Launched: The Suzuki V-Strom 800DE Is A Vastly Cheaper Alternative To The Triumph Tiger 900

Suzuki has finally launched the V-Strom 800DE in India, after the bike was earlier displayed at the Bharat Mobility Expo alongside the GSX-8S in January 2024. The Suzuki V-Strom 800DE replaces the now-discontinued Suzuki V-Strom 650XT and becomes the third big bike in the Japanese manufacturer’s current lineup in India, after the Hayabusa and Katana.

What’s The Price? Who Are The Rivals?

The 2024 Suzuki V-Strom 800DE is available for an introductory price of Rs 10,30,000 (ex-showroom Delhi). It competes with the Honda XL750 Transalp, BMW F 850 GS and Triumph Tiger 900. The V-Strom undercuts the Transalp by Rs 70,000, the BMW F 850 GS by Rs 2.65 lakh and the Tiger 900 by a whole Rs 3.40 lakh.

The V-Strom 800DE comes in three colour options: Champion Yellow No. 2, Glass Mat Mechanical Gray and Glass Sparkle Black.

What’s New?

The Suzuki V-Strom 800DE is a new bike all around. Based on an all-new platform, it is powered by a 776cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree crankshaft. It produces 84.3PS and 78Nm and is paired with a 6-speed gearbox along with a slip-and-assist clutch.

The V-Strom 800DE comes with vertically stacked hexagonal LED headlight, indicators and taillights. It also gets with the signature beak seen on previous V-Strom models. Its 5-inch colour TFT instrument console has day and night display modes, and there's a USB charging port on the left side. The windscreen has 3-step height adjustability, and it has a generous 20-litre fuel tank. The bike features Suzuki Intelligent Ride System (S.I.R.S.) with three riding modes: Active, Basic, and Comfort, along with a bi-directional quickshifter, ride-by-wire, and traction control. It also offers a G (Gravel) mode and the option to deactivate the rear ABS for your off-road adventures.

The V-Strom 800DE is built on a new rigid steel frame. It is equipped with a 220mm Showa inverted fork with preload adjustability and compression and rebound damping, and gets a 220mm preload-adjustable Showa monoshock at the rear. 

It features 21-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoked wheels, shod with 90-section front and 150-section rear tube tyres from Dunlop. Braking is handled by 320mm dual discs at the front and a single disc at the rear with dual-channel ABS. It has a 230kg kerb weight, a ground clearance of 220mm and a seat height of 855mm.

ZigSays

The 2024 Suzuki V-Strom 800DE sounds incredibly potent and the cherry on the cake is that it undercuts its rivals significantly in terms of price. However, despite being a premium adventure bike, the V-Strom 800DE lacks features such as smartphone connectivity and navigation, which even smaller bikes like the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 offer nowadays. Additionally, it misses out on tubeless spoked wheels, which were even available on the smaller V-Strom 650XT, and that really is a big step backwards. That said, we’re still excited to ride it and hopefully pit it against its rivals to see which bike is the best middleweight ADV.