buying a used SV650s, what to look out for + servicing costs

i am looking into buying a sv650s and was wondering if you guys could

1) give me a general idea of the servicing costs for this bike

and

2) any tips for what to look out for when buying 2nd hand

Thanks for any replies and not too many technical terms please im a total newbie.

[Spanner Man]

Hi there
Apart from the obvious signs of neglect/crash damage, SV's are a little prone to the following: Binding brakes, put the brakes on firmly, hold them on for a few seconds & release them. The bike should roll foreward with minimal effort, if it doesn't the calipers could be in need of a strip & clean/lube, or at worst an overhaul. That is around £90 to do the fronts, & £50 for the rear inc labour.....Headrace bearings: Turn the handlebars slowly from side to side, if you feel a notch in the straight ahead position you're looking at bearing replacement, aropund the £100 mark using genuine bearings....Camchain tensioners: SV engines are normally fairly quiet, any rattles at idle, or as the revs drop after blipping the throttle, you're looking at replacing the tensioners about £50 each (There are two of them but the front cylinder is the most prone) plus about an hours labour.....There are a lot of nice SV's around, so take your time. Hope it helps.

[Spanner Man]

Sorry forgot to include servicing costs.......intereim service= Oil & filter change, carb balance, airfilter inspection/replacement, ditto spark plugs, caliper clean/lube, brake fluid change, & coolant change+general checks & adjustments (chain etc) I charge 4 hours at £21.15 per hour inc VAT + parts........Major service: all the above + valve clearances checked/adjusted, swinging arm/linkage off for cleaning and greasing, fork oil change & headrace bearing grease, I charge 8 hours+ parts. & boy! Do customers notice a difference!!!

Cheers

Parts costs for servicing work out at around £65-70 for oil, oil filter, air filter and plugs I seem to remember when I did mine recently. Servicing is dead easy to do yourself (well minor one is anyway), with simple tools and a basic understanding of DIY mechanics it takes less than 2 hours. Only the spark plugs (well the front one) are a bit of a pain to get to. Being either unfaired or only 1/2 faired means it is not that hard a bike to work on.

Bits that go wrong, as mentioned, cam chain tensioners are a bit of a pain but can be (sometimes) cured by removing and re-installing (they sometimes get stuck), not too hard if you make (or buy) a tool to stop them extending while installing, but they are a bit of a fiddle. Being a cheap suzuki, you should expect corrosion to set in fairly early on esp if the bike lives outdoors - front forks (esp the bottom bit), sub frames and fastners are all prone. Choke plungers on carbed bikes (curvy ones) can get stuck, esp the front cylinder, leading to over rich running and/or running on 1 cylinder. Front cylinder is directly behind wheel so gets covered in water, which can lead to the front cylinder cutting out in the rain - a fender extender may cure. If used in the wet brakes will corrode and seize, no biggy to fix just a pain really. There are hints about on the site, do a search if you need them.

Look to see if it's been dropped - look for scrapes on either pedals/exhaust/bodywork.

HTH,

MT

Originally Posted by Spanner Man

Hi there
Apart from the obvious signs of neglect/crash damage, SV's are a little prone to the following: Binding brakes, put the brakes on firmly, hold them on for a few seconds & release them. The bike should roll foreward with minimal effort, if it doesn't the calipers could be in need of a strip & clean/lube, or at worst an overhaul. That is around £90 to do the fronts, & £50 for the rear inc labour.....Headrace bearings: Turn the handlebars slowly from side to side, if you feel a notch in the straight ahead position you're looking at bearing replacement, aropund the £100 mark using genuine bearings....Camchain tensioners: SV engines are normally fairly quiet, any rattles at idle, or as the revs drop after blipping the throttle, you're looking at replacing the tensioners about £50 each (There are two of them but the front cylinder is the most prone) plus about an hours labour.....There are a lot of nice SV's around, so take your time. Hope it helps.

Also started looking at curvy 650 s's, what should be considered high milage or should I be more concerned about overall condition? Going to try and get the latest:best condition one that I can afford.

[Red ones]

Delers seem to think 5 figure mileage is high. Plenty of guys on here are at 30k+ and still running fine.

I sold mine today at 19,000 miles - still fine as a whistle

[embee]

general condition and how well it's been cared for are much more important than straight mileage.

If buying privately, the single most important aspect is the paperwork. Don't even consider anything if the address/named keeper on the V5C don't match up with who's selling it and where you're looking at it. Don't buy in a pub car park or even meeting at some motorway services etc. "I'm selling it for a mate" = run away!

The seller should have a receipt from when they bought it, MOTs, any service bills etc.

Check any official document (V5C, MOT) for watermarks. Hold them up to th elight and you'll see "DVL" all over the V5C, and "VOSA" on a recent MOT, which must also have an embossed stamp.

You really need to do an HPI check to be reasonably sure of the correctness of th ebike.

If you buy a stolen one, you'll lose your money and the bike, if it has finance on it you're in trouble too. An insurance write-off will be worth much less and could give you headaches when you try to insure and sell it.

Make sure you allow for imminent costs like tyres (£160), chain/sprockets (£100), battery (£40) and new MOT (£23) and tax (£60).

Don't buy something unless you can get an independent opinion (an experienced mate will do if they are impartial).

[northwind]

There's loads with no, or partial, service history. Personally I wouldn't let that put me off as long as the bike seems good, and the seller can demonstrate that they knew what they're doing. But you would have to have a fair idea what you're looking at when checking the bike over to be honest. if you're not so confident then maybe not.

Also a personal thing, I wouldn't worry about minor crash damage, except as a bargaining point. Everyone says watch out for scraped barends and levers- I'd say that the bike's very unlikely to sustain long term damage like frame or subframe bends in a crash that doesn't snap off the levers entirely or grind the barend down massively, so that's not so useful. Damaged levers speak of a low-speed drop, brand new shiny levers speak of a bigger crash to me.

Other than that and what the others have said, look for a cosmetically good one, because they will vary hugely. Check front fork lowers for pitting, tank for scratches, frame near the controls for marks (mine has almost gone through the finish, annoyingly, since I ride heels in and Sidis are tougher than SV paint).

Make absolutely sure it's not a blue carbed model with powdercoated blue wheels, that one's been down more often than Graham Norton...

[Sir Trev]

The servicing is reasonable simple - I did a thorough one on mine this weekend. I do keep a log of when and what I did so if someone says they do their own ask to see a written record to back things up. I've had mixed experiences of dealers (bike and car) where things have been no better (or sometimes worse ) when I've picked it up again.

Thanks for all the above advice.