Light Touch Paper and Stand Well Back !!!!

Ok, this is gonna be one of those controversial posts, but anyway I'm interested in the responses.

Why do you try to get more power out of your 650's why no just move up to a 1000?

OK, I understand the exhaust thing, the manufacturers version had to consider noise pollution etc. I also understand the bling parts, suspensions even other cosmetic changes.

But what I don't understand is why you spend money on more power!

This is where I'm coming from I recently bought a Mazda MX5 115BHP fitted Large Turbo and about £3000.00 worth of other parts = 250BHP and then I sold it for less than the sum of it's parts. Why didn't I just go and by a skyline with even more power and save myself some money

So as you can I've done it also but it makes no sense.

To get to the real reason why I have asked this question is should I buy a 650 spend a load of money on it and then change it for a thou or get a thou to start with?

[northwind]

It depends what you're after. My '00 650 + a barrelload of money still cost less than a good nick thou- yes, it's slower in a straight line but it's better at absolutely everything else. For me, the SV's near to the perfect bike- it's the right size, the right shape, lightweight, and it's cheap- both to buy, run and repair.

There's other elements to it... I enjoy doing the work- I wouldn't do it otherwise. I'd never take the bike to a shop and say "Make it faster".

Also, having a different bike from everyone else is a bonus for me. I'm a huge fan of the second glance- park up at a bike meeting spot or a dealership, and 9/10 I'll end up having a chat with someone about the bike.

I'd like to say insurance, but sadly my bike now costs more to insure than a standard thou

Lastly, most of the mods I've done haven't been for out-and-out power. Yes, the exhaust system and cams do ad peak power, and a fair bit of it, but mainly it gives far better rideability- more low end torque, more midrange power, better delivery, and a far wider peak.

I certainly agree about doing the work yourself, not only from the cost saving but also from the satisfaction, of knowing you did it.

In the last 6 years I have built some fairly bizarre cars and did all the work myself.

The problem is now I look back all I think is what a waste of money

Originally Posted by Dal

I certainly agree about doing the work yourself, not only from the cost saving but also from the satisfaction, of knowing you did it.

In the last 6 years I have built some fairly bizarre cars and did all the work myself.

The problem is now I look back all I think is what a waste of money

Would you look back after a good night out & think god i spent £50 what a waste of money, probably not.
To most people, yourself included doing stuff to cars or bikes is a love, a passion, a hobby or whatever you want to call it, as soon as you start to seriously think about how much this & that have cost the bubble has been burst.
Northwind says he loves his bike being different & who can blame him, don't we all enjoy that bit of individuality, the longing glance as we ride past from the leggy blonde who's summer blouse stretches at the seams with every breath, oh sorry.

Think carefully about what you want, try one of each if you can, bugger the expense & go for it.

I have had a number of people refer to my SV as a hairdressers bike.

I get the feeling that we are the biking equivalent of Porsche Boxter owners - a bunch of light weights that couldnt afford or couldn't handle the real deal (911/SV1000) so just got the next best thing that looked similar.

I guess it is true that I am only here due to insurance purposes...

I am dead against mods now. I spent a lot of money tuning and modifying cars in the past and it actually devalued the vehicle. I too felt afterwards that I could have done so much better if I had just shelled out more in the first place and bought what I really wanted.

I for one would never buy a modded used bike. Any bike I buy would have to be completely standard or brand new.

No disrespect to people that are into modifying and tuning though, I did find it satisfying at the time although I was in my early twenties whereas by the time I got to my late twenties I had completely gone off the whole thing.

Ideally I would have liked the thou or a GSXR but insurance prevented me. In my opinion the worse thing I can do is modify what I have in an attempt to get closer to my ideal bike. The money would be better reserved for higher insurance premiums on the real deal.

[northwind]

Yup, totally agree with you there- in your position I'd be the same. Still, I'd put heated grips, bungs and maybe a better screen on any bike I ever own, probably the same week as I get it- that's a sort of minimum level of mods for me

Originally Posted by Toypop

I have had a number of people refer to my SV as a hairdressers bike.

I get the feeling that we are the biking equivalent of Porsche Boxter owners - a bunch of light weights that couldnt afford or couldn't handle the real deal (911/SV1000) so just got the next best thing that looked similar.

I guess it is true that I am only here due to insurance purposes...

I am dead against mods now. I spent a lot of money tuning and modifying cars in the past and it actually devalued the vehicle. I too felt afterwards that I could have done so much better if I had just shelled out more in the first place and bought what I really wanted.

I for one would never buy a modded used bike. Any bike I buy would have to be completely standard or brand new.

No disrespect to people that are into modifying and tuning though, I did find it satisfying at the time although I was in my early twenties whereas by the time I got to my late twenties I had completely gone off the whole thing.

Ideally I would have liked the thou or a GSXR but insurance prevented me. In my opinion the worse thing I can do is modify what I have in an attempt to get closer to my ideal bike. The money would be better reserved for higher insurance premiums on the real deal.

This is exactly my point. However I noticed the signature at the bottom of your post. "rear Tail Tidy and Lower Farings" I think it reads, difficult to get away from it completely isn't it

I know someone who's gone from an SVthou to a 650, and it wasn't because he scared himself! This to me speaks volumes about the sorted-ness of the wee bike.

It's strange because the thou engine is considered a very good big twin. Maybe market forces have something to do with it too. The 650 is able to slot in as an equal to other middleweights. Some good traits, and the main downer being suspension. Easily and reasonably cheap to fix. The thou is maybe struggling to sell as it's pitched at the Tuono, Monster, Superduke, Z1000, FZ1 market all of which are absolute corkers out of the box.




Awww. SV1000, it's like the ugly sister to the 650 Cinderella everyone wants to ride.







Another thought, isn't this trend reflected in the 600/1000 supersports too? Hence the death of the 750 class, damn shame that.

Actually I just had an idea (don't worry it doesn't happen very often) how about a thou with single sided exhaust and 650 decals.

That would get some interesting reactions

Fair point.
I would say its also to do with the same thing that all these nerdy hacker types download a linux distrib, tinker the crap out of it, and make it theirs.
The SV650 gives you a nice cheap bike out of the traps, and then lures you cleverly into modding just a couple of bits, bits that obviously need modding, and before you know where you are, your name is northwind, you know every piece of your bike, and love the poor thing to bits.

Maybe