SV650 Page

I just couldn’t help myself. I was planning to replace the Concours after it was sold but along came a deal I couldn’t refuse. I have heard a great number of praises for the SV650. I finally found one at a great price. Less than I am asking for the Concours.

I wanted a light nimble bike that handles the twisties well and to use as an around town commuter. I believe this is that bike. I have only put a hundred miles on it but it seems to be exactly what I wanted. I will post my impressions as I ride. I am not sure if there will be many riding days left for it since it has no protection. It is a considerably cool ride in the 40’s the first day I rode it to work.

The weather has certainly cooperated and all I can say is this bike has certainly met my expectations on nimbleness and quickness. So much so I have nicknamed it Slicer. This is no beginners’ bike in my opinion. It has too much in the power to weight ratio side. This bike will lift its front off of the ground like a Grizzly bear when it gets wicked up. The Metzler tires that came on the bike need to be heated up prior to any spirited riding. I have had the front slide a few times do to the tire being cold.

Items I have added or modified:

Givi 755 Windscreen (got it for Christmas)

NEC throttle lock

Pirelli Diablo tires

20 Wt. fork oil

Holeshot Fender eliminator

Holeshot Highmount exhaust

Holeshot cateye blinkers

Galfer SS front brake lines

Frame Sliders

I took the SV for a little tour on November 3, 2003 since the weather was a record tying warm high of 82.5 degrees F. I rode 190 miles of the finest roads between Lexington and Louisville which my riding colleague named Whiskey Twisty tour. I must admit it has great scenery and moderate twisties to keep you honest and the enough interesting stopping places to keep your SO happy. The SV did a fine job negotiating the Whiskey Twisty tour. On December 25^th 2003 I received my Givi windscreen. Installation was an easy 15 minute job. It looks like it was made for the bike. I tried it out and it seems to relieve the pressure on the interstate. I have put over 40 miles on with the windscreen. Only more time will tell what it does for long rides.

Items I want to add

Front fork springs and cartridge emulator

Rear shock

rear hugger

I have spooned on the Pirelli Diablo tires Saturday and replaced the front fork oil with Silkolene 20w. The stock oil was 25mm below specification on both forks. I have found that to be common on most SV650’s according to the SV650 web site. I have only ridden 30 or so miles so far but the difference is amazing. The front seems so planted and confidence inspiring compared to the stock oil and Metz 4 tire. I believe the biggest improvement came from the tires. The forks don’t dive on heavy breaking like they used too and I do not notice the ride being any stiffer. I am taking this bike on the Tri state Twisty Tour and I will post how these changes affected it in the tight stuff. The suspension still needs a lot of work just to equal the FJR but at least this is a start.

Just got back from the Tri-state Twisty Tour and this bike is great on the twisty stuff. The tires and the fork oil really make a difference. I never would have believed you could scrap the pegs but you can. The muffler can be scrapped too. I started to transfer weight after I scrapped the can and was able to prevent that from reoccurring. I believe if I had a shock and springs I could have set the suspension to prevent that. I believe I was bottoming out on the front a few times and the rear well it was just a little harsh since I set the sag. I checked yesterday and have a definite center of the tire flattening out due to 400 miles on slab. I do not enjoy slabbing it but sometimes you must.

As usual it rained on day three of the tour and we did not get to ride the way we wanted. That’s twice now. One thing I learned though is that the Diablo’s are good in the wet. I did not push them too hard but they did not slip at all in the rain going through wolf pen gap road. The Givi Windscreen does a great job on the expressway but as I have said before the slabs are not my favorite on any bike. The seat was fine for me on this trip. I guess I must be getting used to it. I still want to get some sheep skin to try on it.

I’ll keep the reports coming as I change things.

I lost most of my riding season in 2005 on the SV since my Sciatica flared up. I couldn’t ride the SV over 15 minutes with out having to take a break. We have had a break in the weather and I have ridden the SV for an hour last week (Valentines week 2006). I believe if I continue to improve I will be back to riding this bike. I sure have missed it.

I still plan on doing a track day on this bike but it may be a while due to my back problems.

Well this Christmas was good to me for this bike. I have put a fender eliminator on and the cat eye blinkers. This has really cleaned up the rear of the bike. I also installed a high mount exhaust and what a great sound. I do not know yet how it performs because the weather is still too cold and I am riding the FJR with the heated hand grips. I will keep this page updated as I find out how it affects performance. I will have to replace the tires soon. The rear is almost worn out.

6/23/07 Wow the sound of the high mount is great and the performance is slightly better. I have purchased new tires but have not installed them yet. My digital camera has gone on the fritz so I have no pictures of the new set up. I soon as I get some I will try to put them up.

I finally recieved a new digital camera. Here are the picks I promised

I Just finished putting new tires on The rear was past the wear bars but the front had 2mm. I went on and changed the front but it looks like I can get two rears to one front.

9/17/07 Rode down to the Smokies on this bike and it did great. I even got 52 MPG on one leg of the trip. We road down to North Georgia and I used the Zumo for the routing. We road most of our favorite roads and tried a couple of new ones. Warwoman road was good and most of the roads in that area are worth the trip. The weather was fantastic. Here it is ready to travel.

On the road with my friends

LAST LOOK AT THE MOUNTAINS FOR 2007

My son’s new to him SV

3/15/2008

I installed Galfer SS brake lines. They went on easy and were a considerable improvement. The lever is a lot firmer in that it doesn’t pull in as far as it used to. I had to change the setting of the lever to set it up the way I like it. I haven’t gone a good distance yet but I am commuting on it. I can not tell if it is improved feel or not since I am still using winter gloves and they do not do well in the feel department.

8/2008

I made some standoffs to use for when I put my soft first gear saddle bags on. I have not tried them out on a trip yet but so far they seem to work fine. I received a set of frame sliders from my son for my birthday and installed those as well. I will be needing a new set of tires this coming spring. Trying to get the most out of them before I have to change them. I have been getting 50 to 52 miles per gallon since spring. I can not figure out why it has gotten better. When I first put the high mount exhaust on and set the carbs I was only getting about 47 to 48 MPG. Maybe the long trip last fall burned out deposits, Well anyway it is better now.