Photo: Suzuki
This special V-Strom 650XT project bike was unveiled recently at the Adventure Bike Rider Festival by SR75 World Team Suzuki, who wanted to inject a “supercross twist” into this middleweight adventure-seeking motorcycle.
In order to build this project, the multiple Arenacross title-winning outfit took a standard V-Strom model and stripped it back to its component parts. Then they modified and replaced several key elements in order to boost the V-Strom's off-road capabilities and performance.
For example, the bike’s standard 19-inch and 17-inch wheels were replaced with 21-inch and 18-inch wheels, featuring bespoke Envy hubs and Pirelli tires. Meanwhile, the entire chassis was raised using in-house suspension mods and upgraded springs.
Other highlights include the raised handlebar, genuine Suzuki hand guards, RM-Z450 foot pegs for an assured and planted off-road feel, custom seat, modified headers and the custom FMF titanium pipe (sitting higher than the original).
There’s also a heavy-duty sump guard and a lighter battery, while the bodywork was slimmed down to create a more stripped-back aesthetic. Last but not least, a bespoke GP Grafix kit was added to mimic the outfit’s RM-Z race bikes.
“Getting to grips with the V-Strom was really exciting and it made an interesting project. Away from the race bikes we’ve turned our hands to a few projects in the past, but normally they’re older RM and RM-Z models, so this was something a bit different,” said SR75 team owner, Geoff Walker.
“The standard bike is obviously a very good, very capable mile-munching middleweight adventure bike, but we’ve just improved it in certain areas and given it a more off-road focus through our expertise. […] With the taller, tougher stance, the modifications to the seat, pegs, and the bars and heavy-duty crash protection, it’s going to be a proper thing off-road, and we’ve got some big plans to do some cool things with it this summer.”
For example, the bike’s standard 19-inch and 17-inch wheels were replaced with 21-inch and 18-inch wheels, featuring bespoke Envy hubs and Pirelli tires. Meanwhile, the entire chassis was raised using in-house suspension mods and upgraded springs.
Other highlights include the raised handlebar, genuine Suzuki hand guards, RM-Z450 foot pegs for an assured and planted off-road feel, custom seat, modified headers and the custom FMF titanium pipe (sitting higher than the original).
There’s also a heavy-duty sump guard and a lighter battery, while the bodywork was slimmed down to create a more stripped-back aesthetic. Last but not least, a bespoke GP Grafix kit was added to mimic the outfit’s RM-Z race bikes.
“Getting to grips with the V-Strom was really exciting and it made an interesting project. Away from the race bikes we’ve turned our hands to a few projects in the past, but normally they’re older RM and RM-Z models, so this was something a bit different,” said SR75 team owner, Geoff Walker.
“The standard bike is obviously a very good, very capable mile-munching middleweight adventure bike, but we’ve just improved it in certain areas and given it a more off-road focus through our expertise. […] With the taller, tougher stance, the modifications to the seat, pegs, and the bars and heavy-duty crash protection, it’s going to be a proper thing off-road, and we’ve got some big plans to do some cool things with it this summer.”
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