I were on the stroms a good while I had a2005 DL1000 and a 07 650 ..the 650 went on ebay when I retired at 152000 miles ...
it was a daily rider and general workhorse and tbo I prefered it to the 1000
twenty years on and id kind of been there and done that and tested the dr800 and the roady one ..tbo id put the 1000 or 1050 as is now out of my mind
me old dl was good bike but I had to put gsxr brakes on it and upgrade the shock and it was ill tempered in town had ecu remap but was still a thisty girl ....
bloke said try the de1050 when I tested the 800 I said id had one before but I took it out ...well what a difference twenty years makes ...brakes are exelent as maby impessive ...motor is smooth as in 4th gear at 30mph no glitches me old one would try shake itself to peices in town
feuling was flawless I were amazed ..motor was always strong but I was susprised how smooth its become ..I ended up test riding all 4 23 stroms and I prefered the de1000 .. I'm pretty tall and it kind of fits me .but the suspension was the one real plus that stuck in my mind most
I've had a t7 and the breif was a grand tourer rather than an a duel sport ..t7 was a handful off road so I called it quits and went for the big daddy long legs as it kind of fits me ..and my brief a bit better than the roady one ........
my test rides left me puzzling I've tried allsorts tracer 9 tiger 900 transalp dr800 tiger 600 versys 1000se and 1000standard panamerica ..I liked it tbo but couldn't pull the trigger ,,but really was nice ...nt 1100 gt suzuki1000 ... benneli 702 ...
every toime I came away feeling like what's the point ?
well the big de did get me attention and I had two dos on it and was impressed I rode the roady one back to back ...I've been through all the pros and cons but I'm a tall big unit like to ride a bit off the beaten ..and thought its suspension was outstanding tbo
its not for the off road job I just liked its manners on beaten up fen roads
I've ridden loads of the above with quickshifters and was geninly thinking of asking emto take em off none of worked particulary well so I wernt really expecting much from the de s set up ....well feck me it surprised me going up was never a big deal on any of em but coming down the box it honestly the first bike I've ridden with a autoblipper that actually works correctly ...it ain't a dealbreaker either way but I were genuinly proper impressed by it
so the bloke did me a favour .id mentally written the big daddy off via memories of old not that didn't enjoy it .I did but I just didn't realise how far on they had come I were genuinly impressed by it ...err obviously
strange as it turned out to be its the one that blew me skirt up high enough to buy one out of all the others ..looks like the de is less popular an I managed to get a very decent deal 23plate fully loaded all in for a tenner with just 550 miles up
anyway hello looking forward to being back in the club so to speak ....
braaaaaaaaap
