Went for a 40 mile ride on the brand new SV650S.  Oh my, this thing has torque and power (obviously compared to GS).  It is nible too, about 30-40 lbs lighter than GS.  I noticed there is a lot more wind on the head, hence more wind noise around 70 mph.  Mirrors are pretty much useless to see what's behind and I thought GS was bad.  Handles very well, did a bunch of slaloms on the side streets.  Front suspension is mushy but that can be fixed easily.  Looking forward to putting 1000 miles on it so I can crank it open.  I think this was a good choice as second bike.  Here I am getting ready for  the first ride from 0 on the ODO:





Click on the thumbnails for larger view.

Cheers

sweet man! I bet you were showing it off at the pb block party today   . nice lookin bike. ENJOY   . keep an eye out for a 00 black gs too. prob me. peace!

Not dissing your bike at all here, in fact i envy your new bike.  Everytime i see the sv, all i see is the naked front of the engine, in fact it just drives me nutz.  Am I the only one that this bothers.  I just don't understand what suzuki was thinking, for god sakes can we get a belly pan on those.  Ok Im done ranting, thanx for the space.........

Quote from: jordanearlNot dissing your bike at all here, in fact i envy your new bike.  Everytime i see the sv, all i see is the naked front of the engine, in fact it just drives me nutz.  Am I the only one that this bothers.  I just don't understand what suzuki was thinking, for god sakes can we get a belly pan on those.  Ok Im done ranting, thanx for the space.........

I can tell you exactly what suzuki was thinking: the same thing they were thinking when they used a crappy, outdated front suspension design and hard-as-a-rock tires... PRICE-POINT.  The problem is that if you put lowers, good springs and decent rubber on the bike, you are fast approaching the cost of a GSXR... not what Suzuki intended at all.

If you really don't like the view of the radiator and front header, you should get some lowers... like this:



and LEVO, the SV is a great bike indeed.  I have to say though that I don't agree with you at all about the mirrors, I have a fine view of my six and I'm no small obstruction.

enjoy the new ride!!!!  

You are right it is the price point.   They wanted this bike to be affordable.  It is good though, for a decent price you get a darn good V twin engine, fuel injection, and a good frame.  Suspension could be fixed easily.  For my riding skills it is good enough at the moment.

I like it naked.

I had to move my head to the side to see what's behind, otherwise all I see is my arms and shoulders.  They don't vibrate like the GS, that is good.

PB party, lots of twenty somethings.  As you can see I am too old for that.   My son was there.

Congrats on the new bike!  You're gonna love it.  I picked up an '04 SV about three weeks ago and couldn't be happier.  And I thought the GS was fun to ride.

I love my SVS to death.  Great bike.  Congrats.

After 120 miles I am finding out that SV requires a lot better clutch/throttle control.  It has a lot of engine breaking, I wish it had slipper clutch.

Never having ridden an SV650S, what are the ergonomics like compared to the GS500?

I've sat on the bike several times, but though the clip-ons are lower, I couldn't tell if the increased weight on the wrists would be a problem or not.  Have you ridden your new steed enough to have formed an opinion on how a two-hour ride would feel?

Roy...

PS. Like the racing yellow color.  Very visible.  More safe.

Hi Roy,

I did a two hour ride on Sunday, mostly on the twisties and some freeway.  Seating is not as upright as the GS but not as aggressive as the other supersports.  No problem on wrists at all as long as you support yourself with your legs and back.  In fact it upsets the bike if you put too much weight on the handle bars.  No back problems at all.  You can completely tuck-in if you want to reduce the wind on your helmet.  

I am not an expert rider so these are my kind of novice observations (riding for 9 months only).

I got the yellow for the same reason and also my colorful helmet.  More visibility is good.  Now I need a louder pipe.  Louder pipes saves lives.

louder pipes only work if you slow down almost to a stop and give a little throttle before going through...other than that...cagers will only hear your pipe once you are in front of them.


Jonah

Congrats!!!   I just got mine this weekend, a used 03 with only 4000 miles!



Havent ridden it yet as im waiting for my new insurance to become active... but I go outside and pet it every day   I also need to hit the dmv for titling and registration issues.

I have a Yosh RS-3 Race Slip On.  Thing is beastly loud, but sounds great!

congrats LEVO AND JCH!
Both of you will enjoy your new rides...JChH-wehen we going riding? Interested in Buttonwillow trackday June 6? its a tight slow track...

The Yoshi system makes tHE SV sound like a Ducati...very nice.

svriders.com

socalsvriders.com

enjoy!

Pablo, I'd like to become a little bit more familiar with the bike before testing its limits that soon, but it is something I have always wanted to do, without a doubt.

Thanks for the congrats, I'd love to go riding with you one of these days... plus its the summer months, can't get much better than this!  

Thanks for the links, I'm a member on both

the track is a great place to get used to the bike without the other distractions. The track isnt stricktly for going as fast as you can or want, but its also to ride and discover the capabilities of the bike. IF you go to a trackday, make sure there's a C group. These are the slow riders (and those new to trackdays) so you can go as slow as you please.

Check out www.burntheedge.com for upcoming rides. I usually ride with this group (great bunch of guys).

Thanks pantablo

Just ordered frame and swingarm sliders.  Next buy is an Arrow or Yosh slip-on pipe.  Also ordered a Fender Eliminator kit.  

socalsvriders.org is really nice

JCH - check out raceinteach's FE kit.

I bought my frame and swing arm sliders today as well, from www.bikesliders.com    

And I actually have plans of stopping by Racinteach's the weekend after next

52 mpg.  Not bad.

Quote from: LEVO52 mpg.  Not bad.

that's gotta be during the break in  

I ride my SV650 at moderate revs and I average somewhere around 32-35mpg around town.

Yep very easy on the RPMs.