SV maintenance costs?

what a surprise ...

each thread on a bike forum that talks about maintenance only talks about oil, plugs and filters. first of all, there's more to a bike than that. chain, tires, fluids, throttle bodies synchronizing, brake pads, clutch cable, steering bearings etc. ...

I agree that you won't change all these parts every year, but if you put a lot of miles on the bike, you need them more often than you think. a bike that only gets new oil and filters will be useless in very little time if you don't care about the other bits.

that being said, all above mentioned tasks cost roughly the same for every motorcycle, except for the valve clearance inspection, which is more time intensive on a SV. however, you only do it every ~15000 miles.

[Nutsinatin]

Originally Posted by aoleks

what a surprise ...

each thread on a bike forum that talks about maintenance only talks about oil, plugs and filters. first of all, there's more to a bike than that. chain, tires, fluids, throttle bodies synchronizing, brake pads, clutch cable, steering bearings etc. ...

I agree that you won't change all these parts every year, but if you put a lot of miles on the bike, you need them more often than you think. a bike that only gets new oil and filters will be useless in very little time if you don't care about the other bits.

that being said, all above mentioned tasks cost roughly the same for every motorcycle, except for the valve clearance inspection, which is more time intensive on a SV. however, you only do it every ~15000 miles.

Well tyre life depends on which tyre, that's a whole different kettle of fish PR3's are good for about 10,000 miles (at £200 a pair fitted) depending on how your ride, brake fluid is £10 for a new bottle every other year. Coolant is £20 for DI and concentrate every other year. TB syncing doesn't need doing often, at most every 15000 on the major service (mine were done then and I am reliably informed they were a long way out). Brake pads again depend on how you ride, EBC HH pads last about 20,000 miles. Clutch cable and steering bearings 35,000 miles and still on original. Chain and sprockets, 35,000 miles and counting with a scottoiler (front sprocket replaced at 30,000 miles.

Any more questions? It was just a brief overview of the major scheduled maintenance and not designed to be a comprehensive guide. (Don't take this as an attack, as it reads a little aggressive which it is not meant to be)

yes... which chain lasts 35000 miles?

Originally Posted by aoleks

what a surprise ...

each thread on a bike forum that talks about maintenance only talks about oil, plugs and filters. first of all, there's more to a bike than that. chain, tires, fluids, throttle bodies synchronizing, brake pads, clutch cable, steering bearings etc. ...

I agree that you won't change all these parts every year, but if you put a lot of miles on the bike, you need them more often than you think. a bike that only gets new oil and filters will be useless in very little time if you don't care about the other bits.

that being said, all above mentioned tasks cost roughly the same for every motorcycle, except for the valve clearance inspection, which is more time intensive on a SV. however, you only do it every ~15000 miles.

chain, tires, fluids, throttle bodies synchronizing, brake pads, clutch cable, steering bearings etc. ...are going to be similar for most bikes,checking valve clearance intervals varies alot,between every 4k (on a bandit)and 24k,the honda vtec being the most time consuming,6 to 8 hours,along with oil drain intertvals,most if not all suzukis are every 3700 miles and all moderish hondas(since the mid 90s)are every 8k and most people doing high milage and running fully synthetic oil will stretch that to 10k,as to tyre life,it all depends how you ride and the tyres you use,but i doubt i ever get more then 5k,plugs are good for 30k and look the same at 1k as they do when i change them at 30k,but of course the cheapest way to run a bike is to do all or most of the servicing yourself if you are able to

[Nutsinatin]

Originally Posted by aoleks

yes... which chain lasts 35000 miles?

The stock one with a Scottoiler

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

chain, tires, fluids, throttle bodies synchronizing, brake pads, clutch cable, steering bearings etc. ...are going to be similar for most bikes,checking valve clearance intervals varies alot,between every 4k (on a bandit)and 24k,the honda vtec being the most time consuming,6 to 8 hours,along with oil drain intertvals,most if not all suzukis are every 3700 miles and all moderish hondas(since the mid 90s)are every 8k and most people doing high milage and running fully synthetic oil will stretch that to 10k,as to tyre life,it all depends how you ride and the tyres you use,but i doubt i ever get more then 5k,plugs are good for 30k and look the same at 1k as they do when i change them at 30k,but of course the cheapest way to run a bike is to do all or most of the servicing yourself if you are able to

Keeping things clean, dry and lubricated is the way to increase the life of everything. Intervals for maintenance depend on how you use it, where it's stored and where you ride, but you should at the minimum check everything when the manual says to check it.
Desmo Ducatis are the most labor intensive valve clearance checks and adjustments ever created.
The SV650 is all around average for maintenance from what I can tell.

Originally Posted by Nutsinatin

Well tyre life depends on which tyre, that's a whole different kettle of fish PR3's are good for about 10,000 miles (at £200 a pair fitted) depending on how your ride, brake fluid is £10 for a new bottle every other year. Coolant is £20 for DI and concentrate every other year. TB syncing doesn't need doing often, at most every 15000 on the major service (mine have never been done). Brake pads again depend on how you ride, EBC HH pads last about 20,000 miles. Clutch cable and steering bearings 35,000 miles and still on original. Chain and sprockets, 35,000 miles and counting with a scottoiler.

Any more questions? It was just a brief overview of the major scheduled maintenance and not designed to be a comprehensive guide. (Don't take this as an attack, as it reads a little aggressive which it is not meant to be)

Are you Dereks son with the Blue K9?. If so we balanced your throttle bodies at the 30k service as they were a long way out of balance and changed your front sprocket.

Might have the wrong person though..apologies if so...if im right then hope you and your dad are ok and he is still enjoying his trackdays.

Originally Posted by wideguy

Desmo Ducatis are the most labor intensive valve clearance checks and adjustments ever created.
The SV650 is all around average for maintenance from what I can tell.

Dukes are easy to work on. Belt and valve check is pretty straight forward on them..actually a nice bike to work on. The pain was the Desmocedici..12 hours to check the clearances lol..thankfully they werent out of spec as thats full engine out to change them

Late model ZZR1400's and the new R1's are a pita as they takes twice aslong as any other bike just to get to the plugs lol.

TBH sadly on all the bikes we see in the workshop the SV is right up the top of the list for bikes that are poorly maintained. Possibly just down to the owners not being able to afford to or understand servicing does involve more than just some polish and an oil and filter change.

The worst ones we see are CBF125 Hondas, the most simple of bikes to care for really...most of them are abused to death - the last one came in because it had stopped..last oil change was 12,000 miles ago..erm managed to scrape about 200ml of treacle out of the engine. He told me he thought the servicing intervals were the same as his car..ooops!

[Nutsinatin]

Originally Posted by SV650Racer

Are you Dereks son with the Blue K9?. If so we balanced your throttle bodies at the 30k service as they were a long way out of balance and changed your front sprocket.

Might have the wrong person though..apologies if so...if im right then hope you and your dad are ok and he is still enjoying his trackdays.

You are right, although I'm amazed that you can remember what I had done on my last service, post updated to reflect that I'm an idiot. That's pretty good on the customer service front!

Originally Posted by Nutsinatin

You are right, although I'm amazed that you can remember what I had done on my last service, post updated to reflect that I'm an idiot. That's pretty good on the customer service front!

I havent that good a memory..i keep electronic records for everything we do so have a complete history for the customer if they need it..makes it alot easier when doing regular services for customers as then I can look to see what may be needed on the next service..

Good to speak to you earlier too..shame about the bike