2008 SV650 Sport - First Impressions from a Bad Ass Biker!

Picked up my brand spanking new SV on Saturday

Thought I would add my first impressions here whilst they are still fresh in my memory.

"Bad Ass Biker"?? - Well me ass hurts bad and I have aches in me arms and legs, but that is more me than the bike - the riding position seems pretty comfortable and plus decent sized fairing (for a sports bike).

First a little bit of background, now just over 40, and last had a "Big" bike in my late 20's (EXUP was the last and "best"). Ridden all over Europe and ridden smaller stuff for extended periods further afield, but never done any trackdays or racing. After a gap of a few years I returned to 2 wheels 7 years ago and since then have been commuting on a 125 4 Stroke Scooter.

Anyway........"My Review"!!

Picked the bike up at Lunchtime, dealer gave me a good run through on wots wot, it all seemed very familiar - but I was bit nervous nonetheless, mainly about slow speed control and being in traffic, given I don't have a clutch on the Scooter and of course no gear changes.

Didn't fall off outside the dealer! and got the bike straight home for a looksee and a think and a fag. Little while later went out for a short spin - A & B roads. But had stuff to do later, so bike went home after only 5 miles!

Today I added another 50 miles on A & B roads.

Initial Impressions:-

• Fookin hell!.........overall it's GRRRRRRRRRREAT
• I don't like the Speedo. It's Digital and a bit too low from my sight line (and why no KPH function? - or does it?!).
• Design - looks good from a couple of feet away, but close up one can see that it is designed down to a price. A "parts bin special" would be a bit unkind, but it doesn't quite look 100% integrated by design - of course it is essentially a naked bike with a fairing stuck on! But IMO acceptable, especially given the price.
• V twin - My first. Feels more like a big single than a 4 (no sh#t!) and it is taking a bit of getting used to at slow speeds - mainly because of my p#ss poor gear changes and gear selections - not quite pogoing down the road, but........
• Performance - Grrrrreat!! Not had it flat out yet - or even close. But the low and mid speed roll ons (when I have the right gear!) are excellent, but more importantly to me also feels grrrrrreat!! Their is a certain agricultural feel to the engine which I love (either that or the valves are about to exit stage left!). Only been up to 80 MPH and that was from a rolling start - felt great and the fact that it doesn't then set off like a jet engine from 80 up to 120+ like my old EXUP is for me a plus - and is exactly what I was after as have never been good at self control!
• Switchgear - cheap and tacky, and indicator is not quite in the right place - or so it seems at the moment. Hazard Warning lights on a bike? WTF??!
• Slow Speed Handling - Traffic and setting off. Am still a bit wobbly And my clutch control needs to improve. But I am old enuf not to care about looking like a Tw#t! Bike seems short and tall (but seat height spot on for me) - I am guessing that the engine sits quite high, but no great stretch to the handlebars so a bit easier to hold up / control the weight with my arms than the old EXUP.
• I travelled along some of my old favourite roads (A's and B's) - fookin hell, I am not far off the speed limits!! - but am happy as a pig in sh#t! Deliberately not pushing things on the basis the bike is new / new tyres and brakes and also I am aware their is lots I have forgotten and I am not yet "in tune" with this bike. Am only scared when I look at the Speedo and remember I used to travel the same places at twice that........or a bit more.
• Cornering - Ummm.....I seem to have forgotten how to corner!! Sort of. With the Scooter (small wheels) I need to constantly correct the steering, which is easy enuf as steering is so light and quick (which is the problem!) the SV is of course very different, not affected by a slight gust of wind and to me is very very stable (later I will no doubt complain how slow steering it is! - like me old EXUP - but at the moment at my speeds it is as stable as a car!) - am looking forward to exploring the handling further
• Mirrors are excellent - small? thing. But nice not to have to move my elbows to check behind.
• Exhaust - I will probably get something a bit louder when at least a year into the Warranty - but to be honest sounds good to me even at the moment. Better than the old EXUP.
• Road presence - Coming from an EXUP to a Scooter yer soon realise that other road users treat you differently. Why? fook knows! But SV looks like a big / proper bike and although early days seems to tick that box.
• Lane Filtering - not done any yet! - But slimmer than my Scooter (which has Ape hanger style bars - at wing mirror height) and I am looking forward to muscling my way through traffic........once I get me clutch control sorted!!
• Carrying capacity - This is where it really loses out to the Scooter, I had to walk around to the papershop to pick up some lunch and the Sunday Papers.

