My wife and I are heading to South America on a 2006 V Strom 1000 (14000 miles). After returning from a 40 day ride in Mexico, I did the 14000 mile maintenance schedule. With my limited experience, I tackled the maintenance to learn about the bike. Everything went well. I replaced air filter, cleaned gas tank and gas filter, adjusted valve clearances, changed the brake and clutch fluid, changed the chain (DID), added new front and rear sprockets, all new light bulbs, and a Centech fuse block, adjusted TBS and TPS, and checked the codes. Before the trip I will change tires (Tourance), replace brakes (1/2 used), and add a new battery. We ride two up and will stick to the main roads, for the most part. Therefore:
1. Would you put new seals in the front forks or take a set with you?
2. What back up parts would you take? I have the old chain, old brakes, and old sprockets. All of them appear to be in very good condition. I intended to take them as back up. I have extra master links, throtle cable, bulbs, and fuses. Any commets on that and any recommendations as to other parts?
3. Our trip will be from September thru March. We will not be heading to the southern tip of Argentina, this time. We will ride up to Cusco and Lake Titicaca. We will cross from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina. Given this limited exposure is electrical gear necessary? It appears that adding electrical jackets (2x75 watts=150) for warmth will tax the V Stroms electrical system. It appears the maximum watts left is only 150. The only added electrical components are a small volt meter and 2 - 12v DC plugs (for jackets, if purchased). What has been your experience?

Taking the old chain and sprocket set will add quite a bit of weight. You should have plenty of warning when these parts are wearing. Do you think you could find somewhere on the trip to post these part to before you leave? The other thing is, with a chain lubricator fitted (LoobMan or ScottOiler or similar, my fav is the LoobMan) and working, you should get 25,000-40,000km from a set. Do you intend riding further then that?
You spares list is pretty good I would think. Add a set of spare wheel bearing, front and rear, and think about putting a new set of steering head bearings in the bike, or take a set with you. At the very least, you should grease and tension the old ones before you go.
Take brake seals kits with you, and pack grease under the rubber bellows cover on the rear master cylinder to stop the shaft rusting and damaging the outer seal.
Fork seals are light. Take a set rather than messing with the forks. One thing you can do if you are getting really anal about the preparation is to rotate the fork tubes by 90 deg in the sliders to even up the wear.

You picked a good bike for the trip. The only common complaint about them is the lack of ground clearence, so some sort of under engine guard is a good idea.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

__________________
The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

You may get cold down there and the heated gear is nice.
the DLs have little extra power for heated gear and I know of no good way to get more. But you can save some with LED brake lights and shutting off one of the head lights. There are some good kits made and you can make your self one if you need to. Cool kit here. Suzuki VStrom Electrics

You add a fuse box so it will be easy to add other bits as you need them.

You can go LED all the way around and save more more power and not take the bulbs with you.
You may want to look at that rear shock
And brake pads are good to have (my rear go at 15 to 20k)
oil filter (never know when you can get them)
no do not take a chain set with you I have 25,000 miles on mine and looks like I can get 20k more on it. have a bit extra chain with you and a chain brake tool saves pushing the bike if you foul the chain.

Some things you can do if your itching to do something to the bike.
fork brace and up grade the oil.
new rear shock
1 tooth up fro the rear sprocket
madstad brackets for the windshield
new seat
hand guards
a cig lighter plug for air pump
big nasty horn

All the above is excellent advice, esp taking fork seals. I rode my '07 DL1000 from NY to TDF and that's the only problem I had. One thing I would add is to install some sort of fork gaiters, to keep dirt from collecting on your fork stanchions and runining your seals and maybe scaoring your fork tubes. I made some up on the trip using a rag and some zip ties, but they worked! This is simple and, I think, important. Have a great trip!!

I want to thank everyone for their help.

Greetings Joe

I'm a convert to heated vests and I would take them on your trip if I could, but, I think you might be right about not having enough power for two heated vests if this website is correct (electrical specs about halfway down the page)

Suzuki V-Strom DL 1000 / DL 650 Info and Accessories

I'm assuming that the DL1000 and the DL650 have the same electrical system specs but that is an assumption on my part. Please confirm this yourself.

If you have a voltmeter fitted directly across the battery you could try and test ride the bike at road cruising RPMs while wearing both vests and see if the charging voltage is significantly lower than when the vests are not being used. I don't know what is the "correct" charging voltage for a Vstrom but on my bike (r100gspd) it would be around 13.8 volts. The GS doesn't have a very good charging system so we would turn our heated vests off while travelling through towns or similar.

On our trip we only had lightweight jackets (Joe Rocket Alterego 2) as we planned (planned!, how I laugh) to be travelling through warmer climates, or so we thought.

We ended up buying these lightweight fleece jackets to wear under our bike jackets or as a jacket around camp, etc.

Mountain Hardwear: Synthetic : Compressor PL Jacket

These jackets are warm, light weight, windproof and packs down into one of it's own pockets so it takes up very little room. They are not designed to be rainproof and the shell material used is very thin so it is not "tearproof" but out of all the toys we bought for the trip this was one of the best, I'll definitely be taking it with me on the next trip.

Oh they aren't cheap either!

I rode a bike across the altiplano in southern Peru a few years ago and it was very cold (I think we got up to +3400 metres??) this was in October-November from memory, and it was windy, so warm riding gear is a must.

I second the comments from both Nigel and DL, especially about the chain/spockets/scottoiler and the Big Nasty Horn. Get one that's loud. It will save your life one day.

Are you planning on taking any spare engine oil? A 2 litre container mounted on a rear pannier or similar might be an advantage if your bike starts develops a thirst for oil between changes.

Do you have a tyre repair kit (and mini air compressor)? I bought one of the Stop n Go Tire Plugger kits. I've only used it once but it worked well.

You seem to have everything else covered

Have a good trip

Ian J

__________________
Always have plan B, and maybe plan C
www.travelswithkitty.com