Front fork knocking sound?

every time i go into a small pot hole there is a sharp knocking sound and a sharp jolt coming from the front forks any ideas

The SV has a very common knock from the front end when going over potholes, mine has done it from new. However your description sounds worse than most. There are a number of things it would be, if you search for it I'm sure most of the possible causes have been listed before.

Out of interest, how long have you been riding? Now that I've gotten reasonably good at being light on the bars I very rarely notice it.

I've been riding about 3 years but I've had my sc about 2 months

if its standard forks and oil it is normal , only way to stop this is change forks or springs , or use a thicker oil , or avoid pot holes lol , but nothing to worry about if it is all standard

[NTECUK]

Still Check everything.Just incase somthing like a caliper or mudguards worked loose.

when i had the knocking over potholes i got my headstock bearings changed and its now stopped

I had a knocking that I could hear and feel in the handle bars... Stripped the forks down, serviced and rebuilt them. Knocking was till there. Took the whole front end apart and checked the headstock bearings, packed them full of grease and the knocking was still there... Then I decided to tighten up the steering stem nut to proper torque setting for once, strangely the knocking went away and has never come back.

I had never tightened it up properly from when I put the new front end on as I didn't have the right socket. Check everything is tight enough man!

[chezza]

I have had this knocking on mine since I had it from Jan 2012 its a 2011 SL0 and had 5k on at the time, its now done 17k

Will check the steering stem nut when I get home.

Probably just the suspension bottoming out. If youre heavier person, itll probably be worse. Its budget suspension on the sv. Mine does it if i hit a pothole, and im only 11 or so stone lol

[yorkie_chris]

There is a definite "SV knock" from the front forks, especially in rapid compression like the stock springs and thin oil allow.

However it's also worth checking the head bearings etc before jumping on the "be reet, ignore it" bandwagon!