Which bike is best for touring? Suzuki V-Strom 1050 v Suzuki GSX-S1000GX

Do you need an adventure bike to have an adventure? Or could a sportier tourer be a better choice for your next motorcycle tour? To find out, we put two of Suzuki’s most capable, but very different, mile-munching motorbikes to the test: the Suzuki V-Strom 1050 and the Suzuki GSX-S1000GX. James and Billy rode them both along the Rebellion Road, a spectacular journey through the heart of Wales. Over two days and 300 miles, they packed in as many mountain passes, moorland roads, and spectacular coastal highways as they could find on one of the best UK motorcycle touring routes ever ridden at Adventure Bike Rider. You can watch a full travel video of the Rebellion Road ride here:    • Ride The Rebellion Road: "The best UK moto...   But, if you want to find out how the bikes performed, you’re in the right place? So, why did we choose to compare an adventure bike to an adventure tourer (tall rounder/ adventure sports bike)? Because they both offer the long-distance touring power and comfort you could need to fulfil your motorcycle travel dreams but they come at it from very different perspectives. For example, the V-Strom 1050 is a hugely capable adventure bike with a characterful V-twin engine, long(ish) travel suspension, an upright riding position, 19-inch front wheel, and a decent amount of ground clearance. And, while it’s more of a road-biased machine compared to the more off-road biased V-Strom 1050DE model in Suzuki’s line-up, it’s still handy on the trails in the right hands too. In comparison, the Suzuki GSX-S1000GX is a purely road focused motorcycle with a wonderfully smooth inline four engine, 17-inch wheels front and rear, and a slightly more aggressive riding stance. It’s basically a leggy, upright sports tourer, hence the adventure tourer moniker (although Suzuki likes to call it a sports crossover). Whatever you call it, this is a motorcycle designed for whisking you along fast-flowing A-roads before carving its way along twisting mountains passes on silky smooth tarmac. So, the choice is simple, right? Choose the V-Strom 1050 if you have any ambitions of venturing off road, or go for the GSX-S1000GX if you’ll be sticking solely to the tarmac. Well, that’s not entirely accurate, because the big V-Strom has a number of attributes that arguably make it a better choice of road touring machine than the GSX-S1000GX, at least in some circumstances. But there are also other areas where the adventure tourer shines. To make sense of a whether an adventure bike or an adventure tourer would make for a better road touring machine, watch James and Bill sum up their time on the V-Strom 1050 and the GSX-S1000GX. You can test ride the all the latest adventure, touring, and trail bikes at the 2026 ABR Festival. Find out more and get your tickets here: https://www.abrfestival.com/