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Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
OMG. I just bought my first bike ever!!! Can't wait till I have enough Money to do the msf course and buy some gear. It'll be a couple months at this rate. Thank god in west Texas if it isn't 70 degrees I just have to wait a few hours for it to change!

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Fart Car '97
Jul 23, 2003

I beat the everliving poo poo out of my 2003N and it keeps going like a goddamn champ. It's been crashed, dropped 4-5 times, run up and down the california coast with 200 pounds of poo poo on the back and taken me through storms only a retard would ride through. Snowed on, driven daily in the rain, and I don't even treat it that well.

I love it to death.

sigtrap
Apr 14, 2002

MOIST

Captain Apollo posted:

OMG. I just bought my first bike ever!!!

OMG!!!

O.M.G.!!!!!!! :p :D

Chopsy
Dec 27, 2005

GUNS GUNS GUNS
BIKES BIKES
YOUR MOM
Checking into the SV club. I got my silver 03 650S back in 04, slightly used, on the recommendation of my nephew:



Threw a Gixxer shock on the back end, put a Scorpion slipon on, lowered the front a tiny bit, pulled all the padding out of the seat and replaced it all with a mousepad, rode it from LA to Effingham, IL and back in March 05, which as it turns out, involved quite a bit of snow during the portions that involved either Utah or Colorado:



and now I mostly ride my DR650 because the roads here in LA suck balls, but I've managed to put 50k miles on the SV so far, and she's never seen a mechanic, had her valves looked at, or ever failed to start and run perfectly, despite a couple of slight mishaps and a less than stellar dedication to maintenance. About as reliable as gravity, so far, although she does get jealous when I ride my scooter.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
I would highly recommend that you check the valves. SVs are typically pretty forgiving about that, but the bike will feel a lot better after you do that.

Valves are one of those things where you won't see a huge performance decrease going on until you get some sweet piston/valve love going on. You could have gotten lucky and ended up with one that was set particularly loose from the factory, but engines are expensive to gamble on for a few hundred $ in maintenence or some time.

jujube
Dec 11, 2004

*Pain!* *Pain!* *Laughter!*
Just ordered a new Leovince EVOII pipe, low mount. Cost is 234,- euros which is not that expensive (for dutch standards). I've read some things about installing an airfilter when going for a new pipe, is this advisable? Also, anyone have some experience fitting an aftermarket pipe on <02's? Kind of wondering where I have to cut the stock can off...

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

jujube posted:

Just ordered a new Leovince EVOII pipe, low mount. Cost is 234,- euros which is not that expensive (for dutch standards). I've read some things about installing an airfilter when going for a new pipe, is this advisable? Also, anyone have some experience fitting an aftermarket pipe on <02's? Kind of wondering where I have to cut the stock can off...

Let's explain these one at a time:

The new pipe will have less backpressure, which will effectively lean out your mixture.

A new airfilter will allow more air to flow in, also leaning out your mixture.

A jet kit/power commander will help compensate for both of these and give you the best throttle response and power across the range.

With that said, I ran an M4 full system with the stock airbox and jetting for quite awhile and it was just fine. I'd just run the slipon and not bother with the airbox and such. If you have a raging desire for more power down the road, gut the snorkle on your airbox, and toss a jet kit/power commander in there with some baseline settings off of SVrider or dynojet's website and then get it tuned at your leisure.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Well, since buying the sv650, I've signed up for the MSF class this weekend! Now I'm going to go take some time today to try on some helmet and see how I like them!


The guy who is housing my bike is going away this weekend. Do you think it'd be okay to leave it with me so that after the MSF I can use it to putter around a parking lot?

It is my bike after all:D

Captain Apollo fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Nov 20, 2008

EvilCrayon
Dec 30, 2007
I'm probably going to buy an 03 SV650 in January. Anything I should keep my eyes peeled for? Any issues I should check for?

Also, How easy is it to maintain compared to say, a ducati?

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

EvilCrayon posted:

I'm probably going to buy an 03 SV650 in January. Anything I should keep my eyes peeled for? Any issues I should check for?

Also, How easy is it to maintain compared to say, a ducati?

Honestly, there's not some super special failure that SVs are known for or anything. You're just looking for the basics, that it's been taken care of, oil changes, etc.

They're pretty easy to maintain. Valve adjustments are the work of a day, there's plenty of writeups on how to do all the maintenence on the bikes, there's a huge aftermarket for them, blah blah blah.

Zenaida
Nov 13, 2004
This website has a bunch of very detailed howtos for most basic SV650 maintenance, as well as some simple mods:

http://www.bluepoof.com/motorcycles/howto/

She's got stuff for a few other bikes on there as well.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Anybody think 120/70 17 tires would be a bad choice in the front? Is maxxis a good brand? What size should I look at for the rear tire?

Any good brands for the SV to use?

FlerpNerpin
Apr 17, 2006


I'm running Pilot Powers CT2's on my SV and I love them over the stockers. Great tires. I was a bit worried about wet/cold weather performance but so far they've been just fine.

Can anyone recommend a set of flush mount or nice replacement stock turn signals?

