New (to me) Motorcycle

[DirthNader]

I couldn't find any turbo 'Busas for sale on my local CL, so I settled for an SV650S.

'03 with just over 4800 miles. Pretty close to flawless - the owner admitted to one tipover, and after a pretty thorough look over the bike the only evidence I've found of that is a slightly tweaked (but non-leaking) radiator and some scuffs on the bar end (and a receipt from the local bike shop for a new rear brake pedal).

I've got frame sliders on the way, as well as some 0.95kg/mm Race Tech fork springs and a ZX14 rear shock. No lie, the stock suspension on this bike is worse than the Ninja 250R for a 200lb rider. The tiniest bump in a curve makes me feel like the front is going to wash out, and that's with new Pirelli tires on the SV.

There's no comparison in the acceleration department though!

 

[manimal]

Great bike! Mad love for naked bikes!

I know how you feel about the suspension. I have gained a few pounds over the years and now and the bikes I used to love dont love me anymore. 225 pounds shouldnt make a dr 350 bottom sadly.

 

[JulesMaximus]

In before the "frame sliders are for people who can't ride" crowd.

BTW-Love the bike! :thumbsup: I miss mine sometimes.

Get some Pilot Powers, stock suspension never felt "that" bad on my bike but I did upgrade to Race Tech springs and their gold valve cartridge emulators. I also had a ZX-14 shock on mine. It's funny, because I used to read that the Ninja 250 crowd liked to "upgrade" to the SV rear shock. I just threw mine in the trash.

Minor tipover is nothing. That bike will go forever and is barely broken in.

And good call on the frame sliders. One of the first mods I did to my Duc.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

+1 on everything. Suspension isn't *that* bad imo, but SV and twins in general do better with pointy tires... Which is why I only use pilot powers on big twins. Raising the rear a smidge helps too

+1 on the springs, and like jules said check out emulators. I bet that fork oil is pretty nasty too. Any bike you buy should have brake fluid flushed as well


Sliders are a great idea but won't help your radiator in a tipover..




Love the color..

 

[DirthNader]

Thanks for the compliments!

Hopefully I'll never actually need the frame sliders. That said, I spent a lot of time trying to find a copper '03 that wasn't a train wreck, and I'd hate to ruin it with even a minor spill.

After the suspension, I was planning on replacing the stock can and replacing the radiator (Delkevic sells a replacement for $200, and the accompanying coolant flush probably wouldn't hurt).

My girlfriend is really fond of my '11 Ninja 250R. It's not costing me anything to keep it for now, so I may sell it to her when she's out of nursing school.

EDIT: Spatial, I checked out the brake fluid when I was inspecting the bike - it's a bit on the amber side. A flush is on the list.

Still trying to decide if I should go with 15W or 20W fork oil. Not ready for the emulators; without them RT says 20W, Sonic says 15W.

 

[MiataNC]

Your post reminds me how much I miss my '04 SV650S.

Grats on your purchase. I am sure you will love the bike.

 

[satyajitmenon]

You bought an SV650 instead of a Turbo Busa?? Turn in your man card NAOW



Congrats man. Love the color. :thumbsup:

 

[JulesMaximus]

+1 on everything. Suspension isn't *that* bad imo, but SV and twins in general do better with pointy tires... Which is why I only use pilot powers on big twins. Raising the rear a smidge helps too

+1 on the springs, and like jules said check out emulators. I bet that fork oil is pretty nasty too. Any bike you buy should have brake fluid flushed as well


Sliders are a great idea but won't help your radiator in a tipover..


Love the color..

Actually, they will. I had a minor tipover with mine and the radiator never touched. Busted the brake lever but never touched the radiator. If it does and it breaks it's a few hundred dollars for a new one vs $80 for a set of frame sliders, it is money well spent.

I can't even imagine how much damage I could do to the Ducati in a minor tipover without sliders.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Actually, they will. I had a minor tipover with mine and the radiator never touched. Busted the brake lever but never touched the radiator. If it does and it breaks it's a few hundred dollars for a new one vs $80 for a set of frame sliders, it is money well spent.

I can't even imagine how much damage I could do to the Ducati in a minor tipover without sliders.

In my opinion sliders aren't about parking lot minor tipovers, for the most part. Most of the time just the bars will keep the bike off the ground.

You have to consider what would happen in the likely scenario where your bars bend or break... In that case sliders won't do much to save the radiator unless they stick WAY out



Basically, you should never rely on sliders to save your rad, paint, etc. They are designed to save the frame - and that's it. It's rare, in my experience, for sliders to do that much in parking lot tipovers since bar ends will take the brunt of it

I won't go into the issues with sliders on brackets, or sliders getting caught on something in the road and causing the bike to flip even more, or issues with slider mounting bolts. I've done a lot of research on sliders :awe:



I feel you about the Duc. I went back and forth over adding them to my 1098 and ultimately decided it was just too sexy to ruin with sliders. I've put them on pretty much every other supersport I've owned.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Oh and I had an '03 SV with sliders which was dropped and it bent the rad. It still held water but seriously, look at how far they stick out... It'd take a ~12" slider to really keep the rad off the ground.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

In my opinion sliders aren't about parking lot minor tipovers, for the most part. Most of the time just the bars will keep the bike off the ground.

