Skull 650V-Strom, Rides and tour pics. Regular updates

I'll post up some pics of the beach and surrounding area. keep to this thread.

Burning up the neighborhood and terrorizing the locals.

The council welcome entrance to the Area.........10klm to go.............friend of mine, who is a blacksmith, done the art work, Cassowery, likuala palm leaves and the Aboriginal Shield.

IMG_2864.JPG
 
From one end of the beach to the other.........17klm's of beach, 3 communities, about 25klm's by road

IMG_3022 8 Shpn -9+4 con +5  tone Mid +5 colour blue Shdw+2.jpg

First pic; Looking north from the boat ramp, at the most southern point of South Mission Beach. Just below the Indicator there is a strip of land, (bottom of the hill), and that is where the Second pic is taken from.
The point where the first pic is taken from is where the sand disappears behind the rear-view mirror
IMG_3035.JPG


Treacherous waters...........this Reef pops out at low tide...........saw a nice 30ft sailboat sitting upright stuck by the Keel, on these rocks once
Dunk Island, High hill on the left. Beach in front, mainland to the right out of sight
IMG_3041 2 rotate crop.jpg



Coming home, Clump Point boat ramp to my left out of sight. This lookout where i am is called clump point
IMG_3076 shpn.jpg
 
Last edited:
Beautiful photos Doug! How nice it must be to be able to ride along the coast and see the ocean and feel the cool air coming off of it!
 
Thanks guys, Yea the sea breeze can be nice when its here. Coming into winter so its cooling down Getting down to a chilly 17/18 degrees at about 3 in the morning and 27/28 during the day.

Getting a lot of riding in. Got a 190klm ride in today. Getting buffeting on the helmet, not bad, think i will take the screen off fro starters and work from there. If i add a deflector to the existing or a taller screen, blocking off the wind may just be to hot for this climate as I open my face shield up when i'm below 80Kph to keep cool. be different going up into the table lands an Hour away, Elevation is around 3,000 - 3,500 ft and they get some frosts but that wont be for around another 6 weeks or so.

Plan on a trip up there soon

looks like a GoPro in my future......
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys, Yea the sea breeze can be nice when its here. Coming into winter so its cooling down Getting down to a chilly 17/18 degrees at about 3 in the morning and 27/28 during the day.

Getting a lot of riding in. Got a 190klm ride in today. Getting buffeting on the helmet, not bad, think i will take the screen off fro starters and work from there. If i add a deflector to the existing or a taller screen, blocking off the wind may just be to hot for this climate as I open my face shield up when i'm below 80Kph to keep cool. be different going up into the table lands an Hour away, Elevation is around 3,000 - 3,500 ft and they get some frosts but that wont be for around another 6 weeks or so.

Plan on a trip up there soon

looks like a GoPro in my future......
I swapped out my stock windscreen and added a deflector. No buffeting with this set up.

View attachment 190899 View attachment 190899
F90E4C63-72DE-4965-BB4B-281B0E973D81.jpeg
 
Been looking at them and seen a few different mounting styles. Think it was on Stromtrooper recently someone was talking about them .........

Where did you get the screen and what make. How different is it to the factory screen, or did the screen come with the deflector. Looks adjustable as well
 
Windscreen and deflector were purchased used. Manufacturer is MRA. Not 100% certain that the deflector in the link below is the exact model that I have. The po had the pieces assembled together. He commented that he has also used a Madstad windscreen (I was actually looking for one of those) and he said he preferred the MRA setup. The windscreen itself isn’t a whole lot different than the factory screen iirc.

Lots of adjustability in the deflector. You can change the mounting angle of the windscreen with the supplied plastic spacers that are two different lengths. I have mine mounted tilting rearward as far as it would go.

https://twistedthrottle.com/shop/er...dscreen-spoiler-blade-windshield-extension-2/
https://twistedthrottle.com/shop/er...-windshield-for-suzuki-v-strom-dl650-12-15-5/
 
Last edited:
Certainly bright. What is the high/low beam throw like? ........Have read some of these LED's don't have a definitive line and can blind oncoming raffic
 
Cut off isn’t the greatest on these cheap bulbs. Used the same brand on tge XS and our Subaru Forester and aimed properly they don’t bother oncoming traffic. Certainly not the well defined, sharp cut off of a halogen bulb. More expensive LED bulbs have better definition but at 3-4X the cost. I never ride at night anyway so for me they are a daytime running light.
 
Trip to the local power 40 klm past Tully up the Tully gorge to Cardstone.. Fully automated 88 Megawatt power station. Build commenced in 1950 and commissioned in 1957. There was quite a community that was built and revolved around the Power station. at one point there was a peak population of 70 people, 30 houses and some barracks that could accommodate 40 single men. The last of the house's were removed after the full automation in 1990.

