Suzuki DL 650 V-STROM Adventure 2016 — Specifications

Who hasn't dreamed of dropping everything on a Friday night, strapping a bag onto the bike, and heading south with no fixed plan? That's exactly the promise carried by the 2016 Suzuki DL 650 V-Strom Adventure, the only special edition kept in the Hamamatsu manufacturer's lineup that year. A modest promise, admittedly, but one that has the merit of being honest.

Beneath the 20-liter tank sits the tried-and-tested 645 cc 90° L-twin that has proven itself over the years. With 69 horsepower at 8,800 rpm and 58.8 Nm of torque at 6,400 rpm, nobody's coming here looking for the stampede of a 1000 cc adventure bike. But this engine is a Swiss watch. Flexible, responsive from the mid-range onward, it hauls the 218 kg wet weight without breaking a sweat. On A-roads and highways alike, the V-Strom 650 cruises along at its own steady pace up to an indicated 180 km/h, a speed at which you'd better have faith in the touring screen fitted as standard on this Adventure version. Up against a peppier Kawasaki Versys 650 or a more modern Yamaha Tracer 700, the Suzuki plays the card of quiet reliability and bang for your buck. At €8,999, the Adventure package adds a wind deflector, a center stand, handguards, an engine skid plate, and a 42-liter top case to the base recipe. Nothing revolutionary, but equipment you'd end up buying from the accessories catalog anyway, often for a lot more money.

The aluminum twin-spar frame houses a 43 mm hydraulic fork and a rear monoshock, both offering 150 mm of travel. That's enough to swallow up the battered roads of Corsica or the light trails of Morocco, but not enough to play Cyril Despres in soft sand. The tires — 110/80-19 up front and 150/70-17 at the rear — confirm this calling: the V-Strom Adventure remains a road-biased adventure tourer that's willing to put its wheels on dirt tracks without pretending to be in its element there. Braking duties fall to twin 310 mm discs with dual-piston calipers at the front and a 260 mm disc at the rear, and they get the job done with precision. No race-bike feel, but a progressive bite that inspires confidence, including for a rider fresh out of licensing school. The seat, perched at 835 mm, may be a challenge for riders under five foot nine — a point worth checking before signing on the dotted line.

The 2016 Suzuki DL 650 V-Strom Adventure won't make anyone dream on a garage poster. It won't win any beauty contests or turn heads at a sidewalk café. But that's precisely its strength. This bike is aimed at those who want to ride — really ride — without going broke on maintenance or spending their weekends fiddling with electronics. The budget-minded touring rider, the forty-something getting back on a bike after a family hiatus, the A2 license holder looking for a machine that can grow with them: that's its audience. It doesn't promise Adventure with a capital A. It promises to take you there and bring you back. That's already a lot.