Way better than vstrom in dirt

[Buster452]

I bought my ST to replace my DL1000 about 4 months ago. I had been taking my DL1000 adventure riding for 3 years prior to that. I've had that VStrom in all kinds of conditions; wide forest roads, rocky two track, muddy roads, gravel and sand. I did almost every kind of road out there, except single-track, loaded with camping gear and unloaded. The Vstrom was a good intro into adventure riding for me, but now that I have my Tenere I realized how wrong of a bike it was.

This past weekend I had my first opportunity to get back out on the dirt at Dual Sport Desert Daze in Southern Arizona. I rode 3-400 miles of various conditions in southern arizona this past weekend and absolutely love this bike now.

Fast Dirt Roads
I'm talking about roads with some washboarding and maybe some marble rocks thrown in and hitting speeds up to 70mph. The Tenere stayed true to course and didn't wander much. On my old Vstrom I would have been up on the pegs standing to isolate my mass from the bike's tendency to wander. Previously I would have almost always been on the pegs standing on the Vstrom. I had once ridden about 150 miles in death valley completely on the pegs (with extremely sore legs and feet at the end of the day). With the Tenere I was able to sit in comfort for much of the trip. Most of the time I stood on these roads was to deal with jumping a cattle-grate or dealing some sort of blip in the road.

Marble Roads
Ok, these are the roads that are hard-pack with a bunch of loose marble+ sized stones on top. The tenere was great in this. When things got a bit squirelly, it would bring itself back on track quickly.

Sand
Two types of sand I dealt with on this ride was the common 1" sand experienced on in spots on some hard pack roads and some 6" deep sand typically experienced at wash (dry riverbed) crossings. In the past on my VStrom I had to be alert to any sand in my past and be ready to stand up, lean back and roll on a little throttle to keep the front from digging in and washing out. With the Tenere, I stayed seated for most of it. I did stand up for some corners with loose sand in them and in some high-speed sections with 2" rutted sandy areas. Otherwise, the bike stayed true to cores with just a little wiggling.

There was a small section of 6" deep sand about 100 feet long that we road through everyday to/from our basecamp. In years past there with my Vstrom I would end up paddling my legs as I clutched my way through the sand. On the tenere, I just sat there an stayed on the throttle and went through with only a couple occasionally scary moments. By the end of the weekend I noticed something interesting. As I was going through the sand, the front would start to turn a little bit. At that point in the past my vstrom would contintue to turn in and suddenly lurch. Now, the front tire seems to build up some sand in front of it and just turn back straight on it's own. All I did was stay on the throttle going through the sand.

Off camber two track with rocks thrown in for good measure
On my way to the event I was going to pre-ride section 2 of the Arizona Back Country Discovery Route (AZBDR) because we had a sizeable group (20+) of riders possibly taking it the next day. I was loaded down with all my camping gear when I hit the part of the trail after the sand bypass. This section was a bit technical with some good uphill sections with loose rocks, deep ruts and off-camber two-track. I made it about a 1/4 mile into this mess before wisdom kicked in. I was solo with a fully loaded 550lb bike going down a trail that wasn't heavily travelled and I didn't feel like camping for the night there if I were to crash with the bike on top of me. I turned around and got outta there.

It was here where the weight of the bike was felt. Dealing with diagonal ruts and fist+ sized rocks was some good work. No worse than the old vstrom was though.


I'd have to say the Tenere is roughly a million times better than the Vstrom off road. ;-)

 

[snakebitten]

I ride with my brother. Me on a Tenere. He on a 07 Vstrom.
We have been everywhere together. All over this great land.

You just did an excellent job of putting into words what he and I experience together. Basically, we both ride the same tracks 90% of the time. The other 10%, I look back and find I'm all alone. (He errs on the side of caution)

A few times he went in with me a bit to deep and I had to ride his out. I gotta admit, I was shocked he stuck with it as long as he did on a couple of occasions.