The gorge ends hard up against the great dividing range that divides the coastal communities from the outback dry country. Top of the range is over 3,000' , there is no road up to the top from here.

Route
Cardstone Power Sstation Tully river 2.jpg

IMG_3077 Shpn 11 6 Green 5.jpg

IMG_3088 Shpn blue 5 highlights.jpg

IMG_3085 Shpn lightly.jpg
IMG_3089 Crop resize 1500 Shpn.jpg

eed21bef0365f8ee2a67d4735eefa356.jpg

Tully River. Famous for white water rafting, 2 years ago they held the world championship on there, hosting teams from 30 countries.
IMG_3095 Shpn 11 5 y5 g5.jpg
IMG_3099 Shpn 11 5 yellow-2 green 3.jpg
IMG_3100 Shpn 11 5.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice pics. I’ll have to take a few next time I’m out on mine. Skid plate on its way and will hopefully be installed by the end of this week. I don’t plan to go off road with it much but it’s added protection for the oil filter and front pipe.
 
All that underneath is exposed. like the added security. Not sure if a center-stand will fit with the skid plate on there, that's what i want
 
All that underneath is exposed. like the added security. Not sure if a center-stand will fit with the skid plate on there, that's what i want
I’d also like a center stand but iirc it’s my exhaust that may get in the way. I’ll check it out after the skid plate is in.
 
Great photos Doug, once again, beautiful country!

Here’s one of my old V-Strom, I rode on this 12 mile un paved road to get back to a remote dam. At various points this road was nothing more than sand washes, steep rocky trails and ruts. It just about beat me to death and reminded me that these bikes are great for dirt roads , but they ain’t no dirt bike! They’re way too heavy for serious off roading.
FCCDC6F1-48A7-4E93-A6B0-54D7743AC01E.jpeg
 
Great pic Bob. looks like an interesting structure. Sounds like it was pretty serious in places. Me thinks you underestimate...........just like your a novice restorer:laugh:

My bike has been down worse than i originally thought. Nothing of concern but the bracket around the top and front of the tank that holds the side-panels on is shifted to one side, gap and no gap, I honestly didn't see that the right panel had been replaced. No S in the decal. to busy looking for other things in the pre purchase. Don't mind as i wont feel so bad if/when i do go down

Yet to get into some big gravel roads, went down to a local beach the other day and forgot we had had so much rain, i was expecting it to have been graded, till the bike started shuddering and rattling my teeth. Parts of the road was shaded and I didn't see the ruts from the glare of the sun.

It's easy to take where one lives for granted, it is nice to do these trips to frequent places i haven't been for a long time. The beach area is one of the places where the rain-forest comes right down to the coast. looks like there is more rain-forest than there is sometimes.

The road to Bingle Bay.
Bingle Bay is behind Suzi, brooks beach is to the right. Around the headland is Garners beach
20210513_140253_HDR crop.jpg


Looking back to Mission Beach.
Clump Point boat ramp is to the left. Above the boat ramp is Clump point Lookout where I took the pics looking back over dunk Island and 17 Klms of beach
20210513_140651_HDR crop.jpg


Garners Beach.
20210513_143159_HDR.jpg

20210513_144006_HDR crop 2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Great pic Bob. looks like an interesting structure. Sounds like it was pretty serious in places. My bike has been down worse than i originally thought. Nothing of concern but the bracket around the top and front of the tank that holds the side-panels on is shifted to one side, gap and no gap, I honestly didn't see that the right panel had been replaced. No S in the decal. to busy looking for other things in the pre purchase. Don't mind as i wont feel so bad if/when i do go down

Yet to get into some big gravel roads, went down to a local beach the other day and forgot we had had so much rain, i was expecting it to have been graded, till the bike started shuddering and rattling my teeth. Parts of the road was shaded and I didn't see the ruts from the glare of the sun.

It's easy to take where one lives for granted, it is nice to do these trips to frequent places i haven't been for a long time. The beach area is one of the places where the rain-forest comes right down to the coast. looks like there is more rain-forest than there is sometimes.

The road to Bingle Bay.
Bingle Bay is behind Suzi, brooks beach is to the right. Around the headland is Garners beach
View attachment 191348

Looking back to Mission Beach.
Clump Point boat ramp is to the left. Above the boat ramp is Clump point Lookout where I took the pics looking back over dunk Island and 17 Klms of beach
View attachment 191349

Garners Beach.
View attachment 191352
View attachment 191354
Very nice. When I go off the beaten path I’ll have to remember that it’s not a 200 lb enduro bike and if it goes down there’s 500 lbs to pick up.
 
Back
Top