I just bought a 2005 DL1000 yesterday and love it so far. I rode it home last night about 150 miles in 20°F temperatures in Colorado. I like colder temperatures, but even that cold, the bike kept wind chill to a minimum thanks to the Madstad windscreen put on by the previous owner. It's way more powerful than my DL650 was, and had no problem going 80mph or more down I-25. I'm excited to see how it performs on dirt roads, especially once I put on the Dunlop Trailmax Mission tires I bought for it. This video definitely gives me a good idea of what to expect, thanks for making it!
Just taken my DL1000 on a mountain on a rocky road and through rivers 1m deep, and she handled everything very well. No issues. Then did 160kph for 2 hours. My opinion - it does everything well and for me, exceeds expectations. The best allround bike, ever.
I enjoyed your review. I have a 2012 dl1000, have taken several trips, a little off roading as well, not the best off road bike but, all things in moderation!! 😄 a very reliable bike for sure!!
My reason to purchase one was very similar, my wife and I still have our DR650, but now she can ride the Vstrom with me so we can eat up the road miles and see N America, plus do some tame gravel and forest roads. So far I love it! Nice video, I agree with your comments.
Great review thanks, had mine 3 years now and very happy with it. I do get 200-210 miles per tank but my silencers have been modified to flow a little better. Stock ECU and slightly tweaked TPS position to stop 'lean surging' while cruising 75mph. I really love the bike and she could be a bit heavy in slow moving city traffic, but the V-twin sound more than makes up for it when getting some open stretches. The bike's ability to accelerate is fantastic and the power is everywhere in the rev range... Shifting gears to get up and go is not such a huge requirement with the DL. Only thing I'm not comfortable with is the chugging shake in the drive train in traffic when you accelerate from i.e. 2nd or 3rd under 3000rpm. The drivetrain (crank - clutch - driveshaft - chain - sprocket rubbers) must've gotten some play over the years (25000miles) and prefer slightly higher revs (>3000rpm) when being asked to provide energy to the rear wheel :-)
I am having my DL 1000 from 2004. First hand. Rear Ohlins fully adjustable, Front Ohlins Springs, De-restrected, secondaries removed, 4 caliper Nissin in the front from cbr900, 12' actian hand brake, BMC filter and superflares. Also Power commander with custom made maps on the dyno that eliminated the low rev hiccups. The bike is amazing after these changes. Already 20 years old and runs near the new advanced models. Of course no ABS, cornering ABS, Antispin and all these. But still is among the most reliable bikes on the planet
Love the old v .good bash plate covers and protects the filter and a decent set of springs sort the front out and I gave mine a 2 inch lift with bones..I love it
Pretty much what I would say about my 05 that I bought new. My fuel economy has always been a lot better than that. 44 at 80 on the highway and low 50s on the side roads. I put Renthal bars on it, same as I put on my XR650L, a little taller with less bend. A huge improvement. Delkevic slip ons improved the motors character and sound so good. A GIVI windshield was a necessity as the stock one was very bad. Some panniers and a top box. That is all it took to make a good bike very good. I had a spark plug quit, not foul, an NGK thing I think. I keep 2 under the seat, but it hasn`t happened since. That is the only issue in 17 years and 27000 miles. It generally has had an easy life but that does not mean slow, this motor does not have to work hard to go fast. And the instruments are great, analog round is still the best in my opinion. Nothing great, nothing bad. It will always be in my stable. Thanks for your review.
I also have a DRZ 400 E, and a KLR, and i am considerind selling the KLR to buy a V-STROM 1000, my mechanic said that this bike drinks to much gas...if i buy one i might change the handle bar in order to be more big so i can ride with my body totally straight.
If you want the power, you gotta feed the horses. 650's do alot better. I have a 2019 650 XT ADV and it's too tech heavy. Looking to sell it and get another older 1000V. I loved the power and the roll-on torque of the 1000. So I am making that happen asap. Great review. Music is very repetitive and is somewhat of a distraction.
