New adventure model 650

[noose7]

Went in to local dealership and spoke with my old boss, he has told me that while he was out in Almeria on the 1000 launch, Suzuki told them they are will be doing an adventure model with spoked wheels, a beak and metal panniers, he didn't tell me when or how much, but wondered if anyone else had heard this?

[Gassoon]

Not heard anything about it...doesn't sound like a great improvement/move on unless they change more than the wheels and clag a beak on the glee, though...  

[Juvecu]

I like the idea of spoked wheels, they can keep the beak and their luggage though.

[Seigi]

Why do people like spoked wheels? I notice quite a few people are fond of them, Is there any advantage to them or is it purely cosmetic?

[Oop North John]

They used bikes with spoked wheels on the LWR and LWD.

The opinion is that a spoked wheel can usually take more abuse on rough roads without falling to bits, which a cast one might not survive. Downside is most spoked wheels need tubed tyres, unless you ride bikes like the ones used in the LWD and LWR.

[Mr Nick]

Not just that they can take more abuse, they can be straightened up again afterwards.

And they were on my bikes before Ewan was born.......

[Juvecu]

I'm pretty sure my DR-Z's spoked wheels are considerably lighter than my V-Strom's alloys too. Less unsprung weight is a good thing. Another bonus is that you can can change your wheel size if you wanted to. Suppose you want a 21" front wheel on your Strom with spoked wheels, you use the same hub, but you get a 21" hoop and longer spokes. It's a way out example as most people won't do this, but in the same way you can do this you can repair your spoked wheel by replacing the hoop and the spokes.

[hookie]

They also take a lot more time and care to keep clean and in good nick.....but an alloy rim with stainless spokes does look lovely though.

[kirky1298]

Think they would need to address ground clearance and upgrade suspension before the 650 could be taken as a serious off road adventure bike .

[loggamatt]

Yep, unless there's a boost to ground clearance too then it's largely just cosmetic. Can't imagine they'd raise the suspension though as I imagine then putting that through all the necessary testing is a lot more expensive than just putting some spoked wheels on the standard model, taking a few pictures of it on top of a mountain, and calling it the 'off road' version.

That said, if they went to a 21" front it would help.

[mjc506]

21" front wheel, probably either longer suspensions or (more likely) just a raised mudguard, and extended/lifted swingarm to match the 1" increase up front... not particularly difficult.

Spoked wheels would be nice, especially with a tubeless capable rim.