The 2004-2005 Suzuki accessory brochure hit my doormat yesterday. Thought you might like to see what's on offer. