Next Level “V”

While Suzuki has been producing adventure bikes for a long time and has such hall-of-fame members like the DR400, DR650 and the V-Strom 1000s on their resume, the segment has changed dramatically since those bikes were first rolling off the assembly floor in Japan. With manufacturers fighting for the attention of the middle-aged target demographic’s wallet, the cutthroat middleweight segment seems to become the most competitive. Enter the newest member of the V-Strom family, touted as the most off-road worthy model that slots in nicely between the flagship V-Strom 1050 and the little brother V-Strom 650 with its plethora of various model options.

For the 800DE (DE stands for Dual Explorer) launch, Suzuki chose the roads and trails on the Italian island of Sardinia in late February. The two days of riding was comprised of 80 percent pavement with 20 percent off-piste on some decomposed granite-derived dirt secondary roads.

Before swinging a leg over the bike in person, the V-Strom 800DE technical specifications looked promising and very similar to the formula that other manufacturers have adopted: namely, take a motor design that is, or will be, shared with a street model (in this case the yet to be released Suzuki GSX-8S), tune it for more manageable power curve and throttle response that will not scare the bejesus out of you when the pavement ends and pair it with a suspension package that can keep up with the motor. Saying that, the new V-Strom is a brand-new motorcycle from ground up so it was truly unknown how it would perform under real-life conditions.

Each manufacturer offers something different, whether you’re going for an all-bells-and-whistles machine or the bare bones, with middle-of-the-road capabilities on-road and off-road. Suzuki engineers at the launch said as much, namely that they are targeting the budget-conscious customer that will spend most of the time on-road and on minor gravel roads. They specifically mentioned that they are not targeting hard off-road type riding like a KTM 890 Adventure R, Yamaha Ténéré 700 or even the Ducati DesertX.

The V-Strom 800DE retains the classic V-Strom characteristics with its classic front beak positioned higher to create greater distance between it and the front fender and wheel. The styling is more aggressive with sharper lines and contours on most of the components and graphics, which looks very good in person. I was a little hesitant on how I felt about the looks prior to the launch but admittedly it is a good-looking bike in person. The new vertically stacked hexagonal LED headlight assembly looks very good and complements the overall design but we were not able to test its performance at night. Turn signals and rear tail light are LED as well.

Adventure models will typically spend most of their lives on paved and minor gravel roads, thus comfort is paramount when most days are spent in the saddle. During the pre-ride discussions the Japanese engineers responsible for the design of the 800DE mentioned the effort put into the seat design. With my skinny derriere suffering from immediate pressure points and soreness on long rides, I was eager to test it out.

The Suzuki engineers informed us that the shape of the seat was wide enough on the rear portion to be comfortable when sitting and narrow enough near the front when standing and also paired with a firmer density foam to complete the redesign. The seat height sits at 855 mm (33.7 in) – almost an inch lower than its main competition in the KTM 890 R and the Yamaha Ténéré, which is doable for most riders. For those shorter/taller riders there are seat options to fine-tune the cockpit.

The motocross-derived high-bend and high-sweep handlebar puts the rider in a good neutral position with a typical footpeg height for most adventure bikes. Taking out the rubber footpeg inserts adds legroom on top of providing much better grip for the off-road sections. Taking the inserts out is only four 10 mm screws away and I highly recommend removing then unless the bike will spend most of its life on pavement.

The Suzuki comes with an adjustable windscreen allowing three heights; however, this can only be accomplished by manually unscrewing the four allen bolts and placing the windscreen in the desired position and re-tightening the bolts. Yes, this is not ideal, and feels quite outdated with today’s electronic windscreens but remember “budget rider.” I would way rather sacrifice electronic windshield adjustability if I can have a great motor, suspension and geometry.

Controls layout is basic and easy to navigate through the menus on the five-inch TFT display. With Suzuki’s main purpose to appeal to the budget riders when peddling the 800DE, electronic options are limited. The Suzuki Drive Mode Selector (SDMS) offers three drive modes of A, B and C, where power gets progressively softer from A to C. While I primarily used the A mode on the road and B mode off-road, I only tried the C mode a time or two and did not like the mild power delivery it offered, especially with such a superb powerplant underneath the seat and tank but more on that later.

Traction Control (TC) offers four modes ranging from 1, which is for sport riding with minimal intervention to setting 3 reserved for wet or slippery conditions. The fourth mode is the G mode which stands for Gravel. The engineers encouraged us to use this mode when the pavement ends. While I tested it and it did a decent enough job of maximizing traction while still allowing wheel spin, I still preferred to know what the wheel was doing at all times when on gravel and had the TC in the Off position for most of the testing sessions.

Finally, the ABS comes with two settings, 1 provides minimum intervention and Suzuki recommends this for off-road riding. Setting 2 is recommended for city and all-around road riding while the OFF option completely disables the rear wheel

ABS while maintaining front wheel ABS. When riding on gravel, just like TC, I chose to fully turn off rear wheel ABS for maximum manual control of the rear wheel. This allowed sliding the rear into tight corners and powering out of them without rear ABS or TC on.

As for accessories, for 2023 the 800DE does not come with cruise control, but with throttle-by-wire setup on the bike, it should be a relatively easy addition in the future. Hopefully Suzuki listened to the journalists at the launch as universally that was a common complaint and request for the future. A USB port comes standard and located on the side of the instrument cluster.

The Suzuki features a brand-new steel frame which makes sense in the world of adventure machines with some flex and ease of access for maintenance as well as cheaper to manufacture. Paired with the new chassis is the fully adjustable front and rear Showa suspension. The rear monoshock comes with a remote reservoir and a remote preload adjuster for easy on-thefly adjustment for a passenger or luggage. Ground clearance comes in at a very respectable 220 mm which is the best among all the V-Strom models with the 650 offering 170 mm and the flagship 1050DE 190 mm for comparison. The whole package touches mother earth via a 21-inch front and a 17-inch rear spoked wheels clad in the inner-tube-equipped Dunlop Trailmax Mixtour rubber. The Suzuki comes equipped with dual-pis- ton Nissin calipers on 310 mm dual floating discs in the front and a single piston setup with a 240 mm disc in the rear for a very good and easily modulated brake system.

When writing bike reviews, I usually talk about the engine early in the review, but for the V-Strom 800DE I decided to make an exception and leave the best for last. By far the highlight of this highly anticipated model is the brand-new 776 cc DOHC, 4-valve per cylinder engine. The brand new parallel-twin powerplant (question arises if it should be called a V-Strom…) generates 84.3 horsepower at 8,500 rpm and maximum of 57.5 ft-lb of torque at 6,800 rpm. This new design’s goal was to shrink the physical size of the motor from front to rear which allows the weight distribution and chassis geometry to be optimized to Suzuki’s liking. Those that follow motocross and supercross know that no matter what generation, Suzukis are always one of the best handling bikes out there so they know what they’re doing. The engine also features a 270-degree crankshaft which usually translates to a smooth power delivery. This is paired with the all-new primary cross balancer design which puts the dual balancers at 90 degrees to each other compared to the traditional one-axis or two-axis at 180 degrees. With all these features combined, this new unit delivers a truly powerful, linear and smooth motor.

The six-speed transmission on the 800DE is geared appropriately for the new motor to maximize the linear characteristics of the powerplant. The bike also comes equipped with a standard bi-directional quick shifter which is an option on many other OEM bikes.

The following day after the technical presentations, loaded with all the tech information, we headed into the twisty roads of southern Sardinia and its backcountry gravel roads. Right off the bat I noticed that the bike did not feel its weight of the reported 230 kg (507 lb) curb weight. Rather, it is quick turning and the flickability was a confirmation of Suzuki’s excellent reputation on building well handling bikes. I attribute this to the refined rider triangle where the wide motocross handlebar and narrower engine allows for more central mass distribution making direction changes effortless. Once the tires warmed up, the narrow winding roads served as a great demonstration playground of the new 800DE, although the ride pace was rather relaxed and not conducive to testing the limits of more aggressive riding.

Right out of the parking lot, the new motor showed its hypedup potential. With silky smooth delivery, virtually vibration-free (I guess those dual 90-degree balancers work) and extremely linear torquey power right off bottom, it was seriously impressive. Even though we were asked not to do any wheelies, it was hard not to power lift the front wheel once in a while in first and second gear. Pairing the nimble feeling of the chassis with this gem of a motor was treat.

The suspension worked well in the twisties but some excessive diving under braking was quite apparent; however, after turning up the compression and rebound front and rear for the off-road portions, it helped this issue. Good to see that the clickers on the Showa suspenders actually do something noticeable. There were a lot of questions during the technical press presentation about the choice of a 17-inch rear wheel for the 800DE.

I was also disappointed with this choice but the Suzuki engineers explained that since this bike will most likely live out the majority of its life on pavement, they didn’t want to sacrifice on street performance by going with an 18-inch version. I’m not sure if it would be possible to retrofit an 18-inch rim on the 800DE and the effect it would have on the chassis, but it would be worth investigating if the bike will be used in more off-road terrain.

Once the pavement ended and turned onto the eroded and decomposed granite gravel and double-track roads, this is what I was very excited about. There is no better testing ground for a motorcycle’s balance, motor, throttle delivery and chassis characteristics than to slide it on some loose marbles. Once I switched off the traction control and rear ABS, I immediately felt comfortable allowing the rear wheel to step out around corners in controllable slides. I started off with the drive mode A but quickly changed to B as I found A mode to be just a little bit too aggressive in the dirt. Similarly, riding mode C was just a little too timid.

The suspension was a little too soft for my liking, but after the Suzuki engineer made adjustments, the fork and shock stayed up higher up in the stroke. I still managed to bottom out the suspension on a couple of small drops but for a bike that is not supposed to be destined off-road, it was good. The bike handled the cobbles, baby heads and other small chop without a problem. Once again, with the pace of the group, we did not have the opportunity to wick it up until late on the second day. The brief 20 or so minutes of spirited riding where I pushed as hard as I felt was reasonable for virtually street tires and a 17-inch rear, the 800DE handled it like a champ and the faster I went the more fun I was having without any pucker moments. This tells me that the bike is way more off-road capable than Suzuki is claiming. Now if we only had a choice to slap on an aggressive off-road dual-sport tire on an 18-inch rear; we’re in business.

Comfort wise, between the relaxed rider triangle and the seat which my rear end did not complain about, the machine is well suited for long distances. Especially if pavement stretches are mixed in with some dirt, where standing up is the preferred riding position anyway.

Overall, the new Suzuki entry into the adventure market should appeal to a wide rrange of riders: those who are willing to sacrifice some luxuries but still have a very comfortable and capable bike on- and off-road for the price. After all, it all comes down to dollars and cents and having fun adventure riding. If you want every bell and whistle, get a BMW. If you want abundant electronics and top of class suspension, get a KTM 890 R, if you want a lighter, stripped down version, more off-road focused bike, get a Yamaha Ténéré 700. But if you want a bike that can do 80 percent of what the other bikes can do for less, the new Suzuki V-Strom 800DE might be for you. IM