Words: Bill Hunter.
We all know placing that final piece into a jigsaw can give one unsurpassed elation. Well maybe that’s a bit strong, but in Suzuki’s case it has a ‘six-piece’ jigsaw, so to speak, which has been missing that final piece, until now that is. Let me explain, in case you’ve just walked away to make tea, thinking I’ve lost the plot. A bit like six men wandering aimlessly around the graveyard with a coffin in the dark.
Appalling joke aside this is a serious new bike to complete the Suzuki jigsaw. The five pieces currently sitting in front of you are the GSX-8S, GSX-8R, GSX-8T, GSX-8TT, and V-Strom DL800 DE. They all enjoy Suzuki’s award wining 776cc, DOHC, parallel-twin motor except for a bit of ECU trickery depending on the bikes intended intention, a good thing for sure because it’s a punchy peach of power unit. So with the five I’ve just mentioned what on earth could Suzuki possibly add for the sixth incarnation, you ask? Well here’s the missing piece you just found under the table; give a warm welcome to the new V-Strom DL800 RE (Also known as RQ). I say new because it’s been around since 2024 in Europe and now it's finally arrived in South Africa.
I bet the first thing you’re going to ask is what’s the difference between DE and RE? Well Suzuki say DE is for Dual Explorer and RE is for Road Explorer. So what we have here is basically a DE with mag wheels and a lower seat, not! That’s what I thought when I first saw it, but soon became quite excited to ride it. Right, listen to this duys and golls – if you lined up everything Suzuki has inside its ‘8’ catalogue, and I was told to choose any one to take home, I would most certainly leap onto this new V-Strom DL800 RE before anything else. It’s exceptionally close to being the perfect bike for everyday use, from touring, to shopping, to pubbing, to spirited sporty antics, to cruising, and more, well that should spark interest alone! No, I haven’t been tied up and violently violated to say so, maybe later. MCN in the UK agrees with me, or I agree with them, because it received similar praise with their five star ratings across the board, so there!
Suzuki took its DE steel chassis and placed the footrest 14mm further back and 7mm higher, lowered the tapered aluminium ‘bars by 13mm, moved them forward by 23mm and they’re 15mm narrower. Obviously the biggest change is replacing the DE’s 21-inch front wheel with a 19-inch alloy version, both still have a 17-inch rear. The subtly reshaped seat is 30mm lower on the RE and softer and wider as well, which works well with the taller and wider screen. Front brakes are more powerful with four-piston Tokico callipers rather than the Nissin twin-pot used on the DE. Electronics offer A, B, and C modes, which change the severity of the throttle response, three traction control levels, and Off, and two ABS settings. All displayed on the same TFT 5-inch screen that has day/night display colour options, oh, and a USB port to charge things that, err, needs changing.
After my first day’s ride on the RE I just had to phone ‘Stuart Vader’ (Suzuki SA’s motorcycle boss), and yap out, “Mate, this thing is dangerous!”. His delayed silence was soon replaced with a perturbing, “why?”. ‘He’ must have thought there’s something severely wrong with the vehicle in question, or even worse. “Oh no, nothing wrong with the bike, at all, besides you end up riding it like a complete mental twat everywhere you go!”. And there’s my first memory that continued on for the rest of the test. The RE just feels like a big chunky Motard and therefore you end up riding it like one. Sure it’ll cruise smoothly through traffic and waft along the highway with sofa-like comfort, but that soon wears off before the devil in your helmet returns, tremendous fun or WAT!
This ‘dry teeth’ inducing attribute is mainly due to the way the RE handles. The new Showa BFF-BP forks have spot on damping, even though you can’t adjust it, but they do have pre-load adjustability in the left fork (right fork contains the damping only). At the rear the single Showa shock has rebound damping and a very handy pre-load externally mounted knob, just above the left side pillion footrest. These twin components reduce suspension travel by around 70mm compared to the DE, providing a more road focussed feel and feedback. Even though the wheelbase is 1,515mm the RE, weighing 223kg (wet), turns surprisingly quickly while feeling planted and reassuringly stable in a straight line. Sure it’s a tall bike but one where you quite enjoy hanging off the side like baby gibbon grasping onto its mother, but thankfully not as furry. I can’t remember when I last enjoyed any bike that’s so easy-going but still highly entertaining to ride. If you do decide to go touring utilising the RE’s 20-litre tank you can also add Suzuki’s genuine panniers and fit a top box onto the large rear carrier and the 800 motor will easily take you to where your heart desires, or to meet someone you just met on Tinder with a dubious plastic face.
The best part about the engine, while you’re riding hard, is the hefty dose of torque between 4,000-8,000rpm, sounds good too even from the stock silencer, which is horrid and needs to be thrown into the bin and replaced with a more sporty variant. The 270-degree crank and odd firing order gives the RE that V-twin character that most parallel-twins seem to have nowadays. There’s bit of vibration towards the 9,500 rpm redline but nothing too intrusive. Speaking of intrusive I always rode the RE with the traction control off and in ‘A’ mode; it only changes the abruptness of the throttle response anyway, and you can lift the front wheel if you fancy a bit of that. I did have the pleasure of traffic in Sandton one day and I chose ‘B’ mode instead, which did feel less aggressive, until I returned to open roads and inherent lunacy returned once more.
The best top speed I saw was 204km/h, however sixth gear is more like an overdrive so you’ll have to work hard through the gears to get there. As you rip through these gears you’ll revel in the two-way quickshifter, which seems to work so smoothly on the way up but needs a firm prod on the way down. It does need its first service now though, so fresh oil might eradicate that. The DE does have a slipper-clutch too, which is handy if you have a size 14 left boot made of tungsten.
As you’re reading this the V –Strom DL800 RE will shortly be arriving on the shop floors, I believe there’re black and blue version besides this Metallic Matt Steel Green with its yellow beak, which is an 80s Suzuki Dr Big inspired look I’m lead to believe. With a price of R189,000 the RE offers something for everyone, and then some. It fits absolutely with the five other pieces in the ‘8’ jigsaw and is, in my opinion, the best of them all. Is it arguably the best mid-capacity all-round motorcycle currently for sale in the South African market at a very affordable price, possibly, but I’ll let you decide? Was it intentional from the Suzuki engineers to make such a complete bike, or, were they as surprised as I’ve been with their RE creation. Only ‘they’ know but one thing is for sure I think it is a brilliant motorcycle on all counts, even though I hate jigsaws.
Images: Rowan V.
Go to www.suzukimotorcycle.co.za. To view the ‘8’ range and more….
