road, the one thing I would mention is that it uses the same engine as the SV650, but in a heavier overall package. I had one of those briefly and the powerplant was a huge disappointment. Felt ridiculously underpowered. Though I had stepped down from a VFR800 (108bhp to about 60bhp).

Keep in mind that is very subjective. My ancient GPZ500 felt ridiculously fast when I first passed my test, now my Blackbird feels mundane... most of the time