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2012 Suzuki V-Strom

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After teasing us for months with talk of a new middleweight adventure-tourer, Suzuki underwhelmed us with the debut of the 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS. That’s not to say that the new wee-strom is a bad bike (in fact early reports from the European media test reports are quite favorable), it is just for all the hype that surrounded the release, we expected something a bit more than a polished-over version of the previous model.

With that lack of progression, the new Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS feels more like a model refresh than a new motorcycle, but you wouldn’t know it from prices hitting our cousins over the pond, as the V-Strom 650 is getting a considerable price increase in both the British (pounds sterling) and European (Euros) markets. While pricing has yet to be determined for the North American market (USD & CAD), if the European MSRPs are any indication, we can expect a nice 5+% price increase on the previous year’s DL650 ABS’s $8,099 MSRP .

The wait is finally over on what Suzuki has been brewing for its middleweight adventure bike offering. Through some HTML trickery, we were able to glean this unreleased information off the Suzuki website, and as such are bringing you the first photos, technical specifications, and design features on the 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS. An evolution of the current V-Strom 650, the new middleweight V-Strom is longer, taller, and lighter than its predecessor, while boasting an updated look to the aging V-Strom exterior.

If you were expecting more, and feel let down…welcome to the club. Though this represents a large portion of the information Suzuki plans on unveiling in the coming days, we still have some unanswered questions: like what’s been changed in the motor (we have yet to see any power figures quoted), though the general specifications on the 645cc v-twin lump appear to be the same. More as we get it. Find the massively underwhelming leaked photos, details, and specifications after the jump. Thanks for the tip Yellow Ranger!

Suzuki continues to string us along with dates and teasers of its expected V-Strom replacement/update. Showing three more blurred, yet revealing, photos of the new middleweight adventure bike, Suzuki is now saying to come back to its website on June 22nd for more details on the machine.

From what we hear from our European colleagues, Suzuki has sent out invites for the new V-Strom’s unveiling, which is schedule for June 27th in Croatia — a great venue, but also a week and a half away. Whether or not we’ll get a glimpse of the machine before then remains to be seen (or more teasers for that matter), but there is at least now a definitive timeline on when this madness will conclude. More photos after the jump.

While Suzuki has been hyping some sort of middleweight adventure-tourer, suspected to be an 800cc V-Strom, the company has missed its original unveil date of Saturday June 11th. Now Suzuki sites are touting a new date: tomorrow (Wednesday June 15th), which we suppose we’ll forgive Suzuki for this blunder, provided the new model blows our socks off. So far no one has said why the date has been pushed back, though we’d like to start a good rumor of a headlight fluid shortage at Suzuki HQ.

Rumors are still fuzzy on the upcoming release of a new middleweight Suzuki adventure bike, with there being some debate as to whether the V-Strom replacement will be a 650cc, 1000cc, or perhaps even an 800cc machine. Suzuki is pushing the adventure statement hard, which to us means that this new bike will be more off-road capable than the current V-Strom, which to us has always seemed like a sport-tourer duped into doing something it wasn’t intended to do.

With Suzuki’s US website even sporting the teaser images now, this looks to be a worldwide release; and we won’t have to wait long to find out all the details, as this Saturday should bring us more information on how the Japanese brand is finally getting on this mid-life crisis bandwagon. So far the best guess we’ve heard are new look, new chassis, and new motor. More teaser photos after the jump.