We have very sad news folks, Suzuki are to discontinue production of their DL650 XT V-Strom. It seems time has caught up with the middleweight Adventure-Tourer in favour of the parallel twin, which seems to be where every manufacturer is now going. Basically a parallel twin is cheaper to produce because a V-Twin has two cylinder heads, four-cams, etc. And the ever-increasing draconian “Euro garbage” emission laws are also maybe responsible for this disappointing demise of a motorcycle legend. Who knows?

Anyway, we’ve just has the pleasure of the final edition for a few weeks and it’s still a fantastic bike on all counts. Extremely comfortable with one of the best seats in the business, a punchy 70hp and 70Nm V-twin, remember there are no V-Twins left in this class anymore! We saw 190kmh in 5^th gear, on the limiter, so it’ll surpass the 200 mark, which are still impressive figures for a mere 645cc. It also has a large 20-litre tank, ideal for a lazy long journey. Let’s not forget this engine is known to be one of THE most reliable motors ever produced, how’s that for piece of mind? The DL650 XT V-Strom still looks good too with its blue anodized wheels with spokes (tubeless tyres) and a fetching colour scheme, a fact relayed by everyone that saw it.

It’s not all bad news though as they’re still a few left in stock for you to buy from your local Suzuki dealer, please ask them for a test ride to enforce how cool this bike still is. The price is only R166,650, which is a bargain for such a wonderful mid-capacity Adventure bike, with that sparkling V-Twin engine. You can also choose from either this blue/white option, or a mean looking black one, or the iconic Suzuki yellow. We highly recommend you take trip to your local dealer right now before they all sell out. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, with no more to come, but like every vehicle, which this happens to, they suddenly become more sort after, just throwing that out there?

Go to www.suzukimotorcycle.co.za for more information.

Words: Bill Hunter.

There’s no doubt that Yamaha has an enviable off-road line-up of motorcycles, ranging from race winning MX bikes to their WR range, but one bike in particular is missing, a hard-core, electric start, 250cc two-stroke, competition Enduro variant.

Well that has now been addressed with this superb YZ250X-HE. It’s not really a genuine Factory bike from Japan but one prepared right here in South Africa. Adrian Bac from Yamaha SA took his wealth of knowledge (from riding across a field so to speak, sorry Adrian, you know what I mean), and turned a ‘basic’ 2026 YZ250X into this Hard-Enduro weapon, commendable to say the least we say.

So what’s so special you may ask. Well the feisty 250cc two-stoke motor remains the same, as does the KYB suspension, seeing as they’re known to be some of the best components money can buy, so why change it. Obviously you can set them up to your liking with different spring rates, etc, where Yamaha SA will also happily assist. However, one of the major changes is a heavier flywheel adding a hefty 115grams to add more engine rotational momentum that helps with low speed stalling issues, not an easy task because it has to be perfectly balanced as well. While they were inside the motor first and second gears have been replaced with wider ratios. These four gears are made right here in SA by an engineering shop in Natal, which is good to hear too, keeping it local. The gearbox changes, and flywheel, should/will make it easier during technical stages with large boulders underneath you and other similar intimidating obstacles, instead of the stock bike’s short and snappy delivery. Just leave it first and climb over anything, they say, and who am I to disagree.

The next major addition is the adoption of the Canadian Fisch-Moto electric start, a must-have for exhausting hard-enduro antics. A beautiful piece of engineering that has all the parts necessary in the kit, including wiring, start button and more. Adrian has placed twin Lithium-Iron batteries under the seat to power this compact system, that have to be charged after a ride as there’s no on-board charging system. But we have been told they’ll easily last all day, depending on the usage by the rider obviously.

But wait there’s even more. A 1.8-bar radiator cap replaced the stock 1.6-bar item, to keep the engine from premature boiling during slow riding in stifling heat and a manual fan switch is now installed, in case you need more and instant cooling from the stock radiators. A new large bash-plate has been fitted that also provides rear suspension linkage protection and there’s a new GYTR Teflon chain guide that’s more durable and a rear disc ‘shark fin’ protective plate, so you won’t bend your rear disc over the Hard-Enduro type of terrain. The gearing has also been changed from 14/50 to 13/51 to compensate for the revised internal ratio changes. Oh, and there’s an hour meter and some fancy new graphics. I think that’s about it but there could be more, either way that’s a truck-full of improvements to build this machine, where, for now, only 20 will be created.

You’re probably wondering how much all of this will cost, and so you should? Well the stock YZ250X is R130,000, this outstanding HE option is R210,000. Adrian did say that you could do all of these modifications yourself but ‘he’ is heavily subsidizing many of the parts so it would cost you much more, and more importantly they’re already done for you in a highly professional manner. His son, Adam Bac, who currently rides one of these, told me the improvements are dramatic to say the least and it now makes this YZ250X-HE a ‘proper’ class-winning motorcycle on all counts – easier to ride, less stalling, less tiring and far less vigorous and frantic clutch lever action were just some of the HE’s new found attributes. We look forward to seeing his race results in the near future.

If you’d like to own a 2026 YZ250X-HE you can order one from any of the genuine Yamaha dealers found throughout South Africa, simple as that.

Go to www.yamaha.co.za for more information. If you live in Jo’burg get in touch with Linex Sandton  www.linex.co.za, which is where you’ll find Mr. Bac himself, if you’d like to have a chat with him about his creation.

When Greg Gildenhuys gave us a call and mentioned he’d be riding the Surron electric bike off-road range we said we’d drop in and see what he’s so excited about.

 Greg was a former WSBK BMW factory rider, won tons of National tiles here in SA, raced everything, and now competing in the National MX scene, so these new Surrons have to be good, we thought.

 And they certainly are, catering for kids and adults alike, with four models currently on offer. We especially liked the way the battery can easily be removed and instantly replaced, if you have two, rather than ‘it’ being integral to the bike. The top of the range Ultra also enjoys high quality suspension, variable power modes, and of course cool styling.

 The kids will like the cute Hyper Bee X, which has the interesting feature of a remote shut-off fob for the parents and there’s also an interactive speaker placed on the bike so you can shout at them when they misbehave. The kiddie’s bikes make between 5 to 8KW, and the Ultra 12 to 21KW depending on the model. Bill rode Greg’s 21KW Ultra Bee X-HP bike in Sport mode and was impressed with the instant power delivery and dramatic performance, which means it scared him a little, not surprising as he generally hates off-road riding.

 The prices range from R57,900 to R124,950 so visit their site below for more information and to book a highly recommended test ride. Greg will also be modifying his bike in the near future, so we’ll be interested to see what he produces, being an insane ex-racer…

 Go to www.surronsa.co.za for more technical information and to view their 2025 model range.