mccrora
23-07-10, 11:49 AM
I'm a born again biker and have been riding a SV650S for 5 weeks. Being my first "born-again" bike I wasn't too fussed on the finer points of motorbike design but have found a few flaws difficult to live with. I was surprised by how bad the mirrors are, I thought things would have improved since I last rode (RGV250, GSXR750F & FZR600) but obviously not mirrors. So the first mod was to fit Chewy's www.chewys-stuff.co.uk (http://www.chewys-stuff.co.uk/) mirror extenders, they're plastic spacers that extend the mirrors about 25mm. The mirrors still aren't brilliant but the extenders were easy to fit and have made a big improvement.
Dealer fitted mods are a Datatool alarm (a bit of a pain to use but reduces insurance premiums), crash bungs (already put to good use by the girlfiend while pottering around the carpark) and a Givi 55l top-box (adds to touring ability and easy to remove when not needed).
On my list of things to do are;
1/ Quieten the very anti-social exhaust as a CarbonCanCo stright thru can is fitted. I've bought a baffle for £25 from carboncanco.co.uk but it doesn't have any fittings so I'll have to sort this (screw rather than rivet).
2/ Increase gearing about 15% by fitting different sprockets (front +1 tooth, rear -2 or -3 teeth) when the chain wears out. The motor pulls very strong in the midrange negating the need for close ratios and it revs way too high on the motorway.
3/Sort suspension. It is very firm at both ends, which I can live with, but is underdamped. I suppose the forks can be improved by changing the oil (any reccomendations on oil weight?) but the cost of upgrading the rear shock is in new bike territory. The steering is good even with top-box loaded.
4/ Fit a gel seat to increase seat height for longer trips. As I'm 6ft tall my legs get cramp after an hour in the saddle.
5/ Fit a taller screen and a deflector.
I might not do all these mods as we may do some two up touring next year, in which case my money would be better spent on a larger bike.
Dealer fitted mods are a Datatool alarm (a bit of a pain to use but reduces insurance premiums), crash bungs (already put to good use by the girlfiend while pottering around the carpark) and a Givi 55l top-box (adds to touring ability and easy to remove when not needed).
On my list of things to do are;
1/ Quieten the very anti-social exhaust as a CarbonCanCo stright thru can is fitted. I've bought a baffle for £25 from carboncanco.co.uk but it doesn't have any fittings so I'll have to sort this (screw rather than rivet).
2/ Increase gearing about 15% by fitting different sprockets (front +1 tooth, rear -2 or -3 teeth) when the chain wears out. The motor pulls very strong in the midrange negating the need for close ratios and it revs way too high on the motorway.
3/Sort suspension. It is very firm at both ends, which I can live with, but is underdamped. I suppose the forks can be improved by changing the oil (any reccomendations on oil weight?) but the cost of upgrading the rear shock is in new bike territory. The steering is good even with top-box loaded.
4/ Fit a gel seat to increase seat height for longer trips. As I'm 6ft tall my legs get cramp after an hour in the saddle.
5/ Fit a taller screen and a deflector.
I might not do all these mods as we may do some two up touring next year, in which case my money would be better spent on a larger bike.