Riding an SV
 

Ok take the Michael is appropriate, I can cope. I’ve had many bikes, but not had one for A decade and bought an SV650s as I’d never had a v twin before.
Seems like I’m always in the wrong gear? I’m constantly searching for the imaginary sixth, and I struggle at lower speed with gear selection, feels “wrong” when the bike is below 3k so I changing down accordingly. Have I become inept, not used to a v twin yet, possibly need to go up on the rear sprocket? I’ll almost never ride above 70mph.
Jibes, and sensible advice welcome. Thanks

Re: Riding an SV
 

Hi and welcome. No mick-taking here, every SV rider has at some point (and usually several times per ride) tried to change from 6th to 7th, it's because the mid-range torque is strong so you always think the bike must be pulling a lower gear than it actually is.

And generally SVs don't like being below 3,000rpm unless in 1st or 2nd gear at very light throttle because the V-twin power pulses get a bit lumpy. It's smoother when the throttle bodies (or carbs if it's a curvy) are balanced but an SV will always feel lumpy if you ask it to pull hard much below 3K rpm.

Re: Riding an SV
 

Thanks for the reassurance, you say sight to seventh. I’m sure my bike only has five gears unless I really have lost it ? It’s a 2002 so I guess it’s got carbs then ?

Re: Riding an SV
 

all models definitely have 1 down and 5 up on the gear lever. Yours should be a carb model as the injected came out 2003...

Re: Riding an SV
 

The naked SV is better with larger rear sprocket IIRC standard naked gearing is 15 / 47 and IMHO makes for a better ride as you are not interested in top speed on a naked and makes acceleration better. The lower gearing makes it happier around 3000 revs. I think final gearing on faired models is 15 / 44 ?

Re: Riding an SV
 

They ride much better if you keep the revs up a bit. Use the middle of the rev range. You can easily ride them from 30mph to 60mph in 3rd gear.

Re: Riding an SV
 

All SV models have 6 gears - check next time you are out :-)
Alan


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Re: Riding an SV
 

Thanks for the advice and the help with basic counting skills, maybe I have a sixth gear problem ? I’ll keep you posted. Definitely think I’ll go up two teeth on the rear, I live in the Isle of Man which is great, but actually there aren’t that many places you can hit high speeds safely, unless the circuit is closed and you’re a racer, but usually there are too Many your hazards so I think a bit of extra acceleration will be good.

Riding an SV
 

SV gearboxes seem to be very reliable, just count carefully next time you are out and you should find the missing one. Yours should be like this:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4285465890.jpg

My K6 has an extra tooth on the front sprocket, I quite like it being having higher gearing and think it suits a high compression 4 stroke motor.


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Re: Riding an SV
 

Mine had an extra tooth on the rear sprocket (making it the same as the naked version) and I was happy with it's ability to pull in the wrong gear when I fudged it.