Too many pies for an SV?

Hi all,

This might be a stupid one, but i have to ask... Sorry in advance... (No laughing at the back)

I've only ever had one bike, so dont have anything to campare my bike (02 SV650s pretty much standard)... While browsing through the other posts here i read about people worrying about set up for carrying pillion or asking about changing the rear spring and "crap front ends" etc... Well Im 17 stone and kinda thinking im making my poor wee pride and joy suffer too much!! As i say, i dont know what i should be expecting from my (or any) bike... What sort of settings should i be looking at? Do i need to uprate anything, especially if taking pillion... The lass i bought the bike off was about half my size!

Also, i seem to get pins and needels in my hands alot on the bike... Is that too much vibration through the bars, or further hint at my lack of physical health!

Any help (or mocking) will be taken as its intended!

Ta

[northwind]

Pins and needles is probably you putting too much weight through your hands, really you want to have as little pressure through the bars as possible. Could be vibrations but SVs aren't really all that vibey when running nice.

As for the suspension, well, how do you feel about it? Your front forks will be too soft for good results with you, they were a touch soft for me and I was 11 stone at the time So I reckon you'd really feel a benefit from stiffer springs, but at the end of the day, do you feel any problems there? Don't go looking for faults if they don't truble you is my advice...

[Luckypants]

Well you won't be getting the best from the stock settings as the springs fitted are designed for a lighter load (no offence). Wind the pre-load up to maximum for starters.

At 15 1/2 st I used max rear pre-load (had no front adjustment) and taking my 11st lad as pillion meant that we often lost damping at the rear as the over worked rear shock gave up.

I have fitted upgraded (read stronger or stiffer) springs in the front and a new rear shock with slightly stronger spring (about 8%) and I'm stone and a half lighter. Still need almost all the rear preload to get the suspension sag (amount of give under my weight) set right.

Cheers Northwind...

Things generally feel ok, but im still finding my confidence riding, so not really pushing the bike toooooo much. It does seem to dive when breaking, but as i say, with nothing to compare it to, i dont really know. I guess that could be a result of too much weight on the bars...

Ta!!

Hi luckypants

Thanks for posting

Is it a massive job uprating the front forks?? I have all the front faring off just now and am about to take the wheel off to tackle the corroded forks... Is this the easiest time to change the forks? I have a little (tiny) amount of tech know how, and a hayes manual.... Is it expensive....

So many questions!!

[Luckypants]

If you have the forks out, then new springs and oil is a piece of yellow liquid! New fork springs will be about £80. Oil is whatever it costs but not a lot. you might want to consider 15W or even 20W given your weight.

Use this calculator to work out the best rate springs for you.

I wouldn't worry. I weight 16.5 stone and all the forks and suspension on my bike have seem fine since I picked it up. Infact the suspension is the only thing I haven't messed about with.

Or should I be worried? (Apart from having a heart attack of course)

Its all muscles!

In regards to the pins and needles, it could quite simply be the position of the handlebars. You could try to adjust them and swivel them round so that your wrists are not so ****ed when operating all the levers and switches.

wouldnt worry too much bud, when i had my SV i was 22st 7, and my pillion 10st ish, i put ollins in the front so that helped, and i never had any problems, it was a new bike though so the shock was fresh.
17st , bah nowt but a small boy !!! he he

I was 18.5 Stone on my K3 SVS - No worries what so ever