2017+ Vstrom 650/650XT

Just finished loading up for the NEVA20 ride this weekend. Leaving Thursday AM returning Sunday PM.

Greetings,

Over the last weekend I did some touring in KY and WVA.

I put in 369 miles over the two day period. I was able to get 68mpg. I was not even trying to hyper mile. I needed to go 60mph to make time to get to the WVA border. I generally stayed inbetween 2.5-4.5rpm. I got over 5rpm a lot getting to WVA.
The engine now has 1500 miles or so on her.

I do not ride often and I did not ride for over a year before the purchase, so It was sort of painful to ride. The bike is easy to stand on, so that helps.

I found that if I just crouch down a little, the air goes right over my helmet. So at 45mph I can ride with my face shield up and get more cool air. I ride with lots of gear on.
I started to ride with my right foot heel planted on the peg and then my toes pointed to the ground (off to the side of the brake peddle) to help with the tight ergos. My hips are fine, but my right ankle was not happy. I had my boots on too tight on the first day, which hurt me the next day. I had never had that feeling before.
I generally road for 2 hours straight and then rested a spell. The 5.3 gallon tank was very convenient. That is what is so good about the MC. Comfort and Convenience.

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Handling and performance. I'm better in the 35mpg+ turns, but still clunky in the slow 15mph-25mph turns.
WVA folk drive fast, and I do not know the roads, so I pulled over a good amount for folks. With just me cruising, I was better then them after the apex in the turn and pulling out of turns, but they were faster than me going into the turn and on the straight away. So my brakes will last longer and my fuel economy will be better than theirs.
I enjoyed being "stuck" behind a slow R.V.

I never saw another ADV bike those two days. I did see a XR650L once.

In the town of Grundy I talked to a guy on a Kawi Side by Side, and he was there on business. He works for Kawi.
I told him I thought about the Versys 650 some today due to the 17" front, but bought a Wee due to the value and diversity.
He then brought up the V1000. I should have asked him about the V650. It has not been changed since 2015!

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In conclusion, my biggest niggle with the MC as been the SV650 gearing and very similar sprocket layout.
However, with 68mpg, I"m sort of having my cake and eating it too. The gearing ratios are very forgiving, and I can get the bike going on a rough forest road or tight country road with ease. If in a pinch, I need to make time at 75mph I can do so all day long.

I think If I go touring for days and days, if not weeks and weeks, I'll but a sleeping bag on top of the seat to give me 2 more inches of seat height to help me with the ergos. I would then go from there and see what the wind shield is like. I would possible need a larger wind shield.

I'm still a long ways off form dragging my pegs. Man, those guys are high.

Have a good'n.

That is not as low as I thought.

I'll get there sooner than i thought.

Nice.

That's lower than I'm comfortable going these days, Precious. I like Chicken Strips.
Anyone have the Givi UT808 soft bags on the Givi racks? 2017 if that matters. Do they interfere with the passenger? Any concerns with exhaust heat? I have trekker 46L now and they don't allow my wife to stand or move around on the seat. Thanks.

VS DR650

Greetings,

I put in 160 miles on Sat and road up to P'ville, KY.

I was on back roads most of the time and by the time I was heading back I checked my fuel economy.
70.4mpg!
I decided to open up the bike some on the way back on the back roads. Flog the bike if you will.
I figured it would be good for her.

Around 3,000rpm-3,500rpm I could go WOT and get a slight delay in pick up and would stop at 8,000rpm.

Around 4.5Krpm it was hard to go WOT, because the engine picks up is right there. I would continue on to 8,000rpm.


The bike likes to live around 4,000 to 6,000rpm. Engine braking and pick up and stuff.

I'm still sort of clunky and uncoordinated in the slow tight turns, but like the turns that I'm doing in 3rd gear or higher. so 30mph+.

Greetings.

I was showing 12 miles left on the gas tank and I put in 4.6 gallons of Juice. I sat on the bike and had it up right to fill up the tank to the very top.

I'd post that I actually had triple that milage cause I had about .7 gallons left. Maybe 44 miles easily.
In the owners manaula if the gas tank symbol and last bar start to blink you have only so many liters left (edit: it's 2 liters). I'll look it up later and come back and edit here.
I was just blinking on the gas tank symbol.
So, I do not know what to make of the computer telling me what is going on. But, I love having 1.9 more gallons of fuel and about 10 more mpg over the old MIGHTY DR.
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I put in 282 miles on Sunday and went up to Matewan, WV. There has been some ADV Rallies there in the past. Well, at least one.
I got 67.9mpg. I had the rpms up there in the 5K range at times when on the highway.
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I've started to relax more. I'm leaning a little more. I noticed that when I started to relax more, I did not tilt my head in the turn, but keep in straight, like the guy in the pic above.

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Have a great rest of the week.

Greetings,

I looked it up today.

If the gas symbol and the bar are both flashing you have 2 liters or .52 gallons of the precious juice left.
So, for me it would mean about 32 miles left. It was showing 12 miles left and the bar was not even flashing.

so....

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Moving forward:

This is interesting:
These guys give some amazing feedback on the Wee.
They really like the engine. So do I.



I think I would do the following:

Skid plate, but a different kind because I have the touring model.
SW mototech foot pegs. Not sure how I would move the brake lever and clutch lever.
Shinko 705 tyre set up.

I would not worry about the bark busters until the stock ones broke. The front bar is fine. I would just lower the pegs some.

Have a great weekend.

I just tried to find a thread for this on google, but could not.

Today, I was warming up the bike cause she had not been ridden since Sunday (5 days), and I was trying to work the throttle so she would idle at like 2,000rpm, but the throttle was too sensitive and it would go past it. I had more luck at sticking the tach at 5,000 and 4,000rpm and even 3,500rpm. As soon as I tried to roll off just a pinch, the motor would go back to idle.

The engine was heated up (three bars) I wonder why this is?

Whenk I"m out riding, I can get the tach to go where I want it to.

I just got my Seat Concepts kit for my 2018 650 and began the process of installing it. This is not the first Seat Concepts seat I have installed. I pulled off the stock foam and pre-fit the new foam and it does not look like it fits at all. It is about 2 inches longer than the pan in the back and is shorter than the pan on the sides. Has anyone else installed one of these on a 2017+ 650? Surely this is not how it is supposed to fit? Thanks for any input.

Watching how you make out with this as I have one on order (The tall version). Please post results.

Will do.

How did this turn out?

They were very responsive. New foam was sent out right away. Because they couldn’t be certain if the cover was right or not they sent both, along with a return label for the incorrect seat. Nothing but good to say about their Customer Service at this point.

I've been a forum member for some time and I finally bought a 2020 650 vstrom xt and am picking it up later today. I presume it will come with an owners manual but does anybody have a free service manual download link? If not what are you folks using? the Haynes? Thanks.

Congrats on the new ride. Post some pics!

Sorry, can't help on the manual. Not sure if any come electronically.

Has anyone mounted their engine/crash guards and noticed a big jump in vibration?

I put on a set of T-Rex engine bars on my 2018 today. Took a ride and the vibes were so bad, I got home and took the bars right off.

Anyone know if other brands are better?

Congratulations!

You should get a user manual.
A guy on reddit made a post about the side bags a couple of weeks ago. the vstrom page on reddit is good.

Gang,

do not forget about the V-Strom Rally in the far Southwest NC this October.

I'm 80% dialed in to go.