[tarmacnaut]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=XYYf7iG1ih4

First comment on the video by Et on a dit Banco
2 years ago (edited):



At a similar price point, or lets say the Versys was even 50k more than the baby strom, my money is on the Versys every single time. The Versys X300 is a ground up fully designed motorcycle developed as an ADV from the drawing board. The Strom 250 is just something that's had an engine shoe horned into it. Ditto with the 390 Adventure.

Like I said in my post, the specs are right in front of you Versys has lesser GC, more weight and similar suspension travel, it maybe grounds up but still didn't get these basics for off-roading right. And it also shares the engine and many cycle parts with Ninja 250/300.

Many have already completed 5000kms+ trips on VStrom SX as well, they are just not part of tbhp. VStrom SX is as capable than Versys X300 infact even more so.

BTW Versys 300 was already launched in India in 2017 and discontinued in 2021. It costed a whopping 4.60 lakh ex showroom and VStrom SX was launched at 2.11 lakh in 2022, that is more than double and not just '50k'.
https://www.team-bhp.com/news/kawasa...hed-rs-46-lakh

At that price, Versys 300 was a joke and no wonder it failed miserably. At just less than half the price, VStrom SX trumps it with better off road specs, test ride one to see for yourself, the Confidence it inspires on gravel/dirt roads.

Even in South East Asian Markets it costs double as VStrom.

[Turbanator]

Mod Note- Let's discuss the topic on hand here. We can always have another thread for comparisons between Suzuki & Kawasaki models, Thanks.

[neil.jericho]

drt_rdr, Im sharing some of my thoughts below. I hope that they are helpful
- From your videos, it looks as though the suspension is not balanced. As you have rightly pointed out, the front end seems to work at one wavelength, while the rear is on a different tangent altogether.
- You mentioned that you tried out the softest preload setting, to little improvement.
- Your weight is around 70 kgs, which is lighter than what many companies consider as a benchmark weight for an Indian rider (I believe ~78 kgs).
- The rear not tracking the ground / skipping etc, is likely from the stiff rebound at the rear.
- I believe that the combination of your light weight and the overtly stiff suspension, are behind a lot of your ride quality troubles.
- A heavier rider would probably not struggle with your very same motorcycle, as you do.
- Can you please measure the sag on your VStrom 250 and that of another VStrom 250, with you astride? This could prove to be crucial to narrowing things down.
- I cant think of what could be causing the rattling noises! That is most disconcerting. Please do get a second Suzuki SVC to look into it.
- The Easy Start System shouldnt have a mind of its own. Do follow up on that separately.
- As Sebring already mentioned, Suzuki's customer care team refuses to reply to emails. The company rarely provides their showroom technicians with the required support to troubleshoot major issues. As a result, the customer is often at loggerheads with mechanics who are out of their element, in trying to understand complex problems. Like you, I have been there, experienced that. Hopefully this thread will get the local service manager to look into your complaints and ensure a speedy resolution.

I cant help but be amused by some of the responses on this thread. As someone who is a Suzuki 250 owner, I have had multiple discussions with the showroom managers of different Suzuki dealerships in the city. I can confirm from multiple sources that
- in terms of sales, the Suzuki VStrom 250 is a flop. Pan India.
- dealers were unhappy with the initial pricing that was too close to the legendary Himalayan 411.
- Suzuki's silly pricing has meant that the company was forced to throw in loads of freebies to garner some sales. Even with all the free jacket, exchange bonus, free insurance, free service coupons etc, sales are well below par and dealers are still struggling with getting their inventory off the showroom floors.

Anyways, back on track, drt_rdr, do keep us updated with your findings.

[drt_rdr]

UPDATE:

Took the bike to the other SvC in town (20 km from home) about a month ago for its second service and got the troubles that haunted the bike since Day1 looked into as well. Now, a month later, there seems to be some movement towards a final fix for the issue. Details below.

When I went for the service, I spoke with the service head, described the main issue of the awful ride quality, informed him of the warranty replacement of the monoshock, showed the videos I had made of the bike, and left the bike overnight with them to have a go at sorting it out, hoping the information I provided was enough to narrow down the cause.

They got back to me the next day. Confirming things from the videos, the lead technician had diagnosed it as a case of misalignment of the needle roller bearings on the swingarm. They reseated the bearings, greased them and returned the bike to me.

>This sorted out the rattling noise completely.
>It sorted the terrible ride quality and thudding noise to some extent. But it still didn't completely fix them, just made the issue much more tolerable.