Nice video. I came from a dr650 and just bought a dl650. I wanted something more comfortable for touring that could do some offroad if I wanted and thought about the dl1000 but the dl650 just seemed to have more usable power. Still think the extra power of the 1000 would be cool but too tempting to get ticket. Dl650 is still sneaky fast though. Also nice to see another minnesota rider, we should have some better riding weather soon.
Great review, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a V-strom as I want something that is street orientated to go with my 450l, but if I find myself looking at a dirt road I want to know I can see where it goes. Seems like a great bike for that
450L is so fun on the street but yeah cannot do highway (really) or long distances. It's just not a practical bike except going trail to trail basically although really fun to ride. Vstrom is like a beastly dirtbike
I own the bike for a few years .. 2 set of silencers , kN filter, Re map ECU, Velocity stacks and Dyna Coils Makes the bike fly ! Huge improvement to torque and accel. Power starts just above the idle at every gear. Power wheelie to 1st and second gear too.
Looking at buying a friend's in Washington and riding back to Minnesota, thanks for all the info maybe do an adventure some time if you still have yours?
I really considered this bike but bought a Honda st1300 instead. Only because there is not much off road to be had here in Texas. Mostly just long highway, if your going to state parks and what not. I wont be selling my klr though lol. The Vstrom 1000 Looks like an all around good bike though. Thanks for sharing.
I had the KLR also...Toured Central America and Mexico with the wife on the back..Fun! but never again...lol....I also bought the 2005 vstrom 1000....and only wish i had that at the time instead...The trip woulda been hundred X better...
Good and I feel, accurate, review. The fuel mileage issue was the only part I didn't agree with. My last 4 bikes all got around the same lower 40's mpg. They were a Vmax, FJR 1300(3 of these) and my currenct 2008 V Strom 1000. They were all ridden briskly. Maybe the lower gearing on your bike is causing lower mpg's. I like the tall gearing but she will let you know when you have the wrong gear selected. The V Strom is a good solid bike.
i have a 640 adventure that still scares me when i take it like REALLY off road, so i kinda stopped doing all that crazy stuff where you fall of and have to wrestle the 160kg bike around.. and for on the road they kinda do the job but you always have the feeling that there's something wron with the engine the way it rattles, so taking it on a long trip two up is a bit of a scare ... V-Stroms sound pretty nice and look quite decent in black and white, have good enuf power, are therefore suite for rides with 2 up ... why should i not get one?
Love this review. What's funny is I live on the west side of the cities and work in Minneapolis. I bought a KLR last April to get into ADV biking and then a DRZ so some more aggressive trails. Now I'm considering a DL over the KLR... and so I stumbled across your channel. I ride with a medium-sized group of ADV'ers and would to ride with you sometime.
@@twincitiesrider8103 Agreed, Excited to get back out and ride. Could you send a FB request one more time, accidentally declined the first one. My Bad.
Ive had a couple of these, a 2007 yellow one I clocked 70k plus miles on with no issues and the same black and silver one. Great bike, id love to find another one with low miles and grab it. Bro.. i have a new set of Two Brothers carbon fiber pipes and a givi touring wind screen ill let you have for practically nothing. They are sitting gathering dust, id rather see a young guy like yourself put em to use. let me know.
I got major deja vu at 11:00 as I have driven over the Chamberlain/Oacoma bridge so many times now, a few times with my 07 DL1000, which is basically identical to yours, down to the color. Crazy that this just appeared on my recommended. The one achilles heel the 1000 has is the charging system. You have more typical issues like the stator going bad, which isn't unusual for motorcycles. However, there is a well documented issue with the epoxy for the rotor magnets coming loose, affecting the spacing. Fortunately, it doesn't break anything, but it will render the charging system inoperable until it's fixed. Suzuki never fixed it on these older vstroms, but the community figured out you can just JB weld the magnets back in position, and it's as good as permanent and easy/cheap to fix. A lot of these are old enough they may already be fixed. I've had mine fixed for 3 years and never had an issue until the factory stator finally fried a week ago. So far, my thoughts mirror yours and it's been a wonderful bike, and the new stator can't come soon enough so I can squeeze a little more riding before winter.
