A nice review, I read it when my magazine showed up in the mailbox yesterday. However, I do have a couple of issues with both the written review and video. #1: “Urban” adventure bikes? All of these bikes can be outfitted with three hard bags for traveling to places afar. You even mentioned taking the V-Strom to Alaska, where incidentally a shop in Anchorage rents them for travel within Alaska. (which is huge and not very urban) They may not have the horsepower or shaft drive of the larger adventure bikes, but they also don’t have the weight and cost far less. They are all used for travel outside of the urban environment as comments and photos on the web show. #2: I think your stated fuel mileage must be in town with the throttle pinned. On a tour, my ’07 V-Strom gets 57-58 mpg, and has seen a high of 66. I guess it would get only 48 if I stayed in town and rode it really hard. If you are going to go to all the trouble to test these bikes (or any bike) why not take them on an extended ride at reasonable speeds and see what they would then get in gas mileage? I know both car and moto magazines like to run ‘em hard to find their performance envelope. That’s fine, but can’t you just (also) ride them on the highway at reasonable speeds to do a reality-based fuel mileage check?

“Nothing like” the Honda DCT out there? Maybe not quite the same price point, but did you forget the Aprilia Mana? The transmission may not be identical, but the front compartment big enough for a full-face helmet is practically stolen from it.

We first looked at the F650GS in 2011 for my wife and the first thing they added was a $500 setup charge and that is still the charge on this New F700GS. With the options on the bike, it came to over $12,000.00 before taxes for the 2011 F650GS. It was over $13,000 for the bike with Tennessee tax. The bike didn’t even have a centerstand, that was another option that wasn’t added to the bike.

In August of 2012 I bought a Honda NC700X for $6394 with no ABS and the 6 speed trans. It was less than $7000 with Tax and out the door.

We also went to 2 kawasaki dealers and neither had a Versys on the floor. The dealer in Dyersburg was also a Suzuki dealer and he had no V-Stroms either. They only had a Busa on the floor that might or might not have been used plus a couple of use kawasakis.

For a short time we had a Suzuki dealer only 15 miles away but they never even got in a V-Strom for us to check out. We checked with the dealership in Paris Tn. but they had no V-Strom either.

So the winner of your test, Hands down is my Honda NC700X with the out the door price of $6901.

I think the Vstrom, (pre and post 2012) is a nice looking bike. Same with the Versys. I understand looks are a personal thing, but never really understood why people think these bikes are downright ugly. The front end of the older Vstrom from the tank forward is a bit bulbous, so maybe that’s it, but the newer model took care of that, but people still call it fugly. Oh well, I think both bikes are great and nice looking.