[northwind]

I get more stuff under mine with the cowl than without, it bumps up a little while the seat doesn't. Not massively, mind, just a wee bit bigger.

The curvy one's a wee bit more complicated in construction, which is why it's more expensive. I reckon Suzuki didn't totally know what the market for the SV was going to be when they built the first one- so you get stuff like the really expensive frame (better for small runs, because of the way it's built, but rubbish for a high volume production), and other stuff like the addons being obviously addons, rather than having been designed along with the bike.