Why the focus on performance riding?

I can never understand spending money and time on something which at the end of the day may gain 5bhp,ride the road a little better,but still be a SV when it comes to resale value.
Yes,you can strip all the add ons off for resale and probably sell them for a fraction of the cost,but this all takes time and money lost.
Many people on this site have had an SV and progressed on to other higher spec and higher performance bikes--------WHY if the SV is so good?
The SV is as has been stated a budget bike with purchase price and insurance rating that fits the pockets of the newer rider and is terrific value fun and pound wise.

Why do we progress to other bikes,probably because we gain experience and appreciate the attributes of different makes and models which fit our criteria better.

"Because we can" also applies to the freedom of choice with regard to other bikes.

Any sv post 2003 has adjustable front preload. The standard bike is fine for anyone. If you want a GSXR front end buy a GSXR ..........

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by martin15s

Glad to see an enthusiastic response - I do accept that it is each to their own but looking at the current cost of GXR parts on ebay I still wonder how it is realistically cost effective - just how many people are looking for original parts when there is so much opinion for going for the GSX fork exchange. Once again I am just expressing an opinion as does everybody on the forum. I still suggest it is not so much not what you ride but how you ride - basically for most people if you ride within your own and the bike's and the road's limitations then only minor adjustments are really necessary over stock.

Most people manage to do the GSXR conversion very cheaply after selling off their stock parts. There are a lot more GSXRs than SVs out there to raid the parts bin for!

Agonising over tyre choice... makes perfect sense. Well worth a lot of consideration.

Why would I want to ride within the stock bikes limitations though?

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

I can never understand spending money and time on something which at the end of the day may gain 5bhp,ride the road a little better,but still be a SV when it comes to resale value.

My bike has done some stupid mileage and been in more ditches than a farmers boots.
Why would I care about resale value, it's about £50 on a good day before we even start on modifications

What you are buying for your money and time. You are adding value to your riding experience for the next x 1000 miles before you come to sell it. You yourself are putting your sprint ST into a suspension shop for a full rebuild. What will that add to the resale price


N.B of course, suspension maintenance is as important as any other, fork and shock oil will last 10k miles if you are lucky. But, the SV shock isn't rebuildable, and if it was wouldn't be worth doing. So what can you do but replace?

I think the simple answer here is that we modify because we can. If that provides more corner stability, squirt or just plain old grin factor (even from a sense of accomplishment that "I fitted that") it has to be worth it. To some it makes sense. Learning how to use it, for others, is more important.

[timwilky]

I had to uprate the springs/oil when had an SV. It was permanently bottoming out. whilst the adjustable preload helped to set the sag correctly. The limitations of the poor suspension/braking design were something you had to live with.

Now having a bike with reasonable suspension and brakes. The first time you test it in anger you realise what limitations your old bike had. It will turn so much faster, not attempt to kick you off. Being able to control the damping is marvellous. There were roads that would shake me about that have been smoothed out a lot more. The front brake gives you far more feedback. with the SV, you felt it was so vague that you almost treat it like an on off switch. Now I can tickle the lever to scrub off a few MPH.

Yes, I can fully understand why people if given the opportunity will upgrade the suspension of an SV. Try out a GSXR/Blade etc. realise just how good modern suspension and braking is, how it contributes to the bikes usability. And come back thinking "If only the SV had". People do not so it for aesthetics. They do it to improve the bike.

If only Suzuki made a TL again with todays frame and handling technologies they would make a fortune. But kill off half their GSXR market.

Originally Posted by Villers

Triple? Bloody hell! Whats the details on that, age etc? I always thought any mods would kill the insurance premium! Im 28 and it was 220 for my Hayabusa but 350 for my much less powerful RSV!

25, fresh license, 5 years car ncb (they asked me about this but I dont know if it made any difference), no bike ncb.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by SVFreak

Any sv post 2003 has adjustable front preload. The standard bike is fine for anyone. If you want a GSXR front end buy a GSXR ..........

Not so. The standard SV fork springs suit someone the weight of whom is significantly less than the average UK rider, and it must be understood that preload does not change how 'hard' the suspension is, whatever you do with the preload it's the same spring, the preload merely changes where in the suspension's travel you will be under any given load.
Springs of a suitable weight make the fork perform better under emergency braking, particularly in the case of a machine such as the SV where the rest of the suspension's engineering is of a simplistic nature, (by which I mean the basic damper rod assembly), this might realistically be considered a safety issue as much as any improvement to the SVs behaviour in other situations.
As an aside the first SVs with front preload adjusters are later Curvies rather than K3 on.

