ujoni08

Its' probably caused by the front suspension topping out. This is the opposite of bottoming out. When the wheel suddenly drops away (into a hole in the road surface), the sliders (bottom alloy bits) drop all the way down the stanchions (shiny steel top bits) and the suspension reaches maximum extension for a fraction of a second. The clunk is caused by the metal to metal contact of the travel limiters (they stop the sliders from falling off the end when you raise the bike off the ground without supporting the front wheel). I don't hear the clunk when I hit an 'up' bump, like when the road has been re-surfaced, and there's a ramp. I only hear it when the wheel drops over a 'down' bump (say a hole). It's easy to think it's caused by the 'up' bump on the other side of the hole, beacuse it happens a fraction of a second later. Topping out is no problem, but can be remedied sometimes with slower rebound damping. The SV doesn't have adjustable rebound damping on the front, so you could try heavier oil, but remember, slower damping can overwhelm standard springs, so you may need to fit some with a higher spring rate, otherwise you may experience 'packing', when going over a series of bumps, specially under braking. The weak spring can't overcome the damping force in time for the next bump, and so the suspension packs down lower and lower. Enough bumps close together and it could bottom out, leaving you momentarily without suspension: not good. Cold weather will also slow the damping down, as it increases the viscosity of the oil in the shock.
Jon.