Picking up 2005 DL650 V-Strom this afternoon.

[alister667]

Good morning,

As the title suggests, I'm picking up a 2005 DL650 V-Strom this afternoon. I'm based in Northern Ireland, only got finished my Direct Access about 3 weeks ago, so I'm pretty excited to be getting my first bike.

I had looked at a few other bikes at similar money - a couple of Transalps (they were ex-police, very, very rough, 25k+ miles, lots of corrosion) and a BMW F650GS (riding position felt too small, chocolate water pump, front forks prone to cracking), but when I saw the V-Strom, it was in great condition, low mileage (10,500) and, crucially, affordable!

It has no MOT at the moment, so I'm bringing it back in the van, then preparing it for MOT, so it'll be a couple of weeks or so until I get it on the road, but I can't wait - already planning my first mods - headlight relays and fork clamp!

I'll be doing a lot of reading here to catch up on advice, thanks in advance for all the info.

Cheers

Ali

[MartinW]

Hi Ali and 

[Fat Rat]

 

[kwackboy]

  enjoy .. 

[650XT Pete]

Hi and 

[Graham62]

Hi and 

[Asmith61]

Hi Ali 

[UK_Vstrom650]

 

[RustyCavalier]

Good choice Ali, my first bike after DA was a K5 D650.

(Might be worth looking at a Cosmo fork brace and a headlight relay set.)

Good luck and happy riding.

[alister667]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I brought the bike home this evening in the back of my van. Got it loaded and unloaded with no major dramas nor accidents! I have already ordered a Cosmo fork brace & a Haynes manual. I'll look at the headlight relay after the MOT - just in case I start blowing stuff up the day before the test or something stupid...