I cherish crossing that river, it's the only change in terrain for miles in SD lol. Good to know about the charging system, I'll remember that if I run into an issue. I'm sure I'd be scratching my head for a while diagnosing that.
I have the cycle pump. It was a gift from my brother though, I'm not sure if it's worth the premium really. I'd likely just have picked any off of amazon. But it fits perfectly below my seat and is really nice quality.
Thanks for the video, I just picked up a 06 dl1000, how much did you gear it down? I was thinking of going up a few on the rear or down one on the front. I got mine with the same reasoning you got yours, it’s a Swiss Army knife of motorcycles and mine was way cheap. I am not very good off road but I live in Utah so I go off road a lot, I just take it way easy. I am now watching your Colorado trip now . Thanks again
Hey Matt, for gearing I just went down in the front one. It feels a bit more snappy and 6th is more useable. You could go more if you dont care about hwy mpg. That's what stopped me from going lower. Thanks for watching, good to hear people enjoy the vids!
Glad to see that you are enjoying yr ride. I also ride a 2010 model DL1000. Hv u experienced the famous clutch basket "chudder" on yr machine which is normally felt around 3~4k rpm's.
Ive noticed its not a silky smooth engine but havent noticed anything specifically noisy like that. Possibly thats the luggy sensation i feel at lower rpms.
@@twincitiesrider8103 I was told that changing the sprocket would stop that luggy sensation. I don't see how. I feel it around 2500-3000 rpms. I am currently doing the 16 front 43 rear sprocket change and will find out soon. It does make since it could be the clutch basket i never thought of it being a clutch problem.
@@thesman7918 I've heard "clutch chudder," is a self limiting issue common with older models. I don't think i have it on mine. I did gear down 1 tooth in the front and feel it smooths it out. I think it's just because it skips over that range faster tho. I also like that 6th becomes more usable.
I have an 07 dl1000 and I am a 30 year experience mechanic. She was chugging bad at low rpms high load. Voltage was low as well. Removed stator cover magnets had all become loose and slid together, few stuck giving her 4 gaps between magnets causing balance problem. After repair still chugging, I pulled fuel pump and it had much rust packed around the filter. Replaced fuel pump, and fuel injectors. She was fixed. I added continental road attack 2 tires and power commander v with dyno tune. This bike is awsome and I am more confident in corners than I am on my cbr.
@@JohnDoe-ir2ft Would the magnet issue be detectable with a multimeter? Did you do anything other than put them back into position to remedy this? and I totally agree this is a great feeling bike!
Can anyone help me? I want to buy a 2003 DL 1000 with 47000 very nice bike. But will it last? It appears to be taken care of? Fully loaded with all the storage bags and all. If I could get some feedback I would appreciate it so much. Thanks 🙏
You ought to tell people as you ride along where you are, especially around 3 minute mark. Not sure why you'd do a valve inspection at 10,000 miles since I think the interval is 14,500. And you should wash the windscreen, since you're doing a video shot through that dirty view. Since you wanted it for 2-up riding, what does your passenger have to say? Thanks.
I bought the bike with 16,000 miles on it and it never had had an inspection. The review is just from my 10,000 miles with it, it's at around 30,000 miles now. Lol good point with the windshield. And here's a link to a video i made of that trip with locations.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tmUfFLgaSwY.html This is a link to a video where I cover my different tool set ups for different types of touring.
I own a 2019 DL1000 and I love it. I added sheepskin seat covers, happy trails skid plate, happy trails crash bars, Shad top box and SW motec center stand. Your range seems off. I average 200 plus miles per tank. Maybe yours is running a bit rich? For a two-up ADV bike, you cannot beat the big Vee.
Why get one?...... it's the best value mile muncher currently on sale and will ( probably) never....ever leave you stranded......that's why. The 1050 is the way to go though as the 1000 is fugly.