Anyone ever gone back to an sv?

The hornet bottoms out!! as did the sv and DL1000 before it. The ninja didnt but that was just a solid track bike!

I reckon 14 stone is probably within the tweakable range of most bikes so doubt you would ever need to change the suspension bits (lucky you!).

[yorkie_chris]

Hmmm.

I've ridden all sorts of stuff and the only time I wish I had something different is when on the motorway or when going straightline bonkers.

The Mway needs a bit of a stiff upper lip on the SV to happily maintain the throttle wide open for more than a tank of fuel or so at one sitting. On other bikes it's easy with wind protection and such.

Show me a twisty road and I still completely love the SV chassis and package as a whole, the only thing I've tried that was as characterful and fun was a GSXR750 L(ish) streetfighter. I've ridden race tuned 600s and found them revvy and too focussed, my SRAD 750 was fun with a bit of character but too fast to really thrash, I've ridden supermotos and found them absolutely ace but you couldn't own one, or ride one anywhere.

Fair enough I've got suspension that works, lights that work, a bit more power, different gearing etc. I wouldn't want a standard one I don't think.


The thou is nothing like the 650 except for some coincidental similarity in appearance. I wouldn't consider it superior in every way at all. Thirsty, expensive, heavy... Sure you got better brakes but you can put those on a 650.

The main reason i'm considering swapping is I can sell the hornet (a friend wants it) and with the money buy a new SV and throw enough money at it to turn it into a fast road beast. The hornet will need similar bits to get the same result and I just dont know if i'm bonding with it as a bike!

[yorkie_chris]

I rode a hornet for a bit and found it wheezy, thirsty, squishy and annoying. Probably thirsty because you had to do a million rpm everywhere.

Horrible bike, no idea why you would buy one when taking a sports 6 or 750 and putting handlebars on it will do everything better. For half the price when you buy a crashed one...

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

with the money buy a new SV and throw enough money at it to turn it into a fast road beast.!

Now I appreciate that what I am about to say isnt everybodies cup of tea, but I'll say it anyway.

Why dont you just buy a bike in the first place that you dont have to then spend alot of money upgrading to get it to what you want.

Its one of the reasons that I bought the GSXR, yes it was more money to buy than the SV was, but I havent felt the need to upgrade it, upgrade components etc etc in the 4 years I've owned it. I dont really feel the need to change it for something else either, well not unlesss I'm going for something special like an MV or something of that ilk.

I think theres alot to be said for buying what you want, rather than trying to make something that you dont want into something that you do. If that makes sense.

Its OK for somebody like YC as he has the spannering skills to do it, if you are like me and dont, then I'd seriously just look for something else.

But I respect the fact that at the end of the day its your money, and you'll be the one riding it and not me.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Why dont you just buy a bike in the first place that you dont have to then spend alot of money upgrading to get it to what you want.

There isn't one

And people can always pay me a very reasonable sum of money to get their bouncy bits reorganised into something far more supple and svelte than flabby and wobbly

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

There isn't one

And people can always pay me a very reasonable sum of money to get their bouncy bits reorganised into something far more supple and svelte than flabby and wobbly

Aye basically if you're a 6ft3 17 stone geordie you will always need to do something with the suspension!!

I'm mainly looking for a road bike, something for the twisties in northumberland. Anything supersports is just wasted on the roads unless you're a lunatic. I think a light punchy mid range thingy would be best. I don't want to go flat out in a straight line and will get locked up if i get an IL4 1000. I could fancy a Superduke or supermoto 990 i suppose but they cost a bloody fortune and I can't really justify having one.

Oh and yc would you go emulators and springs or a different front end?

When I was 18 stone 3 years ago I had a Fazer 1000 which was fine on standard shocks.

I now have a sv1000 which is a lot softer. I have lost some weight and now weigh 14 stone and this is probably the maximum weight for the shocks on my 5 year old SV.

Hope this helps

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

Oh and yc would you go emulators and springs or a different front end?

Different front end all day long, well worth it for better brakes and better setup out of the box than you'll get with stock stuff.

Get some that have .90-95 springs in as stock and you won't be far wrong, maybe a bit of a revalve and you'll be spot on. Can't remember offhand if there are any GSXR ones that have that as stock, think K6-9 600 might have .9s.

My last one had 0.95 racetech springs, emulators and a nitron and that fixed it. But a new front end probably wouldn't cost much more and the forks will flex less.