Long-term report: The Suzuki V-Strom 800RE gets its first taste of true UK weather

It has been a truly wonderful summer, don’t you think? Though I’ll admit that an incredibly long dry spell can’t have been much use to farmers, to all of us two-wheeled enthusiasts, it’s been rather fantastic. I’ve been making the most of it aboard the Suzuki V-Strom 800RE, too, a bike on which I’ve been clocking up the miles.

But as with all things, the good weather simply cannot last – particularly in the UK – and it was something of a rude awakening when I headed out on the Suzuki recently.

The plan was simple. My partner and I needed to head across to Dorset for a family occasion, but I had to head up to Warwickshire the following morning and she was returning back to West Sussex. ‘Easy,’ I thought. ‘I’ll follow on the motorcycle while she takes the car’.

All was going rather swimmingly for the first bit of the journey. It still hasn’t got properly cold yet and the 800RE’s upright screen means that there’s a decent amount of protection from the wind. Sadly, something that the 800RE can’t protect you from – and nor can nearly all motorcycles – is the rain.

Around 30 minutes from our destination, a rather ominous black cloud appeared ahead. As we got closer towards it, you could see how much rain was falling from underneath it. I’d put on my waterproof but, but despite this, I was still braced for a soaking and shortly after, the heavens opened above and I got thoroughly drenched.

Luckily, my Belstaff jacket kept out the worst of the weather but it was still pretty miserable. The front light of the V-Strom isn’t bad, but it still can’t match up to a car’s headlights and for most of the final part of the journey, I was quite focused on avoiding slippery white lines and manhole covers.

It didn’t get much better in the morning, either. Starting off a trip in the rain is never much fun, but thankfully, I managed to get most of the way to Leamington Spa without too much of a drenching. I was going away for a few days, too, and it meant that the V-Strom’s side boxes were fully packed – though I was pleased to note that everything inside them remained bone dry despite the weather.

I left the Suzuki at a hotel that was being used as a base for a few days and I was pleased to see it when I returned. However, being weighed down with some more equipment meant that I had to get even more creative with how I strapped it all to the bike. The side boxes were completely packed, but I also managed to strap down two more bags to the rear section of the seat. There’s actually a very handy racking area at the tail of the seat and I’ve used this on multiple occasions as a base for bags. The only snag with doing this is that you have to contort your leg to get up and over whenever you’re trying to mount up.

With the joyful thought of the M40 and A34 ahead, I set off. Within minutes, that scary grey cloud appeared once again and this time, it fully downpoured. Traffic slowed to a crawl and while this is often more of an inconvenience in the car, it’s downright scary on a motorbike. Thankfully, the V-Strom’s raised seating position does give you a more elevated view of the road ahead – which helps when spotting standing water – and it’s quite happy to tick along at slower speeds.

With the rain behind me, I could really crack on and head home. The 800cc engine really is a peach and provides all of the punch you could want for higher speed cruises. I still wish there was cruise control, mind you, as it would make longer journeys far more relaxing. Even without this, the V-Storm sits very happily at the motorway legal limit and isn’t too vibration-heavy, either. I’ve also started using the USB socket to the side of the main display more often to keep my phone topped up when on these longer rides.

It’s definitely been a change of weather for the V-Strom 800RE and while I’m not the happiest of wet-weather riders, this Suzuki has been managing to deliver no matter the conditions.