In 2020 I was feeling the need to downsize from my beloved Yamaha 1300 FJR sport touring bike. As I get older and lose body strength, I wanted to transition to a lighter bike. I bought a Suzuki 650 V Strom XT, my first Adventure style road bike, which weighs 150 pounds less than the FJR. It’s also chain drive instead of shaft and has half the cylinders and horsepower. How did that work out?

Once I had it sorted out with upgraded suspension, windshield and a Russell Sport seat, I came to love it. Over the past four years, I’ve been riding the V Strom more than the FJR. This year, I only rode the FJR about 3500 miles while riding the V Strom 13400. It’s time to sell the FJR, but the V Strom becomes my only road bike, it has some shortcomings that need to be addressed. First there is no cruise control. Even after upgrading, the suspension is still limited in travel and harsh. The ABS brakes are just OK. The traction control is worthless. 

In early September, I went to a Triumph demo day. Wasn’t that interested but it was something to do. When I saw the Tiger 900 ADV Rally Pro, it looked interesting went for a demo ride. Within one mile, I saw that this was a very capable and refined motorcycle that opened my eyes. Of course it has cruise control. There is nine inches of softly sprung, well damped adjustable suspension, top notch Brembo brakes with Bosch lean angle ABS and traction control and  21 inch spoked front wheel with tubeless tires. 

Although the Rally Pro is a very complete motorcycle, I still had to adapt it for my needs. After installing all my electronics  and a chain oiler, the most important modification was the windshield. The stock shield is too narrow and too tall for me- in its lowest position it blocks air from my face and was uncomfortable in the still warm weather of September, so I cut four inches off of it.

As weather got colder, I needed a wider windshield like my other bikes. Madstad makes a very nice adjustable shield for $350, but since I had a spare Madstad set of brackets and shield for the V Strom, I decided to adapt them. The stock Triumph windshield mounting system has almost 3” of vertical adjustment. Making an adapter plate out of polyethylene to adapt the Madstad brackets provides another 2-1/2” of vertical adjustment plus about 15 degrees of angular adjustment. Since I had a spare FJR touring windscreen, I adapted that too, as it’s a bit wider than the Madstad. Now I have an excellent windshield system that works in all temperature and weather conditions. 

Like every other bike I’ve owned, the Rally Pro needs a better seat. The stock seats are heated and are better than on most bikes, but I still want a Russell Sport seat that is custom made to fit me. They are built on the stock seat pan so I will have to send the stock seat off this winter. In the meantime a friend loaned me an Air Hawk seat cushion. You put just enough air in it so your butt just touches the seat in a couple places and the rest is supported by the air cushion. The Air Hawk costs about $100 and is well made. IMHO the best solution for seat comfort short of a Russell seat.