Too much power?

Originally Posted by burner

The throttle works both ways.

true, true, but the little demon on my shoulder only allows it to go one way.

one of the endearing things about the sv is that when you pull in somewhere youre likely to be the only person on one alongside 6 blades, 10 gixxers, a dozen cbrs and a bloke trying to bump start a new ducatti.

and you can still give them a surprise when its time to play.

[Balky001]

Are you thinging of the current model R1 or older? If you are going for older they can be trickier to handle when riding quickly.

The difference between and 600 and a thou in terms of power and torque is large, but unless you are a decent racer, you wont necessarily be quicker apart from on a straight, which isn't the most exciting place to be most of the time. But if you don't ride a atleast 9/10ths and scream the bits off it in every gear, you'll find the R1 can be easier to ride, whack it in 4th and you don't need to change gear in between 15 - 150mph, cool

I've gone the other way, got a K3 gsxr1000, just had the K5 SV650 delivered. When I got the 1000 I was surprised how easy it was to ride (had a gsxr600 before that). Handling was spot on, power delivery is amazing, but treat it with respect. You can ring the neck on the SV and get away with it in any gear, do that on the 1000 in 1st, 2nd or 3rd and you'll end up sat in the middle of the road watching it bugger off on it's own. It is very predictable though - you've got to treat it like a real **** for it to scare you.

The 1000 really is easy to ride, handling is very similar to the SV but suspension is harder on the 1000 although the SV drops into corners better and the brakes are way way better on the 1000 (must be the radial calipers).

I'd say the SV is probably a better road bike as I'm always worried about my licence on the 1000 - it's so easy to attain silly speeds (go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go,...). I bought the SV to commute to work on but I can see me riding it more than the 1000, and leaving that just for track days.

I love the gixxer 1000... and that is just as i thought about it too... ace bike... but treate it with respect...

I am getting the Gixxer 750... but only co i ain't paying the insurance for the 1000.... not yet anyway....

If we leave everyone else on the road out of the equation, motorbike's aren't widowmakers, riders are.

If you can trust yourself, then you can trust the R1, it's as simple as that really. The machine isn't fatally flawed, but people's self-control can be.

I know that a more technically proficient rider could 'get more' out of my Blade than I can, but I enjoy how I ride it at the moment. It is capable of more, and so may I be the longer I ride it - in the mean time I will enjoy the SV just as much, if not more, because its limits and mine are more closely matched.