650 Finish - New vs Old

[Billabong]

I've recently been looking for a used V-Strom and have looked at 650s (old and new) and the old 1000. I know Suzuki have a history of flaky finish but it seems to me that the older models are better than the new ones. A while back I had a 59 plate wee which was in lovely condition - no furring or rust anywhere. I've seen a couple of 2011 glees recently which were really scruffy with lots of furring. I've also seen a couple of 2008 vees which also looked in good condition.

I have read some comments on here about the finish degrading quickly on the glee so is that the general concensus? It seems that the glee is overall a nicer bike than the wee but seems to have a worse finish?

[MartinW]

MInes a 2004 and is not showing any of the problems I have seen on 2012 bikes.

However, it lives in a garage under a cover. I suspect that the "life" these bikes have seen has more to do with their condition than their age has on its own.

[macamx]

I have a 2014 and the finish is very poor, this was really winding me up until I really thought about it. The reality is I bought this excellent machine when Suzuki were doing £1k of last year so I paid well under £6k for it, so what if a few nuts , bolts and banjos go a little "yesterday" it still has to be the bargain of the decade. When its 3 years old I would think it will be worth £3k of anyones money so I will have lost £2.5/3k now compare that to other bikes which are as capable as this little gem and it makes even greater sense.

Geoff.

[tallpaul]

I have to agree with Martin on this. My bike is kept in a garage and I suspect the previous owner did too. I'm not a fastidious cleaner (by any stretch) and I don't go out in the wet or in the winter but the fixtures and fittings are still in good order. OK, at 17000 miles it hasn't done a right lot but reading some off the tales of woe you don't need to before the rot starts!

[Oop North John]

Traded in my 61 reg Glee and hardly any corrosion on it. ACF560 from new, kept in a garage and not used through the winter months, due to 2 miles of untreated roads before the gritted ones. Rinsed down every other day when commuting.

The chemicals / coatings that the manufacturers can use are now a lot less detrimental to the environment, but much more detrimental to the bike staying nice looking with little care.

[greywolf]

I noticed no difference in materials between my Wee and Glee. I suspect it is the weather that makes the difference. Riding with salt on the roads makes a big difference,

[UK_Vstrom650]

I use my Glee all year and have done on my previous bikes. They are always covered in ACF50 and live in a garage. My previous Fazer (FZS600) was a 2001 model and had fantastic finish despite being used through the  worst winter we've recently had (2010). My Glee,  which should be called Moses with the amount of ACF50 I've drenched it in, looks worse than the 2001 Fazer did,  just around bolts, banjos etc. I haven't changed my routines in cleaning etc,  so all I can put it down to are cheaper parts being used to keep costs down?

I've also ran cruisers through winter and never had issues keeping them from looking tatty either.

I do accept that if I use the bike through winter it won't look perfect, but I do wish it was slightly more resistant like my old Fazer was.

[bosnjo]

My 2014 Vee2 lives in dry garage and it never sees rain nor salt (no salt here in the South). It's now 7 months old but I already replaced all black screws by stainless ones (they were getting white-ish) and just noticed gear linkage is getting big dark spots, like it's going to start rusting. Clutch and brake hoses ends are covered with white and dark spots. I'm afraid to use metal polish as it can remove that "chrome coding" and get completely rusty.
And again, no rain, no salt, nice dry garage.

[Esmerelda]

Bosnjo
Try rubbing a little waterproof grease  :wtf:  into the corroded parts like brake hose ends. The plating has a slightly porous finish and takes up the grease, the "White-ish" corrosion polishes off as you rub in the grease
Regards
Esme

[macamx]

Forget it you are fighting a losing battle, the "vunerable" parts were covered in Acf corrosion  block grease from new and not used in the really bad weather and still the corrosion continues. This makes no sense to me as the grease should stop the oxygen getting to the surface of the metal to facilitate the process so to my simplistic way of thinking the problem must be coming from within. Any metallurgists amongst us ?.

Geoff.

[bosnjo]

I'll try with a grease. Bolts have all been replaced, so I'll grease hoses' ends and gear linkage. Thanks.

[Billabong]

Thanks all - interesting reading. I've looked at a few more since and from what I've seen the old model seems to hold up better than the new one. Suzuki giveth and Suzuki taketh away...