In conclusion I am well happy with the bike, seems exactly what I wanted of being slow enuf to keep me alive / my licence but fast enough to be enjoyable and delivers the performance in a way that does not feel slow.

I think the SV is one of those bikes that is greater than the sum of it's parts........of course I am not the first person to discover that am I?

BTW I have kept the Red Seat - next week dealer is giving me a black seat from an 07 model which he is 99% certain will fit. Will try it out for fit and looks........must charge me camera up and take a couple of pics / youtube.

[fizzwheel]

You can change the speedo over to KPH, have a read of the manual it'll tell you in there...

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

You can change the speedo over to KPH, have a read of the manual it'll tell you in there...

Cheers - also gotta change the clock!

i managed to change my speedo to kph, press and hold the adj button, think thats what i did

good choice of steed wayluya, nice bike

Originally Posted by kd sweety

i managed to change my speedo to kph, press and hold the adj button, think thats what i did

Press Adjust. I will never understand the logic of these Japanese chappies..........Me I press buttons a couple of times (Randomly!) and if it doesn't do what I want it's Broke .

Tommorow I will give this a go and possibly read the book.........

When I bought the SV I had half an idea of a trip to Europe but no plans - but am well impressed with the riding position so I think another trip this summer is on the cards - but not quite up for the Nurburg Ring!!

Happy new bike! Looks like a lovely bit of machinery I should imagine you've still got a rediculous smile on your face. Hahaha at the way you've blacked out the red seat

Good choice, but being on an SV650 site I'm kind of obliged by contract to say that

Personally had a similar route to you, gradual progression of tat-to-great-for-their-time followed by lay off as real life takes over, followed by return to bikes. Last proper bike was a Lav 750, technically a twin but an asthmatic engine made it feel like a broken (but sweet handling) four pot, so the SV's V-twin slow speed handling was equally suprising; quite lurchy, something you definitely just get used to but not as user friendly as reviews would have you believe.

As you start to "up your game" back to EXUP days one thing to be aware of is engine braking, you already know it's fierce but once you start pushing a little you'll find it'll *very* readily lock the back up on rapid downshifts if you don't blip the throttle. This tends to result in fractional rear lock ups rather that notable "oh, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be able to see the exhaust to my immediate left" slides - ie. the back feels light with a lot of weight over the front. Then you find the front is kind of the weak spot. To call it weak is a little unfair, it's not weak as such, just where the budget begins to show a bit. Most folks will say "stick heavier springs in" - I'd say "check your bathroom scales first". For my Japanese-esque physique the spring rate is actually fine, it's the damping that gets a bit strange, but heavier (ie. normal european) folks will definitely find an upgrade in heavier front bouncies.

Know what you mean about cornering, at low speed it's just odd as it takes a while to get used to the lumpy injection, and at mid-high speed, it's as if it turns in quick but then it sticks to that line pretty well, just don't try to change it too much mid corner.

What tyres are they sticking on the 08s these days? If it's still the Dunlop D220s then don't fret too much about the crap they get - they're certainly not brilliant sports tyres but they're not as bad as is made out, they're just designed to be long lasting everyday tyres for everyday people. Crucially, they take a good while to warm up and whilst they stick a lot better than folks would have you believe they don't seem to let you know that they're sticking. Once warm they stick plenty well (well, good enough to grind out pegs at Pembrey at any rate), but you never really know what they've got left.

Have fun, progress slowly to find the limits (esp at the front), blah blah, I'm teaching you to suck eggs, you already know all this

EDIT:

Oh, on the exhaust, I really would recommend a replacement. You'll get 0.0001 extra horsepower but the sound difference truly is unbelievable. You start getting addicted to pops, crackles, burbles and farps Dealers don't seem overly fussed about warranty implications on this. Push comes to shove, just lob your dealer an extra thirty notes to fit it for you and all warranty problems are gone. There's a whole exhaust sub-forum for your viewing delight here at the 'org, but I'll squeeze in a quick plug for Carbon Can Company products.

Very good post, enjoy your new bike! Your impressions are pretty much on, I did not notice the switch gear problems as much, but am riding other Suzuli product som I guess used to them.

Originally Posted by Rhiwbina_Squirrel

Hahaha at the way you've blacked out the red seat

Actually that was done for me here!