SV1000s or SV650S. Which is better?

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

CHECK THIS OUT BEFORE YOU DECIDE ITS TO DO WITH THE RELIABILITY ISSUES WITH THE SV 1000
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=543225

I had an SV1000 for 5 years, and never had an issue at all with it. Do a search on this site and I am sure you will also find one or two RELIABILITY ISSUES with the SV650

In terms of which is better - that is very subjective, it all depends what you want from the bike - I also had a curvy for 4 years and really liked that - I am not sure I could say that either was BETTER overall than the other

strangely you cant really compare the two as they are 2 completly differnt beasts

i have a thou and a pointy 650 atm, and previosly a curvy, for messing about, comuting thru town ,hitting some twisties, doing a very tight trackday (3 sister for example) go 650

for touring, high speed highjinx, big trackdays (silverstone or I.O.M), taking a pillion, go thou

but either can do these quite well anyway, ones just slightly better for different reasons than the other at the above, i have toured on a 650 and commuted on a thou, done the I.O.M on both, tbh im just lucky to have both to choose from now but never had any proplems doing all of it on both,

things to note about the thou, there is no particular reliability issue with the thou (design fault) but "the knock" has been mentioned a few times by owners, mine has it and me and rictus took the engine apart for inspection the other day and the internals were mint, so it doesnt damage the bike

doing under 20mph is doable but annoying (good clutch control needed) so i just dont lol
the sound is awsome,
the torque is emmence,
it doesnt ride like a 650 so dont think it will

im not going to cover the aspects of the 650 there is a forum somewhere that has loads of info on them
hth
dave


suzukigit380 do you actually own a thou or have you just googlefu'd that

Originally Posted by mattSV

I had an SV1000 for 5 years, and never had an issue at all with it. Do a search on this site and I am sure you will also find one or two RELIABILITY ISSUES with the SV650

In terms of which is better - that is very subjective, it all depends what you want from the bike - I also had a curvy for 4 years and really liked that - I am not sure I could say that either was BETTER overall than the other

what sort of milage did you do in the 5 years you had the sv1000 and what was the total milage on the clock,the problems with the clutch on the 1000 are well documented but may not show up on low milage bikes

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

what sort of milage did you do in the 5 years you had the sv1000 and what was the total milage on the clock,the problems with the clutch on the 1000 are well documented but may not show up on low milage bikes

Had it from new, part exed it with 15k on the clock for the Sprint that I have now.

I was not aware of a generic problem with the clutches (used to spend a lot of time on the SV1000 forums), and the link you posted only seems to have three posts in it - I am not sure that is enough to put anyone of buying a SV1000 if they think it is the right bike for them.

Originally Posted by mattSV

Had it from new, part exed it with 15k on the clock for the Sprint that I have now.

I was not aware of a generic problem with the clutches (used to spend a lot of time on the SV1000 forums), and the link you posted only seems to have three posts in it - I am not sure that is enough to put anyone of buying a SV1000 if they think it is the right bike for them.

that was the only link i could find to explain the problem with the sv1000 and not what i am baseing my statement on,a friend who is a trained mechanic owned and loved his sv1000 and clocked up several miles and had problems with the clutch being noisy and vibration and after looking into the problem found out there are various fixs some may work better than others and ranged from repairing and modifying the old clutch drum,modifying a new clutch drum but he splashed out sevaral hundred pounds on a new clutch drum assembly and then lost faith and sold the old sv after the same problem started to reocure some 1000s of miles later,and the last time i spoke to him on the subject i got the impression that suzuki hadn't solved the problem or do any mods and coz it normally shows up out of warranty they wont admit to any problems but are rakeing it in on the spares front,(i think the parts came to about£400+)so from what i can deduct about this problem unless the later sv1000 have a differant clutch then it looks like its not if! but when it happens,but since most people these days struggle to more than a few thousand miles a year it may not show up for a while,and i would say 15k is low milage,and on looking around my local bike shop it aint unusual to see 5 year old bikes with only a few thousand miles on the clocks and some times under a thousand

check out this utube link if it works
http://youtu.be/gmtCLlHQyso

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

that was the only link i could find to explain the problem with the sv1000 and not what i am baseing my statement on,a friend who is a trained mechanic owned and loved his sv1000 and clocked up several miles and had problems with the clutch being noisy and vibration and after looking into the problem found out there are various fixs some may work better than others and ranged from repairing and modifying the old clutch drum,modifying a new clutch drum but he splashed out sevaral hundred pounds on a new clutch drum assembly and then lost faith and sold the old sv after the same problem started to reocure some 1000s of miles later,and the last time i spoke to him on the subject i got the impression that suzuki hadn't solved the problem or do any mods and coz it normally shows up out of warranty they wont admit to any problems but are rakeing it in on the spares front,(i think the parts came to about£400+)so from what i can deduct about this problem unless the later sv1000 have a differant clutch then it looks like its not if! but when it happens,but since most people these days struggle to more than a few thousand miles a year it may not show up for a while,and i would say 15k is low milage,and on looking around my local bike shop it aint unusual to see 5 year old bikes with only a few thousand miles on the clocks and some times under a thousand

check out this utube link if it works
http://youtu.be/gmtCLlHQyso

**** me - that must be the world's longest sentence

To get this back on track...

The only similarity between the bikes are a few shared parts, and the overall look - they are two very different beasts to ride.

If you want a bike that is (relatively) cheap to run, easy to ride, great for chucking around through the bends, goes quite well and stops ok-ish then go for the 650.

If you have slightly evil streak and want a bike that has loads of grunt, stops well, pulls like a train, will do silly speeds and are not too bothered about tyre wear and fuel economy - then the thou will put a smile on your face every time.