Howdy,
Last Wednesday, we headed down to the dealership and picked up a leftover 2001 for $3900 out the door. Not an incredible deal, but not terrible either. My friend really liked the idea of a new bike and having the one year warranty. They put a brand new off the shelf battery in because the one in it would not take a charge when they put the fluids in it. The bike has always been kept inside the store so it is in absolutely perfect condition. I rode it home for her as she had just completed the MSF course a few days prior and was not ready for freeway traffic. I must say it is a fun little bike! Here are a few pics:
http://www.twtex.com/viewtopic.php?t=495
We are waiting on the engine guards and will be looking at either removing some foam from the seat to lower it, or changing out the rear shock linkage to lower it about 3/4". Now I have to get her over to a mall parking lot near our house so she can practice and get her confidence up. She's still a little intimidated.
I doubt she will ever register here as she is not much of an internet person. However, I am sure I will continue to hang out here and lurk. We are keeping the bike at our home because she does not have a garage. Also, I will be doing all the maintenance on it for her so I'll be picking your brains. I'll probably order the manual through the site here as well.
Adios,
I am glad to see she finally got a bike. No hard feeling about yall not buying mine. :cheers: Progressive springs and "real" tires are in order shortly. Both are very inadequate.
Oh yeah, chop the fender. Better I tell you to do that than Pablo. He was going to say it anyway. :nana:
Your story sounded very familiar, except it was my wife.
Here are a few pictures of her bike after some mods.
Suzuki fairing, engine guards, fender extender.
Progressive springs, Napolean mirrors (short)
and of course the chopped fender.
Oh and I bought some rear turn signals to put
on the front (shorter stalks).
Dana out.
[url]http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/bc/vzuke/lst?.dir=/Donna%27s+Bike&.view=t[url]
congrats! she'll love the bike. should upgrade springs, tires and cut the fender in due time. for right now just have her practice...the rest isn't important yet.
enjoy!
Howdy,
In all honesty, I doubt we will do much of anything to the bike. Ideally she will keep it for about a year or so and then trade up to an SV650S, which is what she really wants. There is not much point in sinking the money into the bike when she won't get it back when she sells the bike. After riding the bike home on some of our local twisties, I really don't see what all the fuss is about. Sure the front end is a little soft and the tires are not at race grip levels. However, I found it to be quite entertaining nonetheless. The engine pulls fine from 1500 rpm and I have no trouble with it stalling on take off as some people have mentioned. The front end dives on braking, but that just means you have to be sure to set the brakes before really getting on them hard. The tires have plenty of grip for anything up to go to jail speeds. As for the fender... well yes it is ugly, hehe.
The idea is to put as little money into this bike as possible so that when she goes to sell it she will recoup as much of the original cost as possible. All that extra stuff does improve the bike but it really does nothing to help the resale value of the bike. That kind of sucks, but it seems to be that way for most any make or model. Now if we were going to keep the bike long term, then I would definitely being doing most of the recommended upgrades.
Just out of curiousity, has anyone here had a new rear linkage made for the rear shock to lower the height of the bike? She needs to drop about 1/2" and doesn't want to resort to boots with ridiculous heels. We are looking into having the seat foam resculpted and using firmer foam for better support.
Man I could see racing this little bike as being a total blast! I never see them at the track though so I am not sure if there are any classes around here for them to run. SV650S's seem to be the low cost weapon of choice here. If there is a class, I might consider buying the bike from her for a track bike! Heck, I might just do it anyways for a trackday bike!
Adios,
I reshaped the seat on mine to make it more comfortable and used the method in this article: http://www.zr-7.com/seats2.htm
I used memory foam and it smashes down more, but is more comfortable, than the stock foam. It lowered the effective seat height by about an inch, I suppose. It looks stock when you are not on the seat, then squishes sown under you when you sit down on it.
shock linkages can be made that lower the GS...Someone here has done it. I think John (Site Administrator did it, maybe). They just used a pair of plate steel rectangular bars the same thickness of the dogbones. Clamp them together to drill the holes exactly same place on both plates. Holes should be farther apart to lower bike but I haven't heard or read of any formula to determine how far apart equals how low...you'll have to experiment.
You're right about putting money in to the GS and not getting it back out. I just couldn't stand having a bone stock bike and I plan on stripping most of the mods off before I sell the bike to sell them separately. Thats how I got my fork springs and rear shock btw... The Suburban-Machinery handlebars I'd keep for possible use on my next bike, a SV650, as well as the headlight fairing, possibly.
Nice-looking bike!
I'm jealous. :mrgreen: