My First 500 km on the Suzuki V-Strom 650: Did I Buy the Right Bike?

Yes. After my first 500 km, I think the Suzuki V-Strom 650 was the right bike for me. It's considerably more agile and entertaining through twisty roads than I expected, comfortable enough for 300 km days and easy to live with in Sydney traffic. The brakes and front suspension show their limitations when I push harder, and I'd improve the seat and wind-noise management for touring, but none of those issues makes me question the purchase.

After spending weeks researching adventure bikes, comparing used listings and eventually buying a 2020 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT, there was really only one way to find out whether I'd made the right decision: ride it. I've now put around 500 kilometres on the bike, and I've deliberately spent much of that time on roads where I could start to understand what it's actually capable of. That has included the Royal National Park, affectionately known to Sydney riders as "Nasho", Macquarie Pass in the Southern Highlands and some of the many winding roads that start around Wisemans Ferry in Sydney's north. These aren't just transport kilometres. They're the sort of roads I've enjoyed riding sports bikes on in the past, and they've already taught me considerably more about the V-Strom than I expected to learn in my first 500 kilometres. The short answer is that I think I bought the right bike. In fact, I think I may have bought the perfect bike for the kind of riding I want to do now. It wasn't supposed to be a sports bike I need to keep reminding myself of this. When I started looking for another motorcycle after being away from riding for nearly seven years, I wasn't looking for another sports bike. I'd already done that. I wanted something comfortable enough for long-distance touring, economical, reliable and capable of eventually taking me onto gravel roads and easier off-road tracks. That's what led me towards adventure bikes and ultimately the V-Strom 650. What I wasn't expecting was to have quite so much fun riding it quickly on the road. Through the Royal National Park and Macquarie Pass, the V-Strom has proven considerably more agile and flickable than I expected. The more comfortable I became with it, the more I found myself increasing the pace through the twisties, not because I was trying to test the bike's limits, but simply because I was having fun. That has probably been the biggest surprise of my first 500 kilometres. I expected versatility. I expected comfort. I expected decent fuel economy and Suzuki reliability. I didn't necessarily expect the bike to encourage me to keep looking for the next set of corners. The faster I rode it, the more I found its limitations Of course, a V-Strom 650 isn't a sports bike, and once I started riding it harder, there were reminders of that. The front end…