Deviant Esq
22nd December 2007, 11:47
Well... had my full licence for nearly three weeks now (nice new photo one arrived in the mail just before the weekend), so I thought it was high time I got my tail out and test rode something bigger than the NZ. So after shaking off much drowsiness this morning I shot down to Sportzone Suzuki to have a wee browse over what they had available. It was actually very busy down there this morning, lots of punters, but I got attention right away from a guy, who after learning I was wanting to step up from my 250, intruduced me to the sales manager (whose name I forget... for reasons coming up :whistle:).
We nattered on about this and that, what might suit me next, and ended up chatting about the SV650 quite a bit, what it was good at and so on. I thought to myself "at least half sales pitch, so don't take it too seriously...", but it sounded like it would suit me quite nicely as a step up bike. "Only problem is," said the sales manager, "we don't have an SV650 demonstrator, only an SV1000, and you'd appreciate that I'm a little reluctant to have you test ride that." I tended to agree with him, not sure I'd handle the 'thou having never really ridden anything but my NZ. Sure, a dabble here, a dabble there, but... you know.
Anyway, couple more minutes idle chitchat and he seems to think to himself 'fuck it, really busy, need to get this guy out of the way for a minute or two..." so he says: "Alright, do you want to take the [K7] SV1000S out for a ride?" So I thought to myself "No, might pack myself, and I don't think I'm ready to jump straight on a 'thou from my single banger 250...", but the words that somehow escaped my lips were "sure thing, why not?!" :eek5:
The demonstrator was rolled out, which was a sparkley blue, with a full Yoshimura exhaust system. Sure was loud... Anyway, after stalling it once (whoops :o), I headed over to phoenixgtr's place.
First impressions? Within 100 metres I was thinking to myself "jeez... this feels really easy to ride. Really planted, power really progressive"... That impression carried on throughout the ride. Sure, there was four times the power I'm used to on my NZ250, and you've got to respect that, naturally, but aside from knowing it was there and playing with roll on throttle to get a feel for it, I never felt like it was going to bite me, which was nice. It's definitely much bigger than the NZ250 (duh), but it didn't feel terribly heavy. More pressure on my lower back and wrists than with my bike - more "hunched over" seating position - but not uncomfortable. Nice.
After ogling it for a few minutes at phoenix's place, and idly wondering about how many neighbours it'd wake up at night (thanks, Mr Yoshimura...), phoenix needed little convincing to come for a fang with me. So off we went up Dyers Pass Road in the hot morning sunshine. I soon got a feel for the handling, which, if I didn't shift my weight, felt a little unstable in the front end, and a slight tendancy to want to sit up again... but once I got used to shifting my weight a little it came right and felt nicely planted, happy to lean progressively and smoothly. And the noise! Mmm... :drool:
On back into town again we went down Gasson Street, and immediately got stopped by a set of lights. Phoenix pulled up in the lane next to me and I knew what was required. Lights went green, a few revs, easy on the clutch, pull away quickly but smoothly, roll on the throttle... and without warning the front wheel lifted clean off the ground! :Oops:
I immediately rolled back off the throttle again and the front regained terra firma. My immediate reaction was "...." quickly followed by "wheeeee!!!! :woohoo: I wanna go again!!" I wasn't expecting it at all, and it's still hard to believe I've managed quite an impressive wheelie without even meaning to... but the thing that made me feel good was that it felt so controlled and stable. Once the front touched down again there were no shakes, no rattles... it was as though I'd never had the front off the ground. Phoenix was chuckling away inside his lid at my manic grins, but it'd surprised him too.
Dropped the bike back off at Sportzone shortly afterwards for a bit of hard thinking on what I might buy. Somehow not so sure it'll be an SV650 any more!!
Short version: Liked it. A lot. Handled, plenty of grunt, sounded very horny... but also very rideable and user friendly. For a first test ride, I've very glad I rode it. It will give me a very good base to work from!
Sadly I didn't even think about taking pics (will have to remedy that), but here's what it looked very much like (not sure it had the belly pan, mind) Edit: It did have the belly pan. :
We nattered on about this and that, what might suit me next, and ended up chatting about the SV650 quite a bit, what it was good at and so on. I thought to myself "at least half sales pitch, so don't take it too seriously...", but it sounded like it would suit me quite nicely as a step up bike. "Only problem is," said the sales manager, "we don't have an SV650 demonstrator, only an SV1000, and you'd appreciate that I'm a little reluctant to have you test ride that." I tended to agree with him, not sure I'd handle the 'thou having never really ridden anything but my NZ. Sure, a dabble here, a dabble there, but... you know.
Anyway, couple more minutes idle chitchat and he seems to think to himself 'fuck it, really busy, need to get this guy out of the way for a minute or two..." so he says: "Alright, do you want to take the [K7] SV1000S out for a ride?" So I thought to myself "No, might pack myself, and I don't think I'm ready to jump straight on a 'thou from my single banger 250...", but the words that somehow escaped my lips were "sure thing, why not?!" :eek5:
The demonstrator was rolled out, which was a sparkley blue, with a full Yoshimura exhaust system. Sure was loud... Anyway, after stalling it once (whoops :o), I headed over to phoenixgtr's place.
First impressions? Within 100 metres I was thinking to myself "jeez... this feels really easy to ride. Really planted, power really progressive"... That impression carried on throughout the ride. Sure, there was four times the power I'm used to on my NZ250, and you've got to respect that, naturally, but aside from knowing it was there and playing with roll on throttle to get a feel for it, I never felt like it was going to bite me, which was nice. It's definitely much bigger than the NZ250 (duh), but it didn't feel terribly heavy. More pressure on my lower back and wrists than with my bike - more "hunched over" seating position - but not uncomfortable. Nice.
After ogling it for a few minutes at phoenix's place, and idly wondering about how many neighbours it'd wake up at night (thanks, Mr Yoshimura...), phoenix needed little convincing to come for a fang with me. So off we went up Dyers Pass Road in the hot morning sunshine. I soon got a feel for the handling, which, if I didn't shift my weight, felt a little unstable in the front end, and a slight tendancy to want to sit up again... but once I got used to shifting my weight a little it came right and felt nicely planted, happy to lean progressively and smoothly. And the noise! Mmm... :drool:
On back into town again we went down Gasson Street, and immediately got stopped by a set of lights. Phoenix pulled up in the lane next to me and I knew what was required. Lights went green, a few revs, easy on the clutch, pull away quickly but smoothly, roll on the throttle... and without warning the front wheel lifted clean off the ground! :Oops:
I immediately rolled back off the throttle again and the front regained terra firma. My immediate reaction was "...." quickly followed by "wheeeee!!!! :woohoo: I wanna go again!!" I wasn't expecting it at all, and it's still hard to believe I've managed quite an impressive wheelie without even meaning to... but the thing that made me feel good was that it felt so controlled and stable. Once the front touched down again there were no shakes, no rattles... it was as though I'd never had the front off the ground. Phoenix was chuckling away inside his lid at my manic grins, but it'd surprised him too.
Dropped the bike back off at Sportzone shortly afterwards for a bit of hard thinking on what I might buy. Somehow not so sure it'll be an SV650 any more!!
Short version: Liked it. A lot. Handled, plenty of grunt, sounded very horny... but also very rideable and user friendly. For a first test ride, I've very glad I rode it. It will give me a very good base to work from!
Sadly I didn't even think about taking pics (will have to remedy that), but here's what it looked very much like (not sure it had the belly pan, mind) Edit: It did have the belly pan. :