A buddy was riding my SV today when he locked up the front and went down at about 10mph or so, my SV got it's first taste of pavement. Big honkin frame sliders did a great job of saving most of the bike, but the plastics got rashed a little bit and my turn signal got destroyed, along with my shift lever and left footpeg.

So it goes...

GriszledMelkaba
Sep 4, 2003


Spiffness posted:

I'm running Pilot Powers CT2's on my SV and I love them over the stockers. Great tires. I was a bit worried about wet/cold weather performance but so far they've been just fine.

Can anyone recommend a set of flush mount or nice replacement stock turn signals?

A buddy was riding my SV today when he locked up the front and went down at about 10mph or so, my SV got it's first taste of pavement. Big honkin frame sliders did a great job of saving most of the bike, but the plastics got rashed a little bit and my turn signal got destroyed, along with my shift lever and left footpeg.

So it goes...

and then what did you do?

FlerpNerpin
Apr 17, 2006


Eye for an eye

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

Captain Apollo posted:

Anybody think 120/70 17 tires would be a bad choice in the front? Is maxxis a good brand? What size should I look at for the rear tire?

Any good brands for the SV to use?

Any sport touring tire. You can't outride them on the street, they'll perform better before they get warmed up, work better in the rain.

120/70 is fine. Don't bother with Street/track tires, you'll wear them out and get nothing more than a bill for new tires to show for it.

GriszledMelkaba
Sep 4, 2003


Spiffness posted:

Eye for an eye

What good is rote memory if it does you no good in an emergency situation.

GriszledMelkaba fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Nov 24, 2008

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
And 160/60 for the rear, right?

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

Captain Apollo posted:

And 160/60 for the rear, right?

Correct.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Well I did some maintenance to my new(to me) sv650 tonight.

Bought a Maxxis 120/70 17 front wheel and put it on today. I think it'll work just fine. Originally I was quoted at 150 bucks for the front tire. Then I called and bitched and it went down to 99.95 instantly! Haha!

http://www.amazon.com/Suzuki-Katana-SV650-CARBON-LEVERS/dp/B0013L1BMG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1226884132&sr=8-1

Just ordered the last set of those levers. Hopefully the carbon fiber works/looks cool. My clutch lever is all sorts of gay currently.

I need a new clutch adjuster. Mine is completely broken. That's probably my next immediate fix.

My kickstand lets the bike go SO FAR OVER. It is seriously the learning tower of sv650. Everytime I get off the bike I feel like it's going to tip over. Gotta figure out whats making it do that.


Lots of little small things to figure out, but they're easily handled projects :)

Putting a new back tire on Friday! :)

ranathari
May 26, 2006

by elpintogrande
I'm running Bridgestone BT-021s on my SV and they're absolutely perfect for general sports touring stuff - good in the wet and the dry, long lasting and warm up well. I've heard excellent things about Avon Storms if you do a lot of wet-weather riding and they'll probably be my next pair when the BTs need replacing.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Well, today I went to get my bike for the first time in my own truck and have it in my own possession. It was previously in somebody elses shop. I've never ridden it.


Today I loaded it up into my truck and drove 30 miles towards my house when I stopped and got gas.

After I filled the bike up(2.2 gallons?!?) I promptly broke the ignition key off into the gas tank.

What a loving horrible day.

But it gives me time to get a new back tire on, new clutch levers, and the new straight gear shifter on before I really do any riding.


Yuck, I was really looking forward to riding on this holiday break!

Charles 1998
Sep 27, 2007

by VideoGames
God drat that sucks dude. My sister rides an SV 650 2005, and her boyfriend a SV 650 1999. Both have really thick keys, at least in comparison to the tiny little Kawasaki ones, so you must have used a lot of force.

Don't you have a spare? You can just tape down the gas tank or something and ride with the spare.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
nope. Today was the first ray I had the key in my hand. I think the key had been bent and rebent before I got my ha ds on it. It's locksmith time I guess!


Ugh

Parlett316
Dec 6, 2002

Jon Snow is viciously stabbed by his friends in the night's watch for wanting to rescue Mance Rayder from Ramsay Bolton
I have an 07 SV650s no mods. I need some goddamn winter gear!

yummycheese
Mar 28, 2004

I have an 06 sv650s

Ive crashed twice on it and it sure does crash well. Guy before me dropped it twice. It was the 4th time that it was crashed that really busted it up. Before then it was just a few minor scrapes.

Even now all I did was take the front headlamp fairing off and put a headlamp off a quad on it.

Here is a picture of it now (my personal hosting)



Just this last week I put new sonic springs and oil in the front. A zx10r shock in the back and a lightly used set of power pilots on front and rear. It really is a different bike now.

Any goons in phoenix az wanna ride?

TheFonz
Aug 3, 2002

<3
That is not 06 blue...

PowderedToastmensch
Aug 25, 2003

DIES IST TECHNO SEX!!! OONCE OONCE OONCE OONCE!!

Parlett316 posted:

I have an 07 SV650s no mods. I need some goddamn winter gear!

Head over to NewEnough.com, that's where I get all my gear. Can't beat their satisfaction guarantee or the fact that they give you a 10$ gift certificate for posting a review of your order.


