The Official SV Thread... SV650

[Ohio_Danimal]

Originally Posted by Henderson757

Only 70,000 Miles. . . . I would expect so much more from you.

Had a Sargent for 30 thou or so before it. So there.

It was torn in a spill pretty badly and rather than recover I tried the Corbin.

BTW, I love the look of the profile on your 2" Corbin. Would love to see how that feels.

[Henderson757]

well next time you in VA. bring your ASS over .

[IanJ]

I'm plotting a trip through Europe this summer, and one of my options is to buy a used bike there and sell it at the end of the trip. I'd most likely aim for an SV650, but I've never owned one, so I was wondering if anyone who has one could help me with some theoretical questions about making an SV into a sport-tourer without a lot of effort. Specifically, about carrying luggage.

I've toured extensively on my Ninja 250 by running a pair of straps across the passenger seat, between the uber convenient folding bungee hooks that the old model came with. Running fore-and-aft straps under these lateral straps, I was able to fasten a drybag, tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag. It was plenty secure, and required no mods to the bike. It also didn't flop around or melt to the pipes like soft panniers can, and I never worried about rain covers, because everything started out waterproof.

In looking at an arbitrary SV (one of the early Curvy models), I didn't see a clear way to do anything like that. Should I be looking into a set of universal soft panniers? What about fastening roll items (tent, sleeping pad and bag)? Does the Pointy have better provision for carrying stuff on the passenger seat? Is there anything hiding under the seat (hooks or the like) that I wouldn't be able to see in pictures? I'm headed out to see a friend's Pointy model soon, but figured I would ask here, where someone might have experience with the kind of quick-n-dirty setup I'm talking about.

[Cat0020]

I've had great success using bungee cords and milk crate (on SV650s and Ninja 250):
I used to travel 4-days a week, 35 mile-one-way, with 25 lb. backpack 7 other misc. items secure on my pre-gen SV650S.

The milk crate allows plenty of other attachment points for other items





Combined with secured tankbag, you can carry a good amount of items without gaining width nor much weight:



Also used Ventura luggage with $35 horse panniers

[IanJ]

Yeah, that's more or less what I do with my Ninja 250, although I've got a wire basket (like a locker basket) strapped to the back, as it fits a better with my bulk on the bike. Thanks for the pictures!

[fragile_this_side_up]

the road less traveled by fragile_this_side_up_retro_club, on Flickr

photo bump!


the road less traveled by fragile_this_side_up_retro_club, on Flickr

[lytew8]

Great Thread and great pictures.

I'm currently looking for a 1st gen to make my own (switch to naked)
Unfortunately, they are getting to be difficult to find and/or people want a fortune for them!

I'm hitting on bikes with 40000miles for $3000~! Kinda nutso these owners, no?

For $3500-4000$ I have a 2nd gen with only 5000miles, yet I'm stuck on the first gen body and ease of carbs,etc. Should I go 2nd Gen?

[Cat0020]

I tried a 2nd gen 2006 SV650S for little over 5k miles, I found the ride FI very abrupt, on/off throttle transition rather poor, ride quality of the edgy aluminum frame not as nice as the 1st gen.
Gladius seems have have the FI and ride quality issues fixed from the 2nd gen SV. I really enjoyed it, if I didn't get laid off, I would have kept the Gladius vs getting another 1st gen. SV at less than $2k.
You could still find 1st gen. SV at lower prices, just have to wait for the right time of year. Winter time the used market is slow, really hit or miss what you can find. Once the riding season starts, prices are likely to up.
Expand your searches into neighboring states would help, if you are sure of what you want.
Good luck

[max384]

Hello everyone. I just stumbled upon this thread. I see there are several from svrider as well.

I have an '09 SV650S that I've been converting into a more touring-oriented bike.

Here's what I've done to it thus far:
-Givi touring windscreen
-Handlebar conversion. Naked bars on 2" riser clamps on drilled (oh, the horror!) S upper triple
-Galfer stainless steel braided brake lines
-Sonic Springs 0.90 kg/mm front fork springs with 15wt oil
-12V DC power outlet
-Dual fork-mounted ADVMonster LED auxiliary lights
-Seahorse SE300 tank box
-Dual Seahorse SE720 side boxes with SW-Motech racks
-Givi E45NJ top box with SW-Motech top rack
-2007 ZX14 rear shock
-Rerouted rear turn signals
-LED front turn signals
-SpeedoDRD
-aTRE
-Galaxy S3 case with hardwiring kit
-Shogun frame sliders
-Buell lowering pegs
-Gel grips
-Homebrew skidplate
-RK 530 X-ring chain with 16/45 JT sprockets (hopefull beefier = longer lasting!)
-Scottoiler



And now for a bit of picture whoring!

[BobbyLee666]

Just picked up a 2004 SV650 to replace my WeeStrom. Liked the Wee, but wanted something just a little bit sportier. Noticed that some folks had mounted a top box directly on the pillion seat. Like that idea, but can someone please be so kind as to take a picture of the way they mounted it, especially under the seat pan?

[discoganya]

Originally Posted by max384

Love the ghetto skidplate! What kind of reflective tape is that? Looks very effective at being reflective :)

[blue72beetle]

Originally Posted by BobbyLee666

Noticed that some folks had mounted a top box directly on the pillion seat. Like that idea, but can someone please be so kind as to take a picture of the way they mounted it, especially under the seat pan?

I mounted a cheap scooter case onto a spare seat pan I had. The case had lots of holes in the base for various mounting options, so I just used whatever holes lined up with the closest flat spots of the seat pan. Drilled some holes, and used some nuts, bolts, and locking washers. Couldn't have been easier. Then I filled in the unused holes in the seat pan and case with epoxy, and painted the seat pan black.

[max384]

Originally Posted by discoganya

Love the ghetto skidplate! What kind of reflective tape is that? Looks very effective at being reflective :)

Thanks! Because it's just bolted to the exhaust, it's really just a rock deflector, not a skid plate... But I'm not taking the SV into places that require a skidplate, so it works perfectly for my uses!

The reflective tape is called Reflexite in the diamond plate pattern. It is crazy bright at night. I got it from Amazon for $56 for 50 feet for 2" wide tape.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...TF8&psc=1&s=hi


And just for comparison, you can see the ADV oval decal and North America map on my side case in the picture you quoted. Those are both made with 3M reflective tape. 3M has been the gold standard for reflective tape for a long time, and those decals look really pale in comparison to the Reflexite tape.

[BobbyLee666]

Originally Posted by blue72beetle

I mounted a cheap scooter case onto a spare seat pan I had. The case had lots of holes in the base for various mounting options, so I just used whatever holes lined up with the closest flat spots of the seat pan. Drilled some holes, and used some nuts, bolts, and locking washers. Couldn't have been easier. Then I filled in the unused holes in the seat pan and case with epoxy, and painted the seat pan black.

Thanks very much. Look easy enough. I also saw another one where it looked like someone had used a standard pillion seat, and used some kind of spacer/stiffener (maybe a cutting board) between the seat and the box.

[Cortez]

Originally Posted by BobbyLee666

Thanks very much. Look easy enough. I also saw another one where it looked like someone had used a standard pillion seat, and used some kind of spacer/stiffener (maybe a cutting board) between the seat and the box.

SHAD makes kits to do this, but not for the SV unfortunately.