RSV 1000 - ever used one?

[Mark_h]

Have been looking for potential replacements for my SV1000 and have seen an Aprilia RSV 1000. Anyone got any practical experience of a 2004/2005?

How does it ride compared to a K3 Sv1000N?

Without wishing to cause offence I'd rather not hear opinions harvested from Google but hear from folks who have done it for real.

About once a year I look at replacing the SV and always end up sticking with it so doubtless it'll not come to anything but worth a look.

[Sid Squid]

In paper it's a great bike, and they're powerful and well braked, suspended etc, but somehow I just find them underwhelming. Can't put my finger on why exactly though, but three people I know have bought one only to be disappointed and then sell it on again quite shortly.
Did have a laugh on a borrowed one at Donington, but I couldn't help feeling my bike would have been easier to go fast on though.

[NTECUK]

http://forums.sv650.org/album.php?albumid=801&pictureid=6117Is it a gen 2 ?
mine was a 56 plate with ohlins ,brembo radialhttp://forums.sv650.org/album.php?albumid=801&pictureid=6117

[Ninthbike]

My old boss used to have a 2006 one which was fast, handled well and sounded great with race cans on but did break down a lot despite being only a year old. Electrics were the main issue and the cooling fan siezed and blew the fuse which meant it would overheat if you had to ride in slow traffic anywhere.

[Mark_h]

It's a 54 with retro-fitted Brembos. Also had a new clutch so potentially had a hard life

[NTECUK]

I used mine all through 12 with its rain.The only issue i had was contaminated fule.
I coverd 5,000 miles used 3 fork seals a set of tyres.
Only reason i got the 675 was the high mass and heavy clutch action of the rsv kills my athritus .
Do i miss its mental power
Yes. It was a big valve head and went like post office shares....
Rubbish side stand .cooks your legs in traffic . But it was somthing i wanted and dont regret

[Popy Fresco]

I tried one for an hour, I know is not much but here are my impressions:

Commuting must be a pain, because of the position, on the clutch most of the time, the hard suspension and the heat coming from the lateral radiators.

On twisty roads/track must be brilliant, the engine start kicking from low revs, brakes brilliantly, changing direction doesn't feel difficult when you are at some speed.

[NTECUK]

Commuting must be a pain, because of the position, on the clutch most of the time,.
You can get a different slave cylinder that helps allot with that.
Ive still got the one as i refitted the OE one back on when i px ed mine

[Fallout]

On twisty roads/track must be brilliant, the engine start kicking from low revs, brakes brilliantly, changing direction doesn't feel difficult when you are at some speed.

That made me think Mark. You're a big fan of your B roads and plenty of single track twisties. Maybe a sports bike requiring some muscle on tighter corners isn't what you're looking for.

I smell KTM. :mrgreen:

[NTECUK]

A Speed Tripple be better Mr Fallout

[Geordie Mick]

My Dad's got a 53 plate RSV, which I ride quite regularly and I love the thing. Quite roomy for a sporty bike, mega brakes, tons of grunt, handles like it's on rails etc. I have ridden an SV1000, though not frequently, and I'd say the SV is definitely an easier bike to ride - more comfortable, a bit "softer", more forgiving, but it depends what sort of riding you want to do. It wasn't as much fun.

My Dad's 70 and he reckons it's quite comfortable for his wrists and back and so on compared to some otehr stuff he's had. On narrower, bumpier roads the RSV is pretty hard work. I'd imagine it's a sod in town traffic too (never tried). I'm desperate for a trackday on it (but it's his only road bike so I don't dare..) as I think it'd be hilarious!

MICK..

[chris c]

My last bike before the sv and when i had money!! was a 2008 RSV1000R

I can't really fault the bike apart from a few niggles that i thought id mention. I actually used it for a Euro bike trip and covered over 2800 miles in 10 days on it!

Firstly when you brim the fuel tank and put the bike on the side stand fuel pours out of the overflow over the hot exhaust and over the floor!

The rear brake is useless, the master cylinder is bolt to the engine block so when the bike gets hot you have no rear brake, the only real fix for this is aftermarket rearsets that move the master cylinder away from the engine.

In hot traffic the clutch gets very heavy and sometimes you strugle to select gears, on my trip i had to bleed my clutch twice ( very easy to do, and aftermarket parts available to fix this.

Only really niggles i can think of, lots of people reduce the gearing and this makes the bike feel much better, along with changing the ecu mapping to map 2 thats stored in the ecu and is needed for aftermarket cans.

I loved mine and was gutted to sell it
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/toasty-is-god/100_2672.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/toasty-is-god/media/100_2672.jpg.html)

[TimTucker]

I've had '07 RSV-R -- like Chris's, above, but in silver -- from new. By this time, Aprilia had sorted most of the problems. I've never had any kind of electrical problem with mine, though a few years ago I did bump into a guy whose '06 RSV-R's electrics had died about a mile from my house. I've got an SV650S as well, but I've never ridden a thou. You can take a look at forum.rsvr.net (http://forums.sv650.org/forum.rsvr.net), which will give you an idea what others think of the bike.

They're big, heavy, old school bikes, but once you're moving the weight drops away. The riding position is more extreme than the SV, but it's quite roomy and reasonably comfortable for long distances, though I've never done more than a couple of hundred miles in a day on mine. The harder you ride them, the better they seem -- the suspension becomes more supple, the handling seems sharper. And being a big v-twin, you can knock always everything back a couple of notches and just pootle around and surf that mid-range torque.

I have had the experience of riding mine across London on many occasions. It is not a great commuting tool. It feels really agricultural at low speed. You can't see anything in the mirrors without contorting yourself, the right-hand side gets very hot and it just seems to bounce from pothole to pothole. It will only run a constant temperature once you're doing 50mph or above. As mentioned previously, the side stand is awful.

As Chris said, the rear brake is awful. I've bought a Mityvac and have taught myself to bleed it regularly. Even after that, it's only really useful to hold the thing still on a slope, rather than provide any kind of retardation. The clutch needs to be bled regularly as well, but at least that's only a thirty second job. There are the usual Italian "design" annoyances that mean you need to remove fairing panels to top-up the oil or coolant.

It does have storage space at the rear, particularly with the seat hump in place, plus bungy hooks so you can strap luggage to the back. The tank is plastic, though, so standard tank bags won't work.

When I got mine, it came with Akrapovic end cans, so the dealer has swapped it to Map 2 and they also fitted a one-tooth smaller front sprocket to lower the gearing a little. It'll do a ton at 6,000rpm in top, so Lord alone knows what it's like with the standard sprocket. I usually get about 125 miles from 15-16 litres of fuel.

I'm really happy with mine. It's abilities far outweigh mine and I find it great fun.

[NTECUK]

Mirrors lol.They are just indicator pods with bits of glass in.
Plastic tank .it obsorbs mosture and swells up if you not carefull.

[Matt-EUC]

Have you thought about the tuono? I know your SV is a naked and the tuono popped into my head.