Love that V-twin motor. And it's a sweet ride in lots of places we go. But to me it has way too much street-bike geometry, regardless of those ADV clothes it wears.

He rode my S10 only once. (open offer too) Said he refuses to ever ride another until it's his. I think he agreed with you. Haha.

 

[greg the pole]

preaching to the choir here...
had a vstrom 1000 for a good while 55 KM.
had a 650 for a short while, never bonded with that one...

 

[GrahamD]

Totally agree.

Went from a V1000 myself.

At the end of a long day out in the same conditions I don't feel drained. Repeat for 5 days and it all adds up. Feel better at the campsite, feel better when you get home. Can get into nastier places and if it all goes tits up it's not really that much different anyway AND i can go to more distant places as I actually have some range if I keep the speed sensible.

 

[scott123007]

So two days after the 2014 V-Strom is released, you guys start yapping about how much better the Tenere is than the 12 year old design. LOL

Wait a few more weeks and compare it to the new one. That is what is relevant

 

[RED CAT]

2014 S10 to 2014 VStrom. I'm betting still no contest in the dirt. Bet the S10 is better on the street too.

 

[snakebitten]

The thread is "way better in the dirt".
If you stay within those boundaries, it won't matter which V-Strom model we are comparing to. Right?
Hey I love V-stroms. I'm betting the new one is the best yet. But against the S10 (the 4 year old one) in knobbyland?

 

[rotortech71]

A good friend of mine and I both bought our '12 S10s within a month of one another. I was coming off a 2009 V-Strom 650, and he a 2003 Aprilia Caponord. We ran our old bikes off road sometimes, but it always seemed we were concentrating on keeping them in check, rather than having fun. With the S10s, we both laugh like mad men, and sometimes have to remind ourselves we are on bikes that are nearing 600 pounds. We will find ourselves at 60 and 70 mph pretty easy on the dirt and gravel roads. The Yamahas are just so much more planted and confidence inspiring.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I loved my old '06 DL1000. It's a bike that transitioned me from a dirt biker into a long distance pavement rider with a love of twisties. I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for my old Vee. It was a better wheelie bike than the S10. That's it, nothing else. The Tenere is better in every other aspect across the board. It's not even close. Off pavement handling it night and day different.

 

[scott123007]

I agree with everyone's assessments but was just making a point because of the timing of the posts. I do however, think that the electronics and better suspension on the '14 Strom will close the gap on unpaved forest roads etc. Not necessarily off "road" because of still shitty ground clearance, but in places where these Pigs are designed to be ridden realistically, the difference will not be as substantial. Unfortunately, I can attest unequivocally, that with two equal riders, the new Strom will hand Big Blue its ass in a set of twisties. Big Blue still wins the comfort contest but cannot be ridden as aggressively as the Strom. Not that that even matters to most, but to those that it does, be warned

 

[snakebitten]

Far less argument with that stance. It was intentionally designed to be better at that task. And indeed, even the 07 my brother has revealed it to be a great bike on the dragon! Kinda exposing its dressing as an ADV warrior as a disguise.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Big Blue still wins the comfort contest but cannot be ridden as aggressively as the Strom. Not that that even matters to most, but to those that it does, be warned

That sounds like a challenge. I accept.

The Vee introduced to, and honed my skills in a set of twisties. Changing to the S10 definitely slowed me down for a while as I was learning the bike and the very different power delivery. At this point I don't think I'm any slower or less aggressive on the S10 than I was on the Vee. Don't have timings to prove it, it's all in my head.

 

[Ironhand]

Interesting that so many of us went from a Vee to the Tenere. My Vstrom was the first bike I ever owned that I had zero emotional attachment to. Nothing wrong with it. It did everything I ever asked of it and was 100% reliable, but it reminded me of my wife's old Camry or my LG washing machine. Did it's job? Yes. Dull? Yes. Not so with the Tenere. I love this bike!

