New Girlie pondering an SV

Ahoy!

I've got an SV which is great. Mrs Tiger has a Hornet, which is totally different and also great. I very strongly suspect the ER-6 and the Fazer will be much the same...

In summary, follow your heart!

Hello, and well done for the recent pass. I doubt that you'd go far wrong with any of your prospective choices. At the very least have a sit on them all and preferably test ride them. I'm sure one will feel more 'right' than the rest. Whatever you choose, I wish you happy and safe biking

[SoulKiss]

My tuppence worth.

When I was talking about getting a bike about 2 and a half years ago, the SV was mentioned as being a good beginners bike.

Thats how I found myself here.

Got an 06 Faired and loved it, right up until the point a Range Rover decided to not like me much

So ended up replacing it with a Z750, which is a brilliant bike, better than the SV, but at half the price again it should be.

However I must confess that on Monday morning, when my busted and broken SV came back to me (I bought it back) I had a smile on my face and when I went to get the Zed out of the garage yesterday I spent about 5 minutes just looking at the SV and planning its rebuild.

Obviously I am not alone in this, many of the Soho Massive have other bikes now, the older Ninja 6's seem VERY popular, but many of those people also have an SV tucked away somewhere.

So my recommendation - get an SV, the support you can get from this site is probably the best you will find on the internet and we're a friendly bunch.

Indivdual comments on the other bikes you mentioned

Kawasaki ER6F
Never liked the look of them - always think they look a bit cheap.

Honda Hornet.
Had one for a week, similar to the Z750 I ended up getting but not half as good. Personally I think that Honda mak very good motorcycles mechanically, but they seem, well a bit beige.

Yamaha Fazer.
Was put off these by my DAS instructor (he had one - but a pre-99 one) as he thought that the engine was set up all wrong on the ones since then.

You havent mentioned whether it a full or restricted licence you have - if restricted then the SV is the only choice.

Soulkiss raised an important point about the restriction; an inline 4 (fazer, hornet) will feel pretty darn flat restricted. The ER6 might be ok (although im not sure, i havn't heard alot about them). The SV is pretty darn great restricted, as demonstrated by moi on this years annual rideout (btw, you gonna come for AR09?) where I coped well two-up and with topbox. Severl other people also demonstrated the brilliance of a restricted SV, most memorably for me chris numbers, he overtook a white van pretty efficiently.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

Soulkiss raised an important point about the restriction; an inline 4 (fazer, hornet) will feel pretty darn flat restricted. The ER6 might be ok (although im not sure, i havn't heard alot about them). The SV is pretty darn great restricted, as demonstrated by moi on this years annual rideout (btw, you gonna come for AR09?) where I coped well two-up and with topbox. Severl other people also demonstrated the brilliance of a restricted SV, most memorably for me chris numbers, he overtook a white van pretty efficiently.

Another thought is that the Hornet is probably the least beginner friendly of the ones listed due to the fact that its actually quite powerful - a CB600F (I believe) would be the Honda that would sit in that group. The Hornet needs a bit of work to get it at its best - plenty of gear changes.

Originally Posted by Kazbee79

So out of the 4 i am thinking of which one would be the best built.

Forgetting the Gladius which is butt uglt & made from 70% plastic, i would say build quality is as follows, Hornet, Fazer, SV, ER6.

I currently have a Gen II Fazer 1000 for a main bike & a Fazer 600 (fox eye) for an everyday bike & love them both because they suit me, I have also had an SV650 which i also really liked & i almost bought another one a short while ago for my every day bike before i found the Fazer 600, in all honesty the best advice has already been given, Test Ride, Test Ride, Test Ride, & buy the bike that suits you, that cannot be expressed enough, everyone is different & has different tastes which is good because there is more than one manufacturer out there & i don't want to ride the same bike as everyone else does, how boring would that be.

Good luck & have fun.

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

an inline 4 (fazer, hornet) will feel pretty darn flat restricted.

Sorry but i have to disagree with past experience of this, i rode a unrestricted 600 IL4 to Orwells in Ipswich to have restrictors put in it for my son & then rode it home again, there was no difference in acceleration at all, which really surprised me as i expected it to be quite gutless, it just wouldn't go over 95 after being restricted, in a straight line drag he could still keep up with me when i rode my old SV until i hit 95 then i pulled away, maybe different bikes react in different ways to being restricted but the one i rode was definately just as fast on acceleration after as it was before.

Howdy pardner, welcome aboard Id get a test ride on all 4 if I were you, I had a curvey which I traded in for a daytona, still miss the curvey though, good luck with whatever bike you choose though.

Originally Posted by Foey

Sorry but i have to disagree with past experience of this, i rode a unrestricted 600 IL4 to Orwells in Ipswich to have restrictors put in it for my son & then rode it home again, there was no difference in acceleration at all, which really surprised me as i expected it to be quite gutless, it just wouldn't go over 95 after being restricted, in a straight line drag he could still keep up with me when i rode my old SV until i hit 95 then i pulled away, maybe different bikes react in different ways to being restricted but the one i rode was definately just as fast on acceleration after as it was before.

The torque is still there, it is the bhp that is restricted. The problem with 33bhp IL4's is that the upper rev range power is lost, IL4's make most of there power at higher rev's. The best bikes to have restricted are Parallels or V's, more low down torque which is not affected by a 33bhp kit.

Hello and welcome

Hope to see you at the annual ride out on a shiny, new whatever-catches-your-fancy