The initial question is interesting, and even perhaps quite timely, and I'd gently suggest it tells of a lack of experience or an appreciation of the capabilities of 'better' suspension and brakes in the round - 'better' bikes are nicer to ride, this may be the only impetus behind the desire to alter the machine. Even if it is not the only reason it must be understood that the abilities of 'better' quality parts do not extend simply to increased emulation of one's racing heroes, the pleasure of riding a more capable machine - particularly one fettled by one's own hand, can be hard to quantify but is unquestionably a part of the reason for the changes many make - and this is one area where the SV's simplicity, paradoxically, can be an attraction. Take for example a shiny new KawaSuzHonYam 750, this is a fantastic new sports machine wearing the very latest Big Piston forks and quadruple adjustable ShowLins rear shock absorber, it's a wonderful machine and make no mistake about it, this is a machine that would have won international races not many years ago, how can one improve upon this machine? I'd firmly suggest that out here in the real world we can't. It's just too good to start with. Simply the financial capability to make any quantifiable improvement is beyond most people.
Back to the SV, want better brakes? They're just a pair of mounting plates and a second hand set of calipers away, improved suspension is a only a few hundred pounds and if you own a Pointy both ends bolt straight on with minimal other changes. Being a machine of modest capability means that even the home mechanic can make a significant improvement with quite a modest investment. This, I suspect, is a large part of the SVers' desire to fiddle. And it's a well trodden path, quite significant changes are now well documented and should hold no fear for even the amateur mechanic.
Also consider the owner of an SV that requires a replacement shock, I have fitted or assisted in the fitting of a superior unit from a GSXR or ZX on a number of occasions, it's a sensible and economic choice as a new standard shock is more expensive and less capable, and a second hand SV shock very often has less life in it.
For my part maintenance of the machine is part of the fun, I'm sure I'm not alone in that. I don't own an SV650, (well, not a running one anyway), my primary transport is a machine of far greater capability than an SV650, as such I've never attempted to improve it, but if there were an improvement available that allowed a financial investment of the level that better bits on an SV does I almost certainly would, will this make me faster? Emphatically not, but better brakes for instance would always be welcome, and better suspension would improve traction and grip and widen my margin of safety in all circumstances, this I would also welcome. The fiddling enjoyment factor would be hard to resist too!

YC-Difference being you don't seem to care what it looks like as long as it is mechanically sound,but many others care about the cosmetics and don't have the mechanical expertise you have so it ends up costing.
Yes I'll spend money on the suspension overhaul but that in my eyes is part of my maintenance schedule,not a modification as the bike will still be completely standard with normal suspension but as it was when new.
Similar to overhauling brakes or chain and sprockets,I don't change anything from the original ,just maintenance of a consumables.
The only two things not standard on my bike,one the wind shield is the touring version and the horn which is a bit louder,hardly modifications.
My reasoning being that if I maintain it in original spec should I ever decide to sell I can say it is original/unmodified in any way and here are all the receipts for parts or work done. I could afford to buy a newer bike but what I have ticks the boxes for me and the maintenance cost will rise as it gets older,[40+K--9 year old],but I can do one helluva lot of maintenance for the 3-4grand it would cost me to update to a newer model
When I had my SV I spent a small fortune upgrading parts -- Full exhaust,screen,lowers,brakes,suspension and a remap to mention the main outlay but when I wrote it off the insurance was only the same as if it had been standard.

Having said that I enjoy playing with bike bits and would never discourage anybody fom improving their lot.

Going back to the original post----its not what you've got its what you do with it and anybody who can ride a SV TO ITS EXTREME LIMITS HAS MY RESPECT

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Take for example a shiny new KawaSuzHonYam 750, this is a fantastic new sports machine wearing the very latest Big Piston forks and quadruple adjustable ShowLins rear shock absorber, it's a wonderful machine and make no mistake about it, this is a machine that would have won international races not many years ago, how can one improve upon this machine? I'd firmly suggest that out here in the real world we can't. It's just too good to start with.

I dunno.
You can still get such things working better, as stock forks on any bike, even a KawaSuzHonYam 750 with quadruple adjustable ShowLins is still built as a compromise... for skinny people who want to corner and fat blokes who do wheelies.

For an average rider there is always a compromise to remove to allow it to work better for you.