I could still feel every bump on the road and riding for even an hour or so would still leave me in quite a bit of discomfort. But this was a BIG improvement from the horrible, horrible condition the bike was in when I bought it. The bike was now actually usable for the first time since I bought it.

So, I went back and gave them my feedback and asked them to check again. The technician was convinced the issue was completely sorted though, and despite my insistence that the issue was not suspension related, he made the usual preload adjustment and asked me to check. This obviously didn't fix the issue and it meant I had to visit them again to get them to understand the issue. Between work and personal affairs, it took multiple visits over the duration of a month to get some meaningful movement towards a proper resolution.

>I had them ride my bike and their TR bike back-to-back offroad and later made videos of the same to show that the issue was not sorted.
>They inturn suspected the monoshock again, and replaced it with the one from their TR bike.
>When that didn't fix things, they decided it must be a case of defective or damaged swingarm bearings, and ordered the part, which they informed would take about 2-3 weeks to procure.
>At present, I'm awaiting a call from them to get the replacement done under warranty.

I don't blame them for the delay though. Atleast their responsiveness was much better than the resistance and incompetence of the dealership I bought the bike from. The service head here gave the impression of being responsible, thorough, and conservative. The lead technician, though overconfident, was responsive.

....

So, the question swirling in my head now is: how the heck did the bike get misaligned swingarm bearings??? Now, I didn't probe into what way they were misaligned. I didn't have a look at the type of bearings Suzuki uses either, but how hard is it to fit these correctly anyway?

The technician suggested it was a PDI failure at the dealership end. If checking the swingarm bearings comes under the purview of a PDI, I don't find it hard to swallow that the dealership I bought from fell short or goofed up. There were a few other goofups too and a hell of lot left to be desired from them in other aspects as well.

But the bikes get delivered to dealerships in completely-built state, don't they? Which means the misalignment must have originally occurred at the Suzuki factory. Either that, OR my particular unit was possibly used as a donor bike for something at the dealership and carelessly put back together.

.....

Regarding the other issues:

> No movement on the irritating engine noise. The technician initially didn't acknowledge the issue. When I showed the bike to him after riding it for a couple hours, the hot engine made the issue very apparent and he acknowledged it. He advanced the timing a bit, but that hasn't fixed things. It's actually made the bike less eager to rev. He said he'd checked the valve clearance and found no issue when I had left it overnight.

> The technician adjusted the suspension in the clamps and the handlebar for the left-pulling issue. The bike seems slightly better but it still pulls a bit left when I let go of the bar. Atleast, I'm not experiencing any shoulder pain issues at the moment. But the steering stem\coneset has been set towards the looser end on my bike. Will need to tighten it to my preferences and check again if the left-pulling gets bothersome.

> The technician said he tuned the horn, but it still sounds weak to me.

> I took a blower to the ignition switch, and then sprayed some WD40. Seems to have fixed it. Haven't really paid much attention to it amidst other things.

> The fuel average meter is still acting up. The average over my total odo reading had risen up to 33kmpl, but inexplicably once again dropped back to 30.


----


That's it for now.

[Sebring]

Thanks for update. Which dealership is this?, and name of the mechanic could help many here

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

UPDATE:Took the bike to the other SvC in town (20 km from home) about a month ago for its second service and got the troubles that haunted the bike since Day1 looked into as well.

[drt_rdr]

UPDATE 2:

I got the swingarm bearings replaced last week. Surprisingly and unfortunately, that did nothing for the issue.

Rode my bike back-to-back with the TR bike over a few different surfaces. My bike still felt as harsh as before to ride, still making the occasional thudding noises.

Got asked to ride it for a couple hundred kms for the grease to settle. Did that. Made no difference.

The SvC were at their wits' end trying to fix the bike. They said they'd checked the brake, wheel bearings, they've replaced the monoshock, adjusted swingarm bearings, then replaced swingarm bearings.

What's left that could possibly cause this? The swingarm itself or the frame I suppose. They basically gave up and referred me to the area service manager.

I've reached out to the area manager with an email a couple days ago. Waiting for a response at present.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

- I got the swingarm bearings replaced last week. Surprisingly and unfortunately, that did nothing for the issue.
- What's left that could possibly cause this? The swingarm itself or the frame I suppose.

- That's disheartening, I was expecting some good news this time. Tough luck.

- Now this question exceeds my knowledge and limits but collating what I have observed so far :
1. The suspension not compressing enough and the thudding noise seem to have the same cause.
2. Adjusting the swingarm bearings does have an effect but not sure if it was just by chance.
3. The suspension, swingarm bearings have been ruled out as causes.

