A few weeks ago I was sitting with the SuperBike Magazine guys and gals, obviously over a tempting and fragrant wine, and we all swung to the conversation of testing motorcycles, or more importantly how to use them for the purposes they’re designed for.
So obviously, after looking at these images, we decided to take a couple of adventure bikes on a bit of a trip, and I don’t mean filling the tanks with LSD. On no, we decided to be sensible journalists, for a change, and waft them away on a 1,500km excursion to enjoy the delights of the South African countryside and excitingly residing in places that might be interesting ‘ports-of-call’ for you similar minded adventure seekers too, nice, eh?
Now I for one get a bit fed up with a lot of adventure bike owners who, shall we say, seem to miss the point of their machines in question. Riding around town on a bike that could win ‘The cleanest bike in the world’ award, whilst wearing factory clothing, and standing up like you’ve just had an active Taser shoved up your bum is not cool at all, even though you culprits think it is (and you know who you are) and it tends to be on European motorcycles for some reason. And more importantly going no further than 20km a day…
Anyway, enough of that, and we look forward to the ‘hate-mail’, because Natalie and I decided to leave aforementioned Taser at home and stay firmly in the saddle, until conditions called for leg extensions of course, and take two adventure bikes away for five days.
Instead of riding the normal big capacity adventure bike stuff we chose two bikes that don’t really enjoy the retail success of the more expensive options, and you must know what they are, if not, BMW 1200GSs and KTM 1190s, 1290 etc, etc. So what we have here is the latest incarnation of the trusty ol’ Suzuki 1000 V-Strom ABS and KTM’s 1050 Adventure. The main reason being they’re so similar on paper.
Let me clarify; both have big V-twin engines with the Suzuki displacing 1,037cc after a two-millimeter bore increase over the old model, but still has a 90-degree configuration. The KTM has a 75-degree V-twin and 1,050ccs to play with. The Suzuki has a 100x66mm internals whilst KTM has 103x63mm bits. And claimed horsepower is 100 for the V-Strom and 95 for the 1050 Adventure, close, eh? Even the weights are basically the same with the Suzuki at 228kg and the KTM coming in slightly under at 212kg, depending on how and who measured them. Either way it’s only the difference between a chubby and not so chubby rider, and I most certainly do not refer us, because Natalie would surely load/deposit/force any Taser she can find into my ‘dark chamber’ if she thought otherwise, bless.
So the bikes are remarkably similar, and once Natalie clipped on those huge and kind of comical panniers onto the KTM we were off from Johannesburg to the Midlands of South Africa, or Nottingham Road to be more specific, which meant by the time we got to our lodgings we should have added close to 400km to the clock. Then, the next day, off into Durban (Umhlanga) for some sea, sun and cocktails and return back into Gauteng after a few hangovers, sorry, relaxing and romantic days at the coast I meant, if you prefer that excuse.
Natalie chose the KTM because it is the prettier bike and she had orange socks on and we know how girls like to ‘co-ordinate’ on a long trip. I was on the V-Strom and immediately enjoyed the seat with its thick padding. To be honest the Suzuki V-Strom is the only option if you want to go touring the Suzuki way in SA, the Suzuki Range Rover sums it up I think. This big twin just loves highway work lumbering along at 120-130 km/h with only just over 4,000rpm on the rev-counter, it’s a lazy way to travel and you soon drift off into time- consuming mind games to pass away the distances bathed in Suzuki excellence.
On the other hand Natalie was smiling like she’d won the lottery on her orange 1050. High pitched wails came from her helmet as we passed through various toll gates, which I wish I could put into words for you, but I can’t and shouldn’t. Let’s just say she loved the 1050 experience. Until we covered 350km of highway and on to our first night at the Bend Hotel, on which Natalie will report. But she first had to cover 5km of dirt road to get there and now had a frown like she’d just lost that winning lottery ticket.
But she needn’t have worried because the 1050 took care of her and this is the beauty of these bikes that can easily cope with this terrain. I’m also not a big fan of off-road excursions but the V-Strom performed admirably as well and we soon got to our ‘drinking-hole’ for the night. Except when Natalie hit a bend full of soft sand and the front end washed a little and she looked like a startled owl for a few seconds, but she stayed upright, which wasn’t the case when midnight came after various drinks, if you know what I mean?
On the way out the next day I rode the KTM and instantly noticed some interesting differences between the two that you wouldn’t expect. One, the Suzuki seemed to have better suspension from its fully adjustable KYB forks while the KTM with WP suspension felt a little too hard for me, which a small oil change for a lighter oil would certainly cure. On the other hand the KTM had a much lighter gearbox and clutch, which I thought the Suzuki would have won. And once back on the road the KTM is the nicer place to be because the clocks are definitely better and Suzuki should have put a bit more effort into their display and fitted those tapered handlebars as well for a more interesting view. But either way both are very accomplished touring bikes and neither have any noticeable negative points, so there.
As we came into the Durban area the rains came down and we both became wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume, but neither of us seemed to mind because of the laid back nature in the way these bikes cover these distances and we spent the next few nights staying with Natalie’s family and fiddling around the coastal roads. And that’s another point; once you’ve arrived you can easily use these bikes to get around, instead of some giant bloated purposely-built touring behemoth, right?
So after the Umlanga pleasantries passed we had to head back home to feed our cats/kids who had by now emptied the fridge, not the cats. 600km to get home and neither of us were scared with our trusty steeds to take us there. We rattled off, in familiar comfort levels, 300km, and decided to stop over at the Green Lantern for the night. After much naughtiness, again, we eventually returned home with1,500km under our helmets. Not one bike gave us any trouble and we both agreed these are ideal bikes for our Country and wondered why they seem to get missed by people always wanting the ‘bigger’ options, maybe for the wrong reasons me thinks?
I also kept an eye on fuel consumption and even though the KTM had optional panniers it was surprisingly a little better, using about five litres more after the trip, which is nothing really. Both bikes were drinking around five litres every 100km, truly impressive for such big engines and that includes back roads and the bit of off-roading, good, eh? Certainly much better than any big touring bike or car could achieve under similar circumstances.
If you’re now looking or waiting for a winner here I’m not going to give you one, besides Natalie and me, for having such an Excellent Adventure on two excellent bikes, so we’re the lucky winners here. The V-Strom costs R145,000 and the KTM R159,000 (panniers extra), so that’s relatively close too but the KTM does carry more gadgets to play with regarding electronics, so it’s a fair price difference between the two I believe. Japanese or Austrian, it’s up to you?
Would we choose these bikes again? For sure folks, they’re both very, very good at what they do? But next time we’ll be riding other bikes in Bill and Nat’s Excellent Adventures, so stay with us.
To find your nearest KTM dealer go to www.ktm.co.za
To find your nearest Suzuki dealer go to www.suzukiauto.co.za 
