Stop me Before I buy a Buell… - CityBike

accessories for the hardcore
adventure-touring
rider. One nitpick I had
was the luggage, which
rattled a bit, and while
garage time could damp
this out, when added to
stiff locks and hinges, it’s
something I would rather
Suzuki or my dealer
address before I took the
V-Strom home.
Another useful feature
for adventure riders is
the cockpit warning light
that lets you know when
the temperature has
dropped to 32 degrees
by flashing. A digital
speedometer joins an
analog tachometer,
and a switch in front
of the left handlebar
lets you scroll through
the bike’s functions
on the digital readout. There are two trip
meters and average fuel consumption on
the right. If you hold the button for at least
a second, you can switch between time
and temperature. The gauge cluster has an
adjustable backlight for brightness with
all warnings lights on the right. From the
rider’s eye view, it’s clean and functional
and easy to interpret on the move.
One of the best parts of our two-day test
was the number of corners we traversed
following our guide, Bill Kniegge. Bill is a
good friend and neighbor, so I knew when
Suzuki asked him to design a route that it
would be fantastic: I just hadn’t factored
in how much better the V-Strom would
make it. The wide bars make tipping the
bike into turns almost telepathic, though
you might think a 19-inch front wheel
would slow things down. Mated to a
more conventional seventeen-inch rim in
the rear, with a modest 150/70R profile,
the bike not only turns in and finishes
corners quickly, it’s extremely stable midcorner
and encourages crazy lean angles.
Improved suspension helps keep the tires
in contact with the road longer over bumps
and is a nice balance between sport and
touring: not too soft and not too hard.
The conventional front fork has a pre-load
adjustment and this will be useful when
the bike is heavily loaded. As ridden, with
just me in the saddle at around 185 pounds,
there was no unwanted dive under hard
braking, though the fairly generic twopiston
calipers
won’t stress it
unduly. The
twin disc brakes
are as good as
they need to be,
safely slowing
the bike without
overwhelming
the fork. Good
additional
stopping power
comes from
the rear brake,
but it’s easy to
activate the anti
lock brakes on
the rear, so you
can lose braking
power on
corner entrance
if you are
overenthusiastic
with your foot, learned by experience. This
year’s standard ABS incurs a 13-pound
weight penalty, raising my one real gripe:
you can’t turn the ABS
off for riding in the
dirt.
With a portion of
our ride on fabulous,
twisting Jeep-style
trails, we made
fairly steep descents,
dropping off the
Blue Ridge Parkway.
Knowing that the
V-Strom ABS was
operational made
my descent more
cautious—switching
it off would have been
a lot more fun, and,
I think, safer. If you
have seen an ABS
demonstration in the
dirt, it’s shocking how
much longer it takes to
stop if it’s in use—the
opposite of how it
performs on the road.
Parking the V-Strom for the last time, I
stood back briefly to collect my thoughts.
Style-wise the bike has undergone a minor
revamp, with sharper looks and a tighter
stance, thanks to a shorter exhaust pipe
and the fairing pulled closer to the center of
the bike. The changes are pleasing visually,
but the bike
retains its
familiar look.
It has gained
power where
it’s appreciated
most, picked
up a few new
functions,
while losing
lost none of its
charms. As the
most affordable
adventuretouring
motorcycle on
the road, or
in base form
at $8300 a
stone-reliable,
comfortable
commuter,
the new 2012
Suzuki V-Strom is simply my bike of the
year for these simple reasons.
Story and Photos by Bob Stokstad
James Stewart must love Oakland. He
won here last year, and again this year.
After a poor start at Anaheim I and
Phoenix, Stewart landed his first 2012-series
win at the Coliseum. His sweat-stained face
radiated joy on the podium.
The fans love Oakland, too. They began
arriving at the Coliseum in the early
afternoon to watch timed practice laps
and wander the paddock. By opening
ceremonies at 7 pm, the place was full.
