Hurrah for new tyres!

Well I think the SV handles great - but then I am comparing it to a GPZ500 and an ageing ZZR - still, I am going to avoid riding a decent bike so I can maintain my love of the SV's (apparently) rubbish suspension. It also might help that even with kit I weigh about 11 stone, so not really much more than a little jap guy I'm guessing. I set up the preloads on the front for my weight and it's not fully wound in. I never bottom the forks out, even under very heavy breaking (or don't notice if I do anyway)

[ogden]

Originally Posted by philbut

I weigh about 11 stone, so not really much more than a little jap guy I'm guessing. I set up the preloads on the front for my weight and it's not fully wound in. I never bottom the forks out, even under very heavy breaking (or don't notice if I do anyway)

I never bottom them out either, but that's just preload. The damping on the SV forks is pretty dire - some heavier oil wouldn't hurt and being able to adjust for compression and preload would be good - but, like any bike that's built down to a budget, the more cost-effective solution is usually to just buy a better bike, not throw money at bolt-on bits.

I agree. When I am a bit more afluent (IE actually get a job again) I will no doubt get something better. But I can still have so much fun on the SV. It's almost more satisfying getting a bike like that to go quick as oposed to so super slick race rep - just requires a bit more work. I do aggree that the damping is pretty cr*p, and you do notice it on uneven roads. she quite often goes a bit wayward on corners with potholes etc but you just pre-empt the poor damping and compensate. at least it means you don't have to spend ages tryting to work out the best compression and rebound settings - that really used to annoy me in MX, there were so many possible combinations to play with.