Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS looks like it

The bike has been completely restyled - most notably at the front end, which looks unmistakably like a faired version of the Gladius nakedbike. Nifty little plastic ducts move air away out of the radiator. The rear end looks familiar, comfy and long - hopefully it's built to take plenty of luggage. Overall, the new wee-strom looks damn near presentable, not far off the silhouette of the Tiger 800.


The screen has apparently been completely revised after a lot of hours in wind tunnels. You'd hope so, the old bike's screen was one of its worst features. Here's hoping the new bike gets it right.

ABS comes standard - it might as well, given that mandatory ABS is being discussed by government bodies all over the world as a means of making our favorite danger machines safer.

In all, the new V-Strom 650 ABS looks like it will sit roughly where the old one has - roughly in the middle of the pack in terms of its focus. It's still a road bike more than anything else, and it should be a killer mile muncher to boot - but with long-travel soft suspension and semi-offroad tires it should be comfortable on the loose stuff too.