The paddock shows the money. Racing
ain’t cheap, not with the shiny, humongous
tractor-trailers that cruise from city to city
as the series moves across the USA. Not
with the team of managers, mechanics,
shops and crew backing a single rider like
Stewart (now sponsored by Toyota), or
Reed, or Villopoto or Dungey—the current
series contenders. Don’t forget the Monster
Energy girls, who happily pose with
little kids or paunchy dads while moms
and wives snap photos. All this costs, of
course, but it’s all included with the ticket.
Everybody has a good time, from families
that sit together in the stands down front
to the teenagers huddled in the $10 seats at
the very top, where the scent of Humboldt
County’s harvest
permeates the
breeze.
A Supercross track
is itself an amazing
creation. Dumping
hundreds of
tons of dirt onto
a manicured
baseball diamond
would not occur
to anyone who
has ever pushed a
lawnmower, but
there it is, covering
the whole ball field,
piled in torturous
ways that become
the ultimate test of
a rider’s skill and
endurance. Double
jumps, triple
jumps, whoops and
turns come in combinations that change
from race to race. A company aptly named
“Dirt Wurx” piles it up during the week and
trucks it all away the day after.
Supercross in the Coliseum
Tomac celebrating with a victory jump
Stewart Shows his Stuff
Opening ceremonies take half an hour.
Fireworks, flames, flares and Monstergreen
light beams showcase the top riders
as they circle and wave to the crowd. This
and six heat races are the warm-ups to the
main events—
first Supercross
Lites (15 laps and
20 riders) and
then Supercross
(20 laps and 20
riders)—that
begin at 9:00 pm.
Eli Tomac ran
away with the
Lites main event,
slipping ahead
on the third lap,
then steadily James Stewart roosts
extending his
margin until he finished 12 seconds ahead
of French motocross champion Marvin
Musquin. Musquin generated most of the
excitement as he passed eight riders on his
way from a bad start to the number two
spot on the podium.
Coming into Oakland, Ryan Villopoto,
Ryan Dungey and Chad Reed had each
won one of the three previous races,
while James Stewart’s best was a thirdplace
finish the previous week in Los
Angeles. Things
weren’t looking
much better
this evening, as
Stewart started
fourth, well
behind Reed, on
holeshot. Reed
looked as if he
might lead the
whole race, like
last week, but
Stewart caught
and passed him
by the third lap
and then stalked
Reed, looking
for an opening.
(It must be
psychological
torture to be
leading yet
know that, right
behind, someone is waiting for just the
right moment to slip past. You don’t know
when that will happen until it happens,
then it’s too late.) This drama went on for
seven more laps until Stewart managed
to get inside Reed on a 180-degree turn.
From that point Stewart led the race,
slowly but steadily pulling ahead. Reed’s
only hope was that Stewart would stall
or fall. He didn’t. Two seconds after
Stewart, Reed crossed the finish line, then
Villopoto, then
Dungey.
Stewart has
moved up to
fourth place in
series points but
lags the leaders –
Reed and Dungey
each have 86
points – by 13.
Villopoto is a
close third with
84. But Stewart
couldn’t have
been happier
with this win. (There was a somber note as
he dedicated the evening to Mark Adams,
Stewart’s team mechanic, who had been
killed two days before, hit by a car while
he was helping a motorist stranded at the
roadside.) Stewart’s sponsors were pleased,
as they saw their brands brandished on the
podium. The Italians from Pirelli were in
the stands to see the first Supercross win
on their tires and hear Stewart praise their
surefooted character on a greasy track.
So now it’s one win apiece for the top four
contenders. Rounds 5 and 6 in Anaheim
and San Diego will surely break the
symmetry established at Oakland.
Check out the exciting video from Stewart’s helmet
cam. tinyurl.com/oaklandsuperX
Ed note: Ryan Villopoto won both events and
Stewart is now a distant fourth, 32 points behind
front-runner Villopoto.
1204 PORTOLA AVE
925-371-8413 • WWW.MOTOWRX.COM
March 2012 | 14 | CityBike.com
March 2012 | 15 | CityBike.com