Top products from r/Vstrom

Heres a list of mods and aftermarket replacements I have done (with pictures of what I can show)

​

​

Sargent touring seat(with home made seat heater)

​

Short Windscreen(prefer smooth air to turbulent)

​

BMW style side view mirrors

​

ravetech skid plate

​

Crash bars

​

Cycra Handguards

​

Handle bar risers and Protaper handlebars

​

Oxford heated grips

​

Aftermarket Fork Brace(cannot recommend this enough for improved handling)

​

Home built Short front fender (basically just a bent and cut supermoto fender) attached to the fork brace

​

aftermarket 2 bros Exhaust (sv650 slip on muffler with sv650 collector pipes)

​

LED head and tail light replacements

​

Tail light flasher unit

​

home made Wireless charging Ram mount

​

Now to the GOOD stuff..... Engine and performance modifications

​

swapped the camshafts for 2nd gen SV 650 camshafts for a small HP gain

​

Swapped to high flow K&N air Filter

​

More Free Flowing exhaust

​

Re-mapped the Fuel map using BAZZAZ unit.

​

Added Dealer mode switch, Fuel map selector switch and ABS Switch to the dash.

​

Raised the rear end by 2 inches using adjustable links.

​

Changed out the progressive fork springs for straight rate with 10w fork oil(looking into gold valve emulators next)

​

Made some home brewed Pelican case knock off side bags(pictures soon)

​

Added skull cupholder for maximum beverage badassery

​

​

Here are some shots from a motocamp trip to Central PA

​

​

She's taken me all over the place, I went from NYC -Austin TX in march, and I only had minor issues.

​

​

​

​

​

​

Just installed these guys
Nordlichter Ultra Bright H4(9003 Hi/Low) LED Headlight Bulbs,ZES Chips Conversion Kit,8000 Lumens 6000K Cool White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MYWJ3XX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_BCZzDbJCRQ8VN

so far so good but haven’t ridden at night with oncoming traffic. They’re ultra bright and pure white which is exactly what I was looking for. Will update later after my night ride.

This is on the UK amazing but here's a link :)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KaTur-Controller-Wireless-16-Colors-Changing/dp/B074DV2LJC/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1539915022&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=led+side+light&dpPl=1&dpID=51jSaPm8spL&ref=plSrch

Heat is not a problem, in my experience. I've been using Beamtech H4 replacements since late last year. Specifically, these:

https://www.amazon.com/BEAMTECH-Headlight-8000Lumens-Extremely-Conversion/dp/B06XHD78DQ

I like these particular units because they have no moving parts. No cooling fan, but rather a heatsink base. No fit problem - they are drop-in replacements for the stock lamps.

It's been routinely around 100°F in the afternoon, this summer. You'd think if there were a problem with the LEDs overheating, I'd have seen it by now. I haven't.

Beam pattern is comparable to stock H4 lamps. Maybe a little better to the side on the "low beam" setting.

That said, low-beam upper cutoff is not quite as sharp as it was with the stock H4's. But, I haven't had any indication that I'm blinding anyone. If I did, the headlamp aim could be adjusted.

A good way to work out aiming is to only change one bulb, then point the bike at a wall or garage door at night (or in your garage with the door closed, anywhere you can clearly see the pattern). Bike must be held upright, but not on a center stand, as that won't give an accurate picture. You'll quickly see whether the LED lamp is throwing a higher or lower pattern than the stock bulb, and can adjust accordingly.

I moved to LED headlamps to save power, because I needed it for heated gear.

Some years back at a motoGP race I bought a silly simple, stupid cheap throttle lock from a vendor. The next year I bought a couple more for me and half a dozen of them to give to my riding buddies. Highly recommend. Identical if not the same mfr. at Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VROJ32/ref=sspa_mw_detail_1

MadDog

YouTube video I took to visually explain what I’m on about

I’ve been trying to track down the cause and minimize the vibrations that I’ve experienced after installing SW-Motech crash bars onto my 2018 V Strom 650. It’s not a violent vibration like I’ve heard some people experience; however, the vibration and knocking was enough that it was causing me to worry about the bike anytime it was in the 4900-5500rpm range. Unfortunately, 5500rpm (where it was worst) is like right where I’d want to cruise in either 5th or 6th gear depending on the posted speed limit.

I’ve read through the 33-page thread on stromtrooper.com a couple times now and attempted the common “fix” of putting a rubber piece/washer between the front brace where the two engine bars connect. I have not attempted to put rubber washers between the engine mounting ears and crash bars because I’m not sure how that would affect the torqueing.

Another user there suggested that bikes are not supposed to vibrate so much that engine bars are cracking due to stress from vibration regardless of the quality of construction. The user, Mulewright, suggested that the “Thrust Adjusters” were incorrectly torqued at the factory which allowed the engine to vibrate more than it should and restrict the ability of the engine bolt to be properly tightened down. The thrust adjusters basically allow a mounting point to be brought up right to the engine and then backed out to allow the engine to be removed and/or slightly repositioned on the bike.

The specific line he said that made this resonate with me was,

>“You can tighten the thru mount bolts all you want but if the 'adjusters' are loose on the engine mounting ears, it's still 'loose' and will allow for vibrations.“

Check out page 4 and 5 of this Stromtrooper thread for a more thorough explanation from the source.

Anyway, you will need a special tool to be able to loosen the thrust adjuster locknut. You can make your own, you can order the Suzuki OEM, or you can buy another generic. I bought the Motion Pro 4-Pin Spanner Wrench (Double / 34.5mm) for $45 on Amazon. You’ll also want a jack, a center stand or swingarm stand, and common socket set and other hand tools.

I jacked under the engine, so it wouldn’t drop when I removed the mounting bolt(s). Only remove one at a time if you’re doing this w/o removing the exhaust because jack points are limited! I removed the engine mount bolt and nut (17mm top, 14mm bot), then the thrust adjuster locknut, and then the thrust adjuster itself. Mine was absolutely loose in both spots. I reinstalled the thrust adjuster and used a 19mm 12pt socket to torque it to the very low value of (nearly) 12.5Nm which feels barely more than handtight. Then the thrust adjuster locknut goes on at 45Nm. The top engine mounting bolt goes to 55Nm and 93Nm on the nut. The bottom bolt is 55Nm and nut 55Nm.

I think that these improperly torqued thrust adjusters are why some people experience vibrations and others don’t with the exact same bars on the exact same model bike. I also think it’s unfairly influencing the recommendations people give and receive in regards to crash bars vibration on the V Stroms. Why some people get vibrations no matter which bars they try—and others report no issues at all after they install them.

Hope this can help somebody else out.