 

[NoMorBills]

Buster I am so glad you made the switch. Together we became introduced to Adventure riding side by side with our Stroms. I made the switch over two years ago and on my break-in ride we did the Devils Hwy (191). I new then that the Tenere' behaved as a much lighter bike.

Then as we rode into death Valley and had to manage some less than desirable trails I found I was keeping up with the KTMs. No not on apar by no means just keeping up!

I look forward to many more miles with you on my tail instead of being way-------back!

 

[AlsoRan]

The thread is "way better in the dirt".
If you stay within those boundaries, it won't matter which V-Strom model we are comparing to. Right?

The '14 V'Strom has USD forks, likely leaps and bounds better even on a dirt road. I had an '04 and remember how those forks would start flexing even hitting a soft patch on a 40 MPH dirt road. Get the forks flexing and the back end swapping and it reminded me of an RM "Full Floater" with it's toothpick forks. Keeps from falling asleep though.

 

[Buster452]

NoMorBills,

I remember you mentioning how much lighter the ST felt than the strom that day on the 191.

All along on the strom though I had been honing my skills. I kept thinking it's not really the bike as much as it's me and I need to development skills better. I'm thankfull for having been through that now. It made me a better rider on big bikes.

This past weekend I found myself steering the bike with the back end a couple times. I was suprised how manageable it was to do a quick little blip of the throttle to bring the back end around in switch backs. I was also very comfortable hanging back with sweep to help when some riders missed a turn, knowing that I could catch up to the group we were with. Having had to figure things out on the vstrom and now do it on the Tenere has made me much more confident.

You'd better get off those street tires if you want any chance of keeping me behind you now. This last weekend I was on that nearly used up K60 (left over from the vstrom) rear tire. I'll be getting a new one soon and will be a force to be reckoned with. ;-) A TKC80 rear might be in my future also. Our trip in June might have a couple dueling Super Tenere's on knobbies battling for the spot right behind the KTM. Although, "right behind the KTM" might be a bit for difficult soon because the KTM 990 we've been chasing might end up being replaced by an 1190R.

Buster I am so glad you made the switch. Together we became introduced to Adventure riding side by side with our Stroms. I made the switch over two years ago and on my break-in ride we did the Devils Hwy (191). I new then that the Tenere' behaved as a much lighter bike.

Then as we rode into death Valley and had to manage some less than desirable trails I found I was keeping up with the KTMs. No not on apar by no means just keeping up!

I look forward to many more miles with you on my tail instead of being way-------back!

 

[NoMorBills]

Street Tires?? Those are Anekee IIIs They bite better offroad than they do on pavement. They also have over 12000 miles on them. Still a lot left.

I just received my Big Block rear and TKC for the front. Ready to go to Mohave if my leg will heal. Ripped my Ham String bad.

 

[bikerdoc]

I saw a brand spanking new 2014 VStrom DL1000 at a dealership in Auckland, NZ, while back visiting family and friends for a fortnight, after having spent 7 weeks riding a sweet CB500X on all kinds of terrain in NW Thailand. The new DL1000 looked nice, and a substantial visual improvement over the previous model, I was tempted for a moment, but I traded and cashed out the difference on a new AN650L4 (Burgman650) with my older AN650K4.
No, did not consider for a minute to get rid of my XT1220Z... that baby is staying.

One of the major considerations on the DL1000 sitting in the dealership, was the few reviews/'first rides' that have been published on the dirt worthiness of the new VStrom, IIRC the reviewers have are generally not very positive over the models dirt credentials. Most early reviews have suggested that the new model VStrom 1000 is more bitumen focused. Though these are are early first impressions. That and for me, the chain final drive... If I wanted to do chain final drive, I'd likely go for a KTM1190...
YMMV.

 

[snakebitten]

Wanna make it unfair?

 

[Combo]

Wanna make it unfair?

My gosh son, stay off that long driveway of yours and you won't need to Overdose on BIG BLOCKS