Long-term report: The Suzuki V-Strom 1050RE makes light work of the summer

One of the things I love most about riding a motorcycle is the ability to get wherever you need to be right when you need to be there. When you’re on four wheels, there’s always the possibility of traffic or a narrow road that Google Maps thinks is a main route. When you’re on two-wheeled power, though, none of that is an issue.

Take Goodwood Festival of Speed, for example. Even those who love it dearly would class the traffic around the West Sussex estate ‘challenging’, but for many it means countless hours spent crawling along through narrow roads that seem aghast at the levels of traffic being directed along them.

I’m fortunate to live around 15 minutes away from the famous hillclimb but, having driven previously, even that can take over an hour on a particularly bad day. It’s why, since passing my motorcycle test several years ago, I’ve never even considered driving – it’s the motorbike or bust.

And for this year, that means clambering aboard the Suzuki V-Strom 1050RE. I’ve already been riding the big ‘Strom for over a month now and it’s already feeling like a second home, as so many Suzukis do. As I’ve mentioned previously, the 1050RE doesn’t try and impress with flashy gadgets or huge screens. It simply gets the job done and sometimes that’s all you want from a motorcycle.

The big bonus this year is the three boxes that I’ve got fixed to the 1050. We’ve got a 35-litre top case and then two side plastic boxes, which combine with the top box to bring a healthy 90 litres of storage space. The top box itself is large enough to accommodate a full-face helmet, too, and that has been immensely handy.

Festival of Speed was, as you might have seen, sensationally hot this year. I can’t even bear the sight of people riding motorcycles in a t-shirt, so each day across the two days I was at the Festival I donned my full Kevlar trousers, boots and jacket and sweated it out. Dress for the slide, not the ride, as the old saying goes.

But those boxes meant that I always had somewhere to store my riding kit once I’d changed into a more appropriate shorts and t-shirt combo after riding to the festival’s parking. The best part of riding a motorcycle to Festival of Speed is that you can get right up to the front of each parking field, giving you the shortest possible walk-in. During heat like that, it was a big plus.

Something that I’ve had to be very careful about when parking the 1050, however, is the light switch. When switching the bike off, you turn the barrel to put the steering lock as an extra level of security. However, turn it too far and the front and rear parking lights are switched on. During the summer, it’s practically impossible to see them illuminated, so you’ve got to double-check each and every time.

I’ve come a cropper with this feature previously, having returned to another Suzuki model I’d left parked up at Gatwick airport and finding it completely dead. Only a sign left by a friendly fellow motorbiker saying ‘parking lights left on’ meant that I could work out what had happened.

But aside from this slight quirk, the 1050RE has been completely hassle-free. A few weeks after Goodwood, I had to travel up to Milton Keynes and, faced with the joys of a midweek endavour around the M25 and up the M1, the trusty Suzuki was put into action.

My one criticism about the 800RE that I rode last year was its lack of cruise control, which is something this 1050 model solves. It’s a pretty ‘standard’ setup – you click the cruise control button on the right of the handlebars and toggle your speed on the left side – but it just takes a huge amount of strain out of longer trips. When you’re dealing with a slog on the motorway, it’s a properly good feature to have.

Plus, when you’re sitting at greater speeds, the 1050RE’s high screen means that you’re not getting blasted by the wind too much, and I’ve noticed that I’m far less tired after a big ride than I am on other bikes.

As many bikers will also confirm I’m sure, this unusually long dry spell has been fantastic for those on two wheels. Warm, yes, but I’d always rather it be a little hot than rain. Something tells me, though, that wet weather is on the horizon for the 1050RE.