I have always loved this website and the people here and I decided that I too eventually wanted to share my own review. Thankfully I recently got my very own V-Strom 250 SX and I wanted to share my thoughts on the bike and help out other potential buyers with my experience. Please excuse any errors as this is my first post here.<\/p>\n
Some background about how I began riding<\/strong><\/p>\n I’m a very young rider and my journey began back in 2019 with an Activa 4G. The scooter was one of the first two-wheelers that I got to ride in the city, up until I got used to shifting gears on a bike. Moreover, the bike in our garage was my father’s RE Classic 500 (which I will just refer to as the RE) which was not exactly a beginner bike, owing to its weight and immense torque.<\/p>\n Time passed and upon my request, my dad brought in a friend’s friend to teach me how to ride a bike on a Karizma. The poor guy probably called upon every god as he sat as the pillion and I took him around the city of Kochi, stalling the bike on multiple occasions. After less than a week of practice, I got the hang of it and without much delay my dad allowed me to take the RE for a morning ride where he took the Activa and I followed him on the bike. It was really a memorable experience as I finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of riding my dad’s Bullet, the ultimate machismo machine an Indian could ask for.<\/p>\n We also rode to Munnar so I would get more comfortable with the bike. It was my first proper long ride and looking back it was a good start to moulding the rider that I am today. I soon returned to Pune for my studies and riding took a backseat for quite some time. But god had other plans for me as the pandemic soon hit and I was back in Kochi for almost 2 years attending online classes. I did manage to take the bike out on many occasions for many short rides but I began to crave for something more. Being locked in really got to me and once the lockdown eased I approached my parents saying that I wanted to visit my paternal place in Trivandrum, a little over 200 km from my home. Thankfully, my father yet again being the dad he is allowed even went to the extent of getting me saddle bags.<\/p>\n I called up my grandmother and informed her and rode off in the early hours. This was my first solo ride and the Enfield kept me in check on the highways. I didn’t really get very tired and managed to do the same trip one more time over the pandemic. But, as time went by the RE’s style of riding slowly started disagreeing with me. Mind you, it was a great privilege to ride such a big bike at a young age, but something about its poor highway performance got to me.<\/p>\n Some more time passed, and we had some change of place and got into some other personal things where our finances got strained so even asking for a new bike was not an option. The RE managed to keep the rider in me satiated for quite a long time. But I soon began to check out review videos on YouTube when it slowly dawned on me that the 500 CC for all its glory was seriously underpowered. And the more I rode it the more the vibrations began to seriously bother me.<\/p>\n After graduating and landing a decent job, I decided that I wanted something new and so began the search with a few requirements.<\/p>\n I watched reviews for almost a year and these were the bikes that I considered.<\/p>\n I had watched many videos of the bike before but somehow it just didn’t appeal to me fully. In fact, I went for a test ride during one of my vacations from college and disliked it. In hindsight, I was wearing very uncomfortable skin-tight jeans (which I have given away) that would have made me distraught on any surface.<\/p>\n Owing to a lack of options and dissatisfaction with most bikes, the V-Strom continued to allure me and I kept watching videos of the bike. Over time, I realized what a gem of a bike it was and decided to do another test ride (with another set of pants). The bike floored me and the booking amount was paid for the black variant. What followed were the longest days of my life until I finally got the bike.<\/p>\n I have to say right off the bat that unlike the marketing surrounding the V-Strom it is NOT an off-roader by any sense of the term. It’s strictly a tourer that can tackle the occasional rough road without much of a fuss. I see a lot of people comparing it to the Himalayan which is not ideal.<\/p>\n I do want to disclose that I may have sounded very harsh in my critique of the RE. But that is only because the bike is really not suited to my style and what I want from a bike, not necessarily because it’s a bad bike. People who like that steady “thump” sound and want to go around wearing aviators and a half-face helmet are more than welcome to do so. For me personally, RE’s lineup except for the 650 twins will be sedate riding machines that are a waste of material. Even then, if you put an RE 650 against any other 650, the RE will most likely lose. They are really not giving consumers the power that should come with the displacement.<\/p>\n For me, this bike has shown me what a well-engineered bike can do. Especially a Japanese one. So far, I am very happy with the bike and it really is a mental boost to go for a short or long ride with this one. Suzuki has absolutely hit it out of the park with this one. I really wish they did more marketing. I’m not a very big photo guy but my riding buddies reminder made me click more photos of the “Stormy” on our first few morning rides.<\/p>\n Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.<\/p>\nRequirements<\/h2>\n
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Bikes considered<\/h2>\n
The V-Strom Enters<\/h2>\n
The Review Itself:<\/h2>\n
Pros:<\/h2>\n
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Cons:<\/h2>\n
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Conclusion:<\/h2>\n
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