You have to consider what would happen in the likely scenario where your bars bend or break... In that case sliders won't do much to save the radiator unless they stick WAY out



Basically, you should never rely on sliders to save your rad, paint, etc. They are designed to save the frame - and that's it. It's rare, in my experience, for sliders to do that much in parking lot tipovers since bar ends will take the brunt of it

I won't go into the issues with sliders on brackets, or sliders getting caught on something in the road and causing the bike to flip even more, or issues with slider mounting bolts. I've done a lot of research on sliders :awe:



I feel you about the Duc. I went back and forth over adding them to my 1098 and ultimately decided it was just too sexy to ruin with sliders. I've put them on pretty much every other supersport I've owned.

I had a pretty good lowside on my SV650S and the slider was seriously ground down. I have to assume that had it not been installed that the tank or frame would have had significant damage.

 

[MiataNC]

With the SV650 it depends on the slider. Not all sliders protect the same or stick out the same amount.

Best SV resource on the net...

http://www.svrider.com/forum/forums.php

 

[Zargon]

nice bike!!! love the SV and most twins in general(on my 3rd)

 

[JulesMaximus]

In my opinion sliders aren't about parking lot minor tipovers, for the most part. Most of the time just the bars will keep the bike off the ground.

You have to consider what would happen in the likely scenario where your bars bend or break... In that case sliders won't do much to save the radiator unless they stick WAY out



Basically, you should never rely on sliders to save your rad, paint, etc. They are designed to save the frame - and that's it. It's rare, in my experience, for sliders to do that much in parking lot tipovers since bar ends will take the brunt of it

I won't go into the issues with sliders on brackets, or sliders getting caught on something in the road and causing the bike to flip even more, or issues with slider mounting bolts. I've done a lot of research on sliders :awe:



I feel you about the Duc. I went back and forth over adding them to my 1098 and ultimately decided it was just too sexy to ruin with sliders. I've put them on pretty much every other supersport I've owned.

I've spent a good bit of time on the SVRiders forum and the sliders do save the radiator in a lowside and have generally proven to be well worthwhile for preventing major damage in a crash. I was commenting on the tipover because that's about the extent of my personal experience with them for minimizing damage.

I had the Motoslider brand that come with a hardened steel bolt that goes through the frame, through the engine and connects to the other slider on the other side of the bike. The slider itself is about 5" long on either side and is a pretty stout bit of kit. I never crashed my bike but every story I've read of people who did swear by those frame sliders on the SV.

I have SpeedyMoto sliders on the Duc (of course). They don't look out of place at all on a Monster but I can see how you might not want to cut into that sexy red bodywork on a 1098 or 1198.

 

[DirthNader]

I went with motosliders after reading the comments all over SVRider. Nice to hear another positive review.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Looks like a great bike, I'm jelly.

 

[MiataNC]

I went with motosliders after reading the comments all over SVRider. Nice to hear another positive review.

Those are the ones I had on my 2004. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[DirthNader]

Rode the 250R into work today. I'm fairly certain that the front end is sprung higher on the 250R than it is on the SV650. Nowhere near the amount of brake dive on the 250R, and the bike felt a lot better leaned over.

Rear end feels like a pogo stick on either one with the preload turned up.

ZX14 shock and 0.95kg/mm springs should be here by Friday. Should make for a nice weekend project.

 

[waggy]

nice bike. it's threads like these that make me want to get another one heh.

 

[satyajitmenon]

Rode the 250R into work today. I'm fairly certain that the front end is sprung higher on the 250R than it is on the SV650. Nowhere near the amount of brake dive on the 250R, and the bike felt a lot better leaned over.

Rear end feels like a pogo stick on either one with the preload turned up.

ZX14 shock and 0.95kg/mm springs should be here by Friday. Should make for a nice weekend project.

It could be something as simple as change the oil in the forks, maybe with a heavier weight oil? That alone could make a bit of difference when it comes to dive under braking. I know it did on my 8 yr old ZR7.

 

[manimal]

nice bike. it's threads like these that make me want to get another one heh.

Same

Had the feel out conversation with the wife a few days ago about me getting a bike again. She stared at me for about 5 seconds with her you have to be kidding me face...

thats that lol

 

[DirthNader]

Fork oil weight is definately a concern.

I have read that Suzuki liked to use 5W fork oil in the SVs... Race Tech is recommending 20W for my weight.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Fork oil weight is definately a concern.

I have read that Suzuki liked to use 5W fork oil in the SVs... Race Tech is recommending 20W for my weight.

I had 15 in mine (I changed it when I did the springs). 20 without emulators sounds about right.

Changing the springs and oil is an easy task to do yourself. You just need some way to suspend the front end safely.

 

[Occ]

Cool bike, good choice. A buddy of mine had one as his first bike, he's moved on to a gsxr track bike, but says he still misses his SV650.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

'03? Damn it looks like its easily 09/10. Very clean. What kind of exhaust? I'm a sucker for a Japanese screamer with a throaty exhaust. Music to my ears.

That's all the bike you'll ever need. I wasted so much money getting bigger and faster bikes over the years. $1500 exhaust systems, dyno tuning, power commanders, etc.. So much down the tubes. Hell I should of just got a good bike like yours and rode it till the wheels fell off. I think one year I spent probably 15k on bikes, parts, gear..