SV650 for racing?
 

Hello all,

I am new to the board and would like to ask you all a question.
I am wanting to get back into racing and was wondering about the SV650 engine reliability. I raced EX500's in the past and had problems with the crank shaft. Is there a main engine weakness with the 650?
Thank YOu for your time.

mike1234 and some others race them, i'm sure they'll be along with some advice soon-sh

They're petty good really, I only know of three going pop in the last two years and considering there is an average of over 60 entries at bemsee they're pretty good odds.

The good thing with SV's is its not worth rebuilding an engine because of the cost of a replacement is cheaper

As Rob says they are generally pretty good. In the last three years since we started the MiniTwins I think we have had three cranks go and two engines throw a rod through the casing. In most cases the engines had spent some time running on their side although there is no evidence to suggest that is the precise cause of the damage.

Although two of the crank problems were with the fuel injected bike, a K3 and K4, all three of them have broken within an inch of each other. They usually break either just behind or just in front of the cam chain gear (behind the starter gear on the generator side).

I'd probably say go and have a look at SV Rider if you want to learn more about SVs built for racing- the Minitwins cup is fantastic but the power mods allowed are very restricted (that's why it works so well) As stock or near-stock the SV engine will go on forever, but if you want to get into tuning it there's definate limits to what it'll deal with.

If you tune your SV you will only be able to race it in the Open class, IE with powerbikes and the supertwins class and TBH it would cost you a fortune to get it upto a standard that is competitive within that class.

The minitwins is where its at in the UK, Bemsee being the most popular club followed by North Gloucester club.

If you want to chat about it some more feel free to bell me on 01372 453322

Sarah

Racer54, where you from? I get the impression you'd be a USA member? (since I figure anyone in the UK asking about racing SVs would know the drill with Minitwins)