Wrong Choice. New '18 SV650.

[Bibio]

never hit a false neutral on my K7, knocked it into neutral a few times from second.

dont know what the new SV box is like but my k8 and K7 both had/have a nice reassuring click when it goes into gears.

as for throttle assist.. yes please. ok so you dont need it but hey if its there then good as long as its not too intrusive. same goes for ABS, stability control, traction control etc.etc

[gazzamikes]

I bought a brand new MT07 too, worst choice I had ever made. I couldn't wait for it sell

[Ljay]

I have a confession to make I too am guilty of this sin but on road to redemption now. I hope to be the owner of new SV 650 in next few weeks, I'm hiding behind brother in law though. He wanted a MT09 which he has but loathes too. I was just going to lead way. I traded my GSR 750 which had felt was better than SV 650 forgetting it's heavy and tall and I'm short so we didn't work out. The 07 was a moment of madness felt good on demo ride but was outgoing model I got all new spangly one and regretted this of first ride.
Back in mid 00's had the big butted Megane 225 first time I showed it a roundabout and it was a brown trouser moment. The 07 similar experience is too light at front, build quality aint best too well looked after but looks like it's had 10 Russian winters. All year biker then me with ACF 50 but seemed to no avail. Then I'm now getting close to 50 and 07 is for kids who want to wheelie all day.
Apologies for Lazarus revival but can't wait. Back to 1st big bike the Sv 650 forgot how much i loved this. I looked at others including Ducati Scrambler but too much for too little, F800r was too BMW and not much else I really liked. Also sorry for epic blubbering too but have some plans for new bike.

[Bike27]

Used to love my 350LC and TDM850 in my youth, but never considered an MT07 for a moment. The styling is a bit too 'Mad Max' for my tastes (maybe just a camo paint job and some Jerry cans away from a starring role in Fury Road?) and as has already been said why settle for a fake V twin when you can have the real thing? One characteristic of a V twin I love that is perhaps less talked about is just the actual look of it, such a classic engine configuration. I'm sure the MT is great if that's what you want, but having owned both parallel and V twins in the past then for me it was an easy win for the AL8 (had to be black with the red frame)

[SV650rules]

The red frame not available when I bought my AL7 in 2016, but that would have been the one I would have chosen, could not even get red tank ( although it was shown in brochure ) colours limited to blue, white and black..

No regrets at all about buying SV, although looked at MT and striple before..

[R1ffR4ff]

Yeh.I love the look of the Red Frames/black engine etc,

[Bike27]

Well I at least am grateful to Ljay for reviving this thread, which makes for interesting reading.

Might be swimming against the tide a little here, but thought I'd try spending a bit more time writing in defence of the SV.

(Clearly swimming WITH the tide would more likely involve defending a Yam or Triumph on facebook )

So (with my possibly delusional "SVs are still ace" mindset fully intact) a couple of things leapt out at me here:

Originally Posted by Seeker

I thought the MT-07 was a good bike (I've not had one) but other than suspension issues and stalling in the early versions, they were supposed to be reliable. They usually beat the SV in road tests.

Originally Posted by Grant66

It is, I have one and in most respects it's better than the SV.

So firstly - Road Tests - can't argue with Seeker's assessment that this is one area where the MT07 generally comes out ahead.

Ever since Performance Bikes raved about the TDM850 at launch then gave it a minor slagging in '93 I've always taken road tests with a pinch of salt. I can still remember when I awaited P.B. each month with all the reverence of a peasant receiving a stone tablet passed down from the heavens above. After reading that second road test I realised that far from being gods of infinite wisdom, road testers are just flawed humans like the rest of us and with very different goals to someone looking to own a bike long term.

Most of the road testers seem to go on about the MT being more fun - which can probably be translated as more fun for 3 days when the bike is nearly new and not yours and when the other road testers you are riding with have already declared it more fun and you (consciously) don't want to feel left out as well as you (sub consciously) have been subtly influenced by "groupthink"

Maybe an MT really IS more fun, but I don't exactly die of boredom commuting on my AL8......first admiring its sure footed poise and balance as I scythe through two 90 degree bends, then surging past a dawdling cager or two on a rapidly building wave of torque accompanied by a fabulous Delkevic enhanced V twin burble.

....And Secondly

Grant66, I couldn't help wondering whether the SV you say that your MT is in most respects better than was the SV in your sig?

Previous Bike: Red Sk1 Curvy.
Current Bike: Red MT-07.

I also once owned a MK1 carburetted SV and despite the 9 year gap between owning them, I'm confident my AL8 is also significantly better

Was VERY pleasantly surprised the first time I opened my AL8 up on the test ride, compared to how I remembered my curvy the acceleration and throttle response felt like a "full race tune" - which I suppose is pretty much what adding twin plug cylinder heads and fuel injection could amount to

Having owned that unfaired 2001 SV650 a decade ago was another factor why I never considered an MT, sadly I had to sell it on too soon, but had been hugely impressed by its character, poise and balance (with that wonderful planted feel of the mass of the engine over the front tyre) at a bargain price. (By contrast in my experience Kawa's ER5 500 twin barely made it as a proper motorcycle. )

So I had unfinished business with the SV, once Suzuki added ABS and dropped the experimental Gladius styling, it was a foregone conclusion I'd be having another.

[Seeker]

I think the road tests have successfully convinced people to buy the MT-07. I've had my AL7 since 2016 and still haven't spoken to another owner face to face and have only seen 1 at my local haunt. The closest I got was to an SV650X owner. On the other hand I could have spoken to 15 or 20 MT-07 owners.
No matter, ignoring the painful seat and the ridiculously short mudguards, it suits me better than any previous bike I've owned. I'm now at 25200 miles (oh, and the gear position indicator has started behaving itself).

[SV650rules]

Call me cynical but I believe that the road test results often reflect the bias of the tester(s) and who buys most advertising space in magazines ( I have seen tests on US magazine websites that put SV ahead of MT ).

The only way to check is a test ride..

Nothing actually wrong with Gladius, it is to all intents and purposes an AL7 engine and frame - just the styling not to some peoples taste but a nice bike...

[Ljay]

I am with you Bike 27 in sense some marques have a steady stream of backers I have had many cars and bikes. Some marques have very prolific product gurus with increased online backing/ influencers or something like that.
I currently own a Suzuki car based on years of different cars all supposedly darlings of the media, had BMW which was worst car I have ever owned in my younger years a Polo GTi second worse car so never will have German car again.
I looked at BMW F800r many suggest a superior bike to the SV but experience is my influence not someone telling me it is must have. My Swift Sport engine is better engineered than the M3 I had may not be as fast or flash but best handling car I have had in standard form it makes me smile.
I went with MT 07 as could get demo ride but not SV at time and was impulse buy really, it's for me not the bike it promised to be. Yeah can wheelie for fun decent power/ spread of power but handling never felt right. Could argue about whats better all day but you pay your money and takes your choice.
Am thinking most of us realise beauty of SV though. Had considered the Ducati Scrambler but belts/ servicing soon costs and many reckon suspension is not better than SV so I'm happy to have seat re-worked by custom seat maker then over time exhaust and suspension maybe even GSXR front end swap but all in good time.