V-strom weaknesses
Discussion
Planning our road trip to and around Greece for a month at the end of September and I got to thinking about spares to take with us. We're probably going to be doing around 3k miles on a 2007 DL1000 with 32,000 miles on.
So far I have plugs for tyres, bulbs, fuses and a few other bit and pieces. Any other thoughts about what I could take and are there any relatively common weaknesses on these engines that would be likely to break leaving us stranded, the sort of things we could carry with us? Things like ignition coils or the likes.
Whilst I might be getting the attention of people in the know regarding this engine. My engine is looking a bit tatty, any one know a colour code for touch up paint? long shot I know but the water pump looks crap and I'd like to repaint it.
Ta all.
So far I have plugs for tyres, bulbs, fuses and a few other bit and pieces. Any other thoughts about what I could take and are there any relatively common weaknesses on these engines that would be likely to break leaving us stranded, the sort of things we could carry with us? Things like ignition coils or the likes.
Whilst I might be getting the attention of people in the know regarding this engine. My engine is looking a bit tatty, any one know a colour code for touch up paint? long shot I know but the water pump looks crap and I'd like to repaint it.
Ta all.
I did 3.5k miles in 10 days last month on an SV1000 (which I think is the same engine) with 44k miles on it (now 47k!).
No problems with the engine BUT it developed a taste for engine oil drinking a litre over that time. This may be in part to the age of the oil before I went or the sustained RPM on the autobahn however.
Enjoy your trip!
Cheers,
Tom
No problems with the engine BUT it developed a taste for engine oil drinking a litre over that time. This may be in part to the age of the oil before I went or the sustained RPM on the autobahn however.
Enjoy your trip!
Cheers,
Tom
Hooli said:
32k? it's not even run in so I wouldn't worry about problems. I wouldn't carry anything more than bulbs & a puncture kit on my 14 which is on slightly higher miles than your bike.
Same here, although I also have a spare clutch cable under the seat of my TDM but I've never needed it. Give the bike an oil change before you go and check how much life the tyres have got in them but that's all you should need. Took me nearly half a day to find a new tyre in France the other year and surprisingly ended up with a Bridgestone not a Michelin. Don't forget your European health insurance card though, and European recovery is good for peace of mind.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 20th August 08:02
Oil. The SV engine can use oil and if the light comes on it's too late (it's an oil presure light, not an oil level light)
Generally though, they are very strong engines. Check the pipes leading to the oil cooler / heat exchanger are in good nick as these can corrode through.
Ignition coils etc are a bit of a lottery...i have a 73,000 mile / 15 year old SV and they are fine, yet my mechnic friend replaced coils on an SV that was half the age and a third of the miles...go figure.
Take spare fuses, maybe check the charging curcuit is fine and maybe a load test on the battery to check that isnt going to fail one morning in the middle of no-where.
Generally though, they are very strong engines. Check the pipes leading to the oil cooler / heat exchanger are in good nick as these can corrode through.
Ignition coils etc are a bit of a lottery...i have a 73,000 mile / 15 year old SV and they are fine, yet my mechnic friend replaced coils on an SV that was half the age and a third of the miles...go figure.
Take spare fuses, maybe check the charging curcuit is fine and maybe a load test on the battery to check that isnt going to fail one morning in the middle of no-where.
Well got back today from a 3 week 5000km trip.
Only one small problem after the most torrential rain I have ever experienced. We had ridden across Greece from east back west in rain, thunder and lightening and fog getting progressively worse until we arrived at Lefkada when it stopped. We got to the room and left to bike outside. After about 10 minutes we'd just got out of our soaked clothes (water proofs aren't that water proof after 5 hours in heavy rain it seams) the heavens opened and stayed open for about 18 hours. The poor bike was out in it all night. When we awoke it was still raining so we stayed put. I did a bit of investigating but before I got to the bottom it started as I was checking for a spark with one plug out. Put the plug back in and off we popped. The bike ran perfectly all day but we had an issue a couple more times with it refusing to start but once running doing so perfectly.
Personally I think water had got into the ignition switch.
There is a whole town out there in the rain.
Only one small problem after the most torrential rain I have ever experienced. We had ridden across Greece from east back west in rain, thunder and lightening and fog getting progressively worse until we arrived at Lefkada when it stopped. We got to the room and left to bike outside. After about 10 minutes we'd just got out of our soaked clothes (water proofs aren't that water proof after 5 hours in heavy rain it seams) the heavens opened and stayed open for about 18 hours. The poor bike was out in it all night. When we awoke it was still raining so we stayed put. I did a bit of investigating but before I got to the bottom it started as I was checking for a spark with one plug out. Put the plug back in and off we popped. The bike ran perfectly all day but we had an issue a couple more times with it refusing to start but once running doing so perfectly.
Personally I think water had got into the ignition switch.
There is a whole town out there in the rain.
The bike was fantastic, I would have struggled with some of the steep tracks I ended up having to take without all that torque.
The only thing I found hard to live with was the clutch, it's very difficult to slip and the biting point seems to move about making low speed maneuvering with all that weight (iro400kg) difficult at times. I'm going to renew the clutch and investigate changing it over to cable rather than hydraulic so I have more control over where it bites.
The only thing I found hard to live with was the clutch, it's very difficult to slip and the biting point seems to move about making low speed maneuvering with all that weight (iro400kg) difficult at times. I'm going to renew the clutch and investigate changing it over to cable rather than hydraulic so I have more control over where it bites.
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