So I thought I would give my thoughts here after hitting one year of ownership/full time riding on the SV as of last week:
Miles Ridden - ~8,xxx
Track Days Complete - 1 @ Summit Point with Team Pro Motion
Crashes - 1 minor lowside
Tickets - 1 (I definitely deserved it, but might get lowered or thrown out in court. Squeaky clean driving record)
XP - Leveled up big time
The SV has done literally everything I could have asked of it in the last year. Sport touring doing 350 mile/6 hour day trips, ripping around Summit point, commuting through DC/NOVA/RVA, blasting backroads, and all with minimum maintenance. All in all it's just generally a good bike. It has it's downsides, but what bike doesn't?
My two biggest complaints about the bike are the stock suspension and brakes. I've upgraded the rear shock to a ZX10R unit and that has dramatically improved the rear. For the front, I plan to throw in proper weight springs and fork oil as well as upgrade to stainless lines and I high quality fluid (think Motul). The general brake feel is "mushy" at best.
So where does this leave me going into next riding season? (Who am I kidding I ride year round and welcome the cold weather) I'm torn on a couple of points. The SV is cheap to maintain and insure, paid for, if I binned it tomorrow I'd shed a momentary tear and easily move on. It's the Miata of the track world. I love the V-twin power for commuting and blasting the city. Inversely, for maybe not much more money I can get a bike with brakes and suspension leaps and bounds ahead and a chunk more power. I would be lying if I said I didn't want more power, but as many of you notice in the car world power just makes up for shitty driving. My first track day I could have passed guys on 600s/1000s in the turns only to lose them in the straights. The power of a liter bikes makes up for your crappy riding input by just letting the fury of 150+hp rip the straights.
Couple of bikes I have considered:
Each one has it's pros and cons. However, I haven't actually had a chance to ride any other bike so I have no idea how any one of them will make me feel.
A Gixxer or Daytona I could pickup for not much money out of pocket after selling the SV. The rest of the bikes are getting into finance land and I can't really stomach making payments on a bike. They're too easy to write off if you crash. Additionally, IDK if making the jump to the 1000cc world is right? You see a lot of guys work their way up the ladder (250cc, 600cc, 1000cc), but if you haven't looked recently today's modern bike technology is insane. You can take a modern 1000cc Superbike and turn on all the nanny's and it'll more or less act like a 600. ABS, anti-wheelie, traction control, driving modes are all standard on most modern superbikes. So it begs to the question do you just jump to the 1000cc and weeeen yourself into insanity (who are we kidding you're gonna ride that bitch cranked to 11) or go the 600 tiered approach?
TL/DR - HALP WHAT DO I DO WITH MY 2 WHEELED LIFE?
P.S. After 8k+ miles it's time for new tires. Ordered up a set of the Michelin Pilot Road 5.
Miles Ridden - ~8,xxx
Track Days Complete - 1 @ Summit Point with Team Pro Motion
Crashes - 1 minor lowside
Tickets - 1 (I definitely deserved it, but might get lowered or thrown out in court. Squeaky clean driving record)
XP - Leveled up big time
The SV has done literally everything I could have asked of it in the last year. Sport touring doing 350 mile/6 hour day trips, ripping around Summit point, commuting through DC/NOVA/RVA, blasting backroads, and all with minimum maintenance. All in all it's just generally a good bike. It has it's downsides, but what bike doesn't?
My two biggest complaints about the bike are the stock suspension and brakes. I've upgraded the rear shock to a ZX10R unit and that has dramatically improved the rear. For the front, I plan to throw in proper weight springs and fork oil as well as upgrade to stainless lines and I high quality fluid (think Motul). The general brake feel is "mushy" at best.
So where does this leave me going into next riding season? (Who am I kidding I ride year round and welcome the cold weather) I'm torn on a couple of points. The SV is cheap to maintain and insure, paid for, if I binned it tomorrow I'd shed a momentary tear and easily move on. It's the Miata of the track world. I love the V-twin power for commuting and blasting the city. Inversely, for maybe not much more money I can get a bike with brakes and suspension leaps and bounds ahead and a chunk more power. I would be lying if I said I didn't want more power, but as many of you notice in the car world power just makes up for shitty driving. My first track day I could have passed guys on 600s/1000s in the turns only to lose them in the straights. The power of a liter bikes makes up for your crappy riding input by just letting the fury of 150+hp rip the straights.
Couple of bikes I have considered:
- K5+ GSXR750 (squid boy track rat)
- Triumph Daytona 675 (Dat triple whistle oh baby)
- Ducati XXX (I love that Vtwin, but my visa will hate me for the maintenance and replacement cost)
- BIG ASS Adventure bike (BMW, Etc)
- BMW S1000rr (the tiburon)
- Newer R1 (dat crossplane doe)
Each one has it's pros and cons. However, I haven't actually had a chance to ride any other bike so I have no idea how any one of them will make me feel.
A Gixxer or Daytona I could pickup for not much money out of pocket after selling the SV. The rest of the bikes are getting into finance land and I can't really stomach making payments on a bike. They're too easy to write off if you crash. Additionally, IDK if making the jump to the 1000cc world is right? You see a lot of guys work their way up the ladder (250cc, 600cc, 1000cc), but if you haven't looked recently today's modern bike technology is insane. You can take a modern 1000cc Superbike and turn on all the nanny's and it'll more or less act like a 600. ABS, anti-wheelie, traction control, driving modes are all standard on most modern superbikes. So it begs to the question do you just jump to the 1000cc and weeeen yourself into insanity (who are we kidding you're gonna ride that bitch cranked to 11) or go the 600 tiered approach?
TL/DR - HALP WHAT DO I DO WITH MY 2 WHEELED LIFE?
P.S. After 8k+ miles it's time for new tires. Ordered up a set of the Michelin Pilot Road 5.
Current
2006 4Runner V8 Limited|| Currently no BRAPS
Past
2007 DRZ400S || 2007 SV650 || 1998 Yamaha RT180 || 1998 XJ Sport || 2002 Subaru WRX Wagon || 1998 XJ Classic || 2002 VW Passat Wagon || 1992 F150 Custom
2006 4Runner V8 Limited|| Currently no BRAPS
Past
2007 DRZ400S || 2007 SV650 || 1998 Yamaha RT180 || 1998 XJ Sport || 2002 Subaru WRX Wagon || 1998 XJ Classic || 2002 VW Passat Wagon || 1992 F150 Custom