650svs to 400 ??

Originally Posted by Kate

Hello there!

Have you tweaked your bike at all yet? If you are riding it as stock then there are quite a few things you can do to make it easier to ride and man handle.

I'm not quite 5'2" and I have a K3 which are normally higher than the curvy's. To be quite honest, I struggled initially and dropped it a few times as the bike was just too high and heavy for me. A few months on and I'm doing fine (I think), I find the bike handles ok and is light enough to man-handle around. I put the longer links in first of all and got the lower seat. I then dropped the forks quite a bit and put the preload on the lowest setting though I have actually raised it since as it was a little bumpy. One thing I really would advise and which sorted it for me is to put a different exhaust system on it. Believe it or not, the stock are damn heavy and it made a huge difference and now I can even hold the bike on a hill.

Don't give up on the SV! Have a go at tweaking it first anyway!

HTH

Kate

did you now? could you fix my gearbox please?

[northwind]

The trouble with the 4s is that they're now mainly pretty old designs and therefore still heavy- though they are definately smaller. I think this year's R6 is lighter than the RVF400, for example, though I wouldn't totally rule out the potential that that's total s*** i really wish one of the big 4 would take the plunge and make a modern, updated 400 with all the benefits of recent weight reduction and engine efficiency.

If I were you I'd have a crack at shaping the seat and lowering the bike- OK, it might not work, but £100 spent now could save you spending a fortune on a new bike, and most of the cost should be recoverable. I'd neer recommend anyone to get a bike with the intention of lowering it, sounds like madness to me, but once you have it it's probably worth trying to fix it.

FWIW I'm in a sort of similiar position just now that my right leg's too weak to support or push the bike much, so parking etc is a total nightmare... I've returned it to roughly stock height from its 30mm jack-up and it's made a huge difference, both in practical results and in confidence.

One reason I dont like the pointy SVs over the curvys - seats are higher. Im 5ft 4 and manage ok on my 2000 curvy without modifying it...

but Id go with what Kate and the others have said - modify the bike and lower the seat before you lose money on swapping for another bike.

If you want a sportsbike with low seat aside from those already mentioned, see if you can get hold of an early model cbr600. the FH-FM [87-91 IIRC] models have the really low seats and being hondas should be pretty good nick still

Originally Posted by Itching 2 go

did you now? could you fix my gearbox please?

Nah, leave that one to you.

Originally Posted by northwind

I'd never recommend anyone to get a bike with the intention of lowering it, sounds like madness to me.

Unfortunately, some of us don't have much choice.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Kate

Unfortunately, some of us don't have much choice.

Well, you did have a choice though didn't you? Crusiers, Raptor 650, VFR400, the usual suspects...

When I was at the dealers yesterday looking for a faster, low, comfortable bike! I felt like I had 2 heads, till he explained that most of his customers struggle to find something to fit.

There are one armed,or one legged bikers out there and they have to adapt the machine. What really gets me, is why do not all the major manufacturers design some adjustment into pegs, seat, bars, tailpiece?

To me, someone who is 6'2'' and slim is abnormal

Originally Posted by A-jay

I don't think a 400 is much lighter, I had an RVF400 and i think the dry wieght was about 160kg's and a svs is about 170, get rid of that massive stock can and your getting towards even!

The thing is that regardless of actual real world poundage, some bikes just 'seem' lighter and easier to manhandle than others... even if they are of a similar lbs weight.

I know it makes no logical sense - but speaking from shortarsed experience here, some bikes just defy physics I guess.

I could manouver my 400 around, riding or pushing, like I would a 125 and yet it probably was of a similar wieght to my SV.
That said I find moving a new FireBlade at work easier than moving my SV, the Blade's strictly speaking heavier, wider and should be more cumbersome - go figure.

Going by stock figures of weight and seat height is a bad idea in my opinion - always get your mits on a bike and push it around abit - statistics lie, only experience tells the truth.

Just from my experience yesterday of the SV1000 and the Z1000 there is only 3kg difference, but the Z felt so light, both on the road and pushing it backwards into a parking place at the shop.

Its the ease of getting it balanced and I suppose the high wide bars helped.

I still want an SV though

how about a ZZR 600. my dad has just got one and very short on the leg front