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New member/first post.
I've been riding for a quite a while and currently have a couple of bikes in the stable: A highly modded CRF250L (with a set of 17/19 Warp9 wheels & Shinko 705s) and my daily commuter: 2013 CB500X that I bought new, 2 years ago.
The X has been a great machine, and I'm keeping it. The CRF250L is a hoot, and I love bombing around on it both on and off road (also keeping it).
I've owned bigger, badder Dual sport machines in the past, but the CB500X/CRF250L combo covers *just* about all of the bases, save one, and this is where the V Strom XT may or may not come in.
I took my X out for a little hammer session today and proceeded to hit up as many of the pot hole strewn dirt roads I could find here on the North Shore. With my modded CRF250L, I rip those roads at 60+ MPH and am planted at all times, thanks to the race tech suspension and shinko 705s. RT suspension soaks up the ruts, washboard and pot holes with ease.
The X... not so much. Speed needs to be kept to 40 mph or below and the suspension is being taxed fully by every rut and mild pot hole hit at moderate speeds. It is a road bike dressed up in semi-adv clothing, however, so I'm neither disappointed or surprised by the bike's lack luster performance in these conditions. Traction wise, the bike does just fine, however (dry conditions), so that's a plus, and the ABS can't be beat - lock it up at all speeds, on the asphalt or dirt, and you're holding your line without fail.
The X has proven to be an agile, fuel efficient and fairly comfortable machine. I am going to slap a seat concepts Rally Tall seat on her though, as the stock seat is just too low for my knee's liking. It'll be the perfect bike for commuting and shorter rides around the area, but it still lacks the necessary protection, HP (engine is working a little too hard for my liking @ 75 - 80 MPH) handling & suspension that I'd like in an ADV touring machine.
For the record: I have zero illusions of riding a 430+ road bike off road. That's what I use my CRF250L for (and it's already heavy enough at just over 300 lbs. - modded). That being said, I'm looking for a bike that I could load up, sometimes 2 up, with camping gear, and ride all over the North East, possibly further, without having to tip toe through every rough dirt or gravel road I come upon in my travels.
For those of you who own V Stroms, how would you rate the bike's ability to ride dirt and gravel roads aggressively? I don't expect that I'll be able to push the bike as hard as my CRF250L in rough road conditions, of course (although it would be nice), but I'm looking for a machine that can take on rut, pot hole and washboard strewn roads (dirt, gravel & asphalt) and hold it's own... while loaded up.
I'm also looking for a bike that offers more power and wind protection on the highway. I'm 175 - 180 lbs, and my X let's me know it's not happy to pull much over 80 mph on my daily commute to work; she'll go faster of course, but the engine is pushing 8,000+ RPMs to get there (red line is 9k, topping out @ 10.5k).
Based on preliminary research, it sounds like I *might* need to upgrade suspension and screen in order to get what I'm after with the Strom?
I'm pretty much sold on Japanese bikes thanks to their bulletproof reliability (my #1 priority when choosing a bike), so I'm not all that interested in the Euro offerings (although they most certainly look cool). As far as styling is concerned, I think that the Strom is uh... pretty fugly looking, but I'm more than willing to over look that fact if she's the best tool for the job, especially given how relatively cheap they are new and/or used.
Any and all feedback is appreciated. Would love to hear what others have to say about the Strom, as it's my leading contender at the moment (XT version in particular).
p.s. Another forum member had posted about the Rally Raid CB500X kit that recently came out. I've been following that thread pretty closely on ADV rider, and have thought about the conversion myself, but I would HIGHLY prefer to not run tubed wheels on a road/dirt road based ADV touring machine, and feel like I need a little more wind protection and HP than my X provides for the type of riding my future bike will be pressed into service for.