New Pony in the Stable!!!!
You read correct, I’m now a multi-bike family. Back in the beginning of May I picked up a 2007 Suzuki Vstrom DL-1000, with get this ZERO miles. I bought the bike from GiviUSA in Charlotte NC, who had used it as their show bike. Needless to say it was loaded with accessories. I took a couple days off work after finding this on Craigslist and hopped a train down to Charlotte where I met up with the fine folks at Givi who I can not say enough positive things about. They were truly a pleasure to deal with. They had the bike setup and ready to go, so after the obligatory paperwork, I climbed aboard and headed toward Roanoke, VA where I had a place to stay with some friends.
The first thing that I noticed was WOW this thing would eat some miles and comfortably. I was stuck with slab until Winston-Salem but what would have been brutal on my 02 SV-650, this lady took in stride and didn’t mind at all. Since I was breaking her in we kept changing gears, speed, RPMs etc. In Winston-Salem we jumped off of interstate and began navigating some two lane up into VA, and more familiar territory. After hitting Stuart, on 57 I pointed the Vee towards a brilliant stretch of highway, Route 8, up Tuggles Gap and to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I took the Parkway on in to Roanoke where a friend had picked up everything I needed from StarCity Powersports to change the oil. Oil Changed and rested the next day we headed home.
I really like this bike. I plan on using her primarily for Sport Touring and already have a trip planned for June 10th-14th. She is a totally different ride from my SV, something I’m still learning. I’ve already ordered a Corbin Seat for her, got black braided lines installed both front and rear, installed an SAE plug for the battery tender.
I’ll update more after the June trip.