Suzuki DL650 Test

It has to be said that the Dual-Purpose, or Adventure, bike segment is becoming as crowded as the small capacity superbike segment was a few years ago, with every manufacturer wanting a piece of the action.

Not that you can blame them, with the market in general moving away from hyper-sport road machines to something that is not only more comfortable but a whole load more practical and likely to be bought by a wider cross section of customers.

As with any category of bike, there is a machine to suit every pocket. That is, if you have particularly deep pockets; these machines start at Not Cheap and go all the way to Eye-Wateringly Expensive.

So, what do we have here? Well, the other trend within the Adventure bike market has been to offer a smaller – or sometimes larger - brother to the main model; the Triumph Tiger 800, BMW F800GS and Kawasaki Versys 1000 spring to mind.  

So it is that the DL650 is the baby version of the 1000cc V-Strom.  And, personally, I am not sure that it is enough. It can be no coincidence that BMW chose to plug the gap in their range between the 650-single and the 1200GS with the F800 parallel-twin and that Triumph chose to go no lower than an 800. If you are to try to keep up with bigger bikes, the DL650 is left gasping and working harder than it feels comfortable doing.

Whilst that is a problem when riding with others, as Adventure bikers often do, it would be unfair for that to be the defining criticism of this bike. At the end of the day, as usual, this is a bike that does nothing wrong but does it do enough things right to warrant the nearly R90,000 price tag?

It is a good looking bike, although the test bike’s colour was a bit too ‘city’ for my liking. What is noticeable, especially when sat alongside a Kawasaki Versys, for example, is the long wheelbase which does lend a balanced look to the bike. But it is not a machine that is going to stand out in a crowd, not least because it is very hard to tell exactly what it is! Badging comprises a simple ‘S’ on the tank and ‘V-Strom’ embossed onto the seat and that’s it; in this day and age of shouty graphics it is almost shockingly bland. It’s as if Suzuki is a bit embarrassed about the bike so decided to not make it too obvious!

The engine is beautifully smooth and performs perfectly adequately but I would prefer more grunt for less heart-stopping overtaking when two-up. Add a full complement of luggage to the bike for a long trip and the engine would start to struggle and riding would become very tiring as you would never have a reserve of power to deal with any situation.  

One-up and it goes perfectly well – on road, that is. However most of these bikes leave a lot to be desired when travelling off-tarmac and the Suzuki is in this group. The great majority of Adventure bikes are a triumph of style over substance and there is just no way that I am going to go blasting down a dirt track on one of these machines. Quite apart from not wanting to find myself spread-eagled in a ditch with 200kgs of bike on top of me, I’m not sure I want a R30,000 repair bill for cosmetic damage.

Going off-road? Then get an off-road bike or fork out for a KTM. For the 10kms out of every 1000 that the average owner will do, there is simply no point buying one of these bikes for serious dirt riding. In the hands of an expert, maybe a different matter, but how many of us are experts?

Unless you like the style, that is. And I do. For road work, I love the riding position which allows you to see over traffic. For the most part they are supremely comfortable and the Suzuki scores well on this front. The seat is well proportioned for rider and pillion and everything ahead of the rider is laid out in normal fashion. The digital display is clear and comprehensive and I really do like a gear-indicator, which this bike has.

The only gripe is that the menu button for the digital display is where the headlamp flasher is on most other bikes – on the back of he left hand switchgear unit for use by the left index finger – so that in an emergency, you find yourself scrolling furiously through ‘odometer, fuel consumption, trip A, trip B, range, etc, etc….’ whilst the car continues to pull out in front of you! That will show him!

I really enjoy the handling of these bikes – maybe it is something to do with the fact that they are tall – and theDL650 does not disappoint. You can throw it at corners, heeled right over, and it tracks round with no fuss whatsoever. It really imparts confidence and feels very stable. The brakes, whilst not spectacular, are perfectly good enough.

So, do you choose this over any of the others? In this day and age, when there is no such thing as a bad bike, it surely comes down to brand loyalty, aesthetics or price. The Suzuki DL650 is well made, the quality of materials is good and it rides well. But, like many of the bikes in this category, it is too road-focussed to be competent off-road, which is not to say it wouldn’t grace any garage in which it sits.