Suzuki SV650S Review

“I have been riding a K8 SV Sport from new for three...”

Written on: 01/07/2009

Good Points
Style, handling, real world performance, individuality, value

Bad Points
Not good for what it was not designed for (like me!)

General Comments
I have been riding a K8 SV Sport from new for three months. Handling is sublime but I'm a bit worried about where the tyres are going in terms of wear. The Dunlop Sportmax leave a 1cm (possibly less but I'm not going to actually measure it) strip of unworn contact with the ground at the front, but more than twice that at the rear - the opposite relation of wear ratio that I experienced with my last two bikes - a Triumph Sprint RS, and a 1999 Suzuki SV650S. These were on Bridgestone BT 020 tyres which wore the tyres off the edge on the rears and kept a good 1 cm of unworn contact on the front. The SV is briliant and a faster and more relaxing bike to ride than the aforementioned Triumph in real road riding conditions, despite its relative lack of power - all the power (and torque) you need for the road is there and the lightness and nimble chassis make up for everything that more powerfull bikes produce, and it's so cheep!