The things remaining in the related structure that haven't been looked into are :
- Swingarm
- Rear frame/subframe

Unless its a rare but major manufacturing issue like misaligned swingarm/frame mounting points which are changing the working of the suspension, I am drawing blanks.
Honestly, I don't expect or think such an issue could even happen in 2023 that too in a Suzuki factory but nothing is absolute.

The ASC guys have done the right thing by escalating it up the ladder after trying what they could.

Keep us posted and Good Luck

[drt_rdr]

Extracting and press-fitting swingarm bearings doesn't seem like a complex job that could be botched. The bike also feels more or less the same before and after the replacement. So, I suppose I have no good reason to doubt the quality of the job.

They also showed me the replaced bearings, spacer and end caps as well as the before and after videos they're supposed to send to Suzuki internally. They also seem like trustworthy people. No good reason to doubt whether the job was done either.

It's surprising the hell out of me too that there could be more than one cause for whatever the hell is going on with this bike.

[aviator1101]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

It's surprising the hell out of me too that there could be more than one cause for whatever the hell is going on with this bike.

Pardon my saying brother, but after reading all your posts in the thread, i somehow feel there is a mental block factor associated which is further aggravating the mechanical issues already existing with the bike.
It's better you sell it off to someone who can start with a clean slate.
The psychological attribute of the grievance that you had with the dealer and the brand from Day 1 is manifesting itself apparently. No point carrying the baggage any further. Peace of mind is most important and one should value it more than anything else. Riding a bike is something which relieves you of stress, but whenever you ride yours, there's a post on how the various issues are bothering you, which shows that the stress level is only increasing with every ride. Better to part ways and live happily thereafter.

[mobilecentric]

I have the same bike, I too have this issue with the horn, sometimes it sounds like it's on a weak battery. Most times it works but then I don't understand why it acts up at times. I have a 14 year old Fazer 150 whose first set of horns sounded crisp till 12+ years, and this Suzuki 250 is just months old.
Do you (Op or anyone else) have any clue if this should be changed in warranty or can it be fixed?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

UPDATE 2:

Rode my bike back-to-back with the TR bike over a few different surfaces. My bike still felt as harsh as before to ride, still making the occasional thudding noises.

What's left that could possibly cause this? The swingarm itself or the frame I suppose. They basically gave up and referred me to the area service manager.
.

Could it be the tyre? Maybe some sort of defect in the tyre like a runout causing this thud due to imbalance issues. Could you swap the rear wheel with another bike and check?

[drt_rdr]

Originally Posted by mobilecentric

I have the same bike, I too have this issue with the horn ... Do you (Op or anyone else) have any clue if this should be changed in warranty or can it be fixed?

In my case, the horn sounds weak all the time. And I've had the chance to check more vstroms. Some of them have a good sounding horn, some sound like mine. It could possibly be a case of Suzuki changing suppliers or horn specs on later issue bikes vs initial batches.

But your case seems like a different issue. Has it always been like this or has it developed like this lately? If it's always been like this, then it could indicate a hardware problem. If it's developed lately, it could be due to the battery or possibly water ingress.

Do you run the bike regularly or occassionally? Do you notice the horn is weak when you start the bike up for the first time of the day and then becomes normal later on?

People on one of the Gixxer250 threads have noted that the battery tends to die early on these 250s with the DRLs.

In any case, have it checked out at the SvC.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Could it be the tyre? Maybe some sort of defect in the tyre like a runout causing this thud due to imbalance issues. Could you swap the rear wheel with another bike and check?

I've had people ride my bike and I've followed it to watch it run. On smooth roads, there's no wobble, no skipping, it tracks well. The harshness is only over bad patches or dirt.

And it used to skip much more harshly and more randomly before the swingarm bearings were checked out. So, I'm not sure the tyre is the culprit here.

[mobilecentric]

The horn has been like this since I bought the bike , I even pointed this out to the technician on my first service but since it was monsoons he just said it maybe because of the water.
I ride the bike regularly, it cranks up at the slight touch to the ignition every time, so I don't suspect the battery.

About the DRL's , yes I think instead of having the headlight ON all the time they could have provided/designed a small LED strip , maybe the always ON headlight and honking takes up a lot of juice from the battery , no?

[shancz]

On the horn issue, have you guys asked the ASC/FNG to adjust/tune it ?
My Access's horn suddenly went from as usual to barely audible one fine day in the 6th year of ownership and all it took was the FNG to tighten the tuning/adjuster screw and it was back in 5 mins. Although he tightened it a bit more and the pitch has increased which I don't mind.

[drt_rdr]

^^ That was done on my bike. Noted a few posts above. It still sounds weak.