Suzuki 1050 V-Strom XT Sakigake 2020 — Specifications

Ten units. Not one more. Suzuki chose Italy to quietly launch what looks like a marketing trial run around its new 1050 V-Strom, and the result is called Sakigake. A name that, in Japanese symbolism, evokes the pioneer, the one who opens the way. Ambitious for a special series whose exclusivity rests mainly on a set of luggage and a red ideogram screen-printed on the panels.

Let's be clear: the Sakigake is not a machine redesigned from the ground up. It takes the V-Strom 1050 XT in its standard form, with its 90-degree L-twin cylinder of 1037 cc, its 107 horsepower available at 8500 rpm and its 100 Nm of torque at 6000 rpm. An engine that regulars of the brand know well, squared off at mid-range ease, built to swallow kilometres without unnecessary brutality. The aluminium twin-spar frame, the 43 mm inverted fork with 160 mm of travel, the rear mono-shock in the same vein, the radial brakes with four-piston calipers on 310 mm discs: all of this remains identical to the base XT. What changes is the touring equipment delivered as standard, with a 38-litre top case and two side cases of 37 litres each, constructed from 1.5 mm aluminium panels. Serious kit, designed to last and not just to look good in a press photo.

At 247 kg fully loaded, with a seat height of 850 mm and a 20-litre tank, the V-Strom plays firmly in the league of big adventure tourers. It positions itself against competitors such as the BMW F 900 XR or the Honda CB500X in terms of versatility, even though its displacement and proportions bring it closer to the Yamaha Tracer 9 or the Ducati Multistrada 950. Against the latter, the Suzuki assumes a more touring than sporting stance, with 110/80-19 tyres at the front and 150/70-17 at the rear that confirm this orientation toward long highways rather than muddy tracks.

The reservation process is worth dwelling on. No showroom visit, no stock to hunt down: Italy's ten buyers had to register online, choose their dealer, pay a 500-euro deposit, then wait for the machine to arrive. At 15,890 euros apiece, the entry price is consistent with the segment, luggage included. These ten examples also have the distinction of being the first 1050 V-Stroms to circulate on the Italian market, which partly justifies the Sakigake name — pioneer, then, in the most literal sense of the word in this precise context.

The concept of a limited launch series is not new, and Suzuki reinvents nothing here. But the exercise has the merit of properly dressing a motorcycle that, in its complete touring version, convinces through its logic rather than its originality. The long-distance rider looking for a reliable engine, an upright riding position, luggage capacity without improvisation and a top speed of 200 km/h has little to fault in this proposition. The red ideogram on the cases, however, is open to debate.