I've an '03, picked it up this past summer at 7200mi. Trying to keep riding through the winter. Anyone know any heated grips suggestions?

ranathari
May 26, 2006

by elpintogrande
Heated gloves are better than heated grips: the grips will warm your palms while the back of your hands freeze. Heated gloves will keep your entire hand warm.

Fart Car '97
Jul 23, 2003

Yep. In my mind you're way better off with a set of electrically heated gloves, like these: http://www.widder.com/html/Product/LectricG/index.htm

Also, if you're using a magnetic tank bag I strongly suggest you ditch it asap, from one 03 owner to another whose tank is now scratched due to a magnetic tank bag.

Zool
Mar 21, 2005

The motard rap
for all my riders
at the track
Dirt hardpacked
corner workers better
step back

Spiffness posted:

I'm running Pilot Powers CT2's on my SV and I love them over the stockers. Great tires. I was a bit worried about wet/cold weather performance but so far they've been just fine.

Can anyone recommend a set of flush mount or nice replacement stock turn signals?

A buddy was riding my SV today when he locked up the front REAR ENDED ZOOL and went down at about 10mph or so, my SV got it's first taste of pavement. Big honkin frame sliders did a great job of saving most of the bike, but the plastics got rashed a little bit and my turn signal got destroyed, along with my shift lever and left footpeg.

So it goes...

You left out a couple of minor details

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Okay I'm just about ready to pull my hair out.

Tonight I FINALLY GET IT HOME. I have two new brand new keys. The locksmith pulled the key out and made two copies.

I get it home tonight and the bike refuses to turn over. I tried several times to start it, eventually making the start barely even click. I checkd everything damnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sigh.

I'm really starting to think this sv is haunted.

I guess tomorrow I'm grabbing a battery tender and learning how to charge up a bike(never done it before)

I'm sure I'll find out I need a center stand or something else I don't have.

Ideas?

FlerpNerpin
Apr 17, 2006


To get to the battery you'll need to get under the seat. It'll be a simple operation, and there is no need for a center stand while you are charging the battery up.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Right on. I've been charging it since about 8:30 this morning. Seat removal was fun and easy :D

How long do I let this bad boy charge before I try starting it again?


And lets do a startup checklist for my newb self.

Fuel
Ignition
Nuetral
Engine Kill Switch
Clutch

(making sure the sidestand is fully up)

Anything newb mistake I might be doing, or any sv trick I might try?

ranathari
May 26, 2006

by elpintogrande
You only need the sidestand up if you're in gear. Sometimes hitting the starter on my bike does nothing (the engine doesn't even try to turn over) until I open the choke a bit, so give that a try.

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
got it running! Won't stay running though. If I let the throttle close or let the rpms drop while shifting it stalls. Where's the idle screw on a 1st ten sv?

FlerpNerpin
Apr 17, 2006


There is a ton of good information here:

http://www.sv650.org/sv_faq.htm

Though I couldn't googlefu' you the idle screw, Z3n will likely be along shortly...

FlerpNerpin fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Nov 30, 2008

ranathari
May 26, 2006

by elpintogrande
Kneel on the left side of the bike, look inside the triangle just before the vertical section of the frame. Should see a small black knob pointing outwards and backwards with a slot in the top, which is the idle adjuster. Get the engine warm then turn it off, adjust the idle speed with a screwdriver and turn it back on.

Edit: couldn't find a single photo of the left hand side of an SV but it's this area of the bike on the left hand side.

ranathari fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Nov 30, 2008

Captain Apollo
Jun 24, 2003

King of the Pilots, CFI
Cool. Is that black screw cased in a plastic housing? I didn't think it would be that one because its so easily flexible. I'll give her a try later.


After running around for an hour today, stalling at low rpms, I tried to start her up after about a 3 hour rest.

She barely starts, after a couple unsuccessful tries. Then when she does start and I try to put her in first, the engine grabs and the clutch seems to engage even though I'm holding it all the way down. Then it stalls out completely.


I'm kinda hoping I didn't get really screwed on this bike. I'm sure I just need to clean the carbs or blah blah blah but I'd really just like to start riding.

Minor projects are awesome, but only when I know what to do/how to figure it out! :D


Can anybody help me diagnose my bike?

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Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
Sounds like it's the carbs.

But if you don't know the routine for your bike, it could just be stalling out because you don't have the choke all the way open.

Pull the choke all the way open (towards you as you sit on the bike) and start the bike. It should idle at around 2k for about 5-20 seconds and then jump up to around 4k. You can back it down (push it away from you) until the engine idles at around 2k for a bit, pop on your gloves, etc, and then hop on and ride off.

If it dies when you give it throttle, it's because the carbs are clogged and you're not getting fuel.

You could have also adjusted the idle adjustment so rich that the bike no longer runs, which is why it's dying when you back off the throttle.

IIRC, if you turn the adjuster clockwise, it'll up the idle, and if you turn it counterclockwise, it'll lower the idle. Don't recall for sure, though. Wait until the engine is warmed up before adjusting it, use the choke until it's all ready to go.

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