Mid 2008 Mileage Check

If it only looked that good, Porcupine! I'm going out to cut it now. If I never post again you'll know the lawn and the dark thing that lurks there won.

 

Cardiackid............2006..........3600miles.....Purchased April 08

 

SCraig, I'd be interested in hearing how your VFR compares to your V-Strom. I can see which way your mileage is leaning but if you were to take a 500 mile trip, which bike would you ride? BTW, which V-Strom do you have?

 

I get that question frequently. The short answer is that there is no comparison between the two, they have a completely different feel.

I have the DL650 so the VFR has far more horsepower (in fact it has more than the V-Strom 1000 by a good bit). The V-Strom is a v-twin and vibrates slightly more. It's not annoying but you can feel the gap between firing pulses more than on the V4. The V-Strom has a much more upright seating position, which is good or bad depending on what kind of mood I'm in on any given day. The V-Strom is slightly more nimble than the VFR in that it takes less effort to get it into a curve. The VFR tends to track better once it's set into a corner but the V-Strom just seems to get set easier.

I like them both and if I could only have one bike it would be a real difficult choice to make. They are both truly great bikes in their own way and I'm just not sure which way I'd go on that decision. Hopefully I won't have to make it I've put 23,500 miles on the V-Strom since May, '06 and 8,923 on the VFR since last August so neither one of them tend to sit idle for very long at a time.

As to taking trips I've done 500 mile trips on both of them a number of times. My longest trip on the V-Strom was 1,300 miles over 5 days and the most miles I've done in a day on it was right at 500. My longest trip on the VFR was 842 miles over 3 days, and the most miles in one day was right at 600. So far the VFR has been to Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee this year. It will be in North Carolina in a couple of weeks, and in September will see parts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama.

I have to say that at the end of the 600 mile day on the VFR I could still have gone more, and I do think it is more comfortable on long rides. I'm 56 years old so it takes me about 100 miles to get "Molded" to the bike but once I do I can ride it all day long without complaints. I've got an 1,800 mile trip scheduled in September and I'm planning on taking the VFR.

 

Username................VFR Year.....................Miles in '08.........................Odometer Reading
34468 Randy............2006......................approx 11,000 miles..............57,000km (35,400Miles)+chng

 

Nice! Is that mostly daily riding or have you done some long trips, Randy?

 

Wow Randy. Nice chunk 'o asphalt covered there!

Thanks for the comparison SCraig. Appreciate the time taken to type that all out. There's a lot of loyal V-Strom people out there too so I was very curious what somebody with first hand experience on both would say about them both. Sounds like a nice bike too.

 

No problem, typing is easy :wink:

They are both great bikes, and it's difficult to compare the two. I guess if bikes were cars, the GSX-R's and CBR1000RR's would be the Ferraris and Lambos. The VFR would probably compare to the Corvette. The V-Strom would probably fall in the SUV category somewhere. Any of them will do pretty well on the road, although the Corvettes and Ferraris will get you there faster, but the SUV will go places the Corvette won't. I don't get on dirt or gravel but from everything I've heard the V-Strom will handle it pretty well.

The V-Strom has been called the Swiss Army Knife of motorcycles. It doesn't excel at anything but it does many things well. I think that fits pretty well.

 

In all fairness, I commute about 85 - 90 miles round trip every four on and four off to work so long as there is no snow on the ground. And I have been caught a couple times in that too eeeek! I have gone on a couple rides but my "friends" in my social group always have the good rides on weekend I am working....like their recent Baker Run. But that's OK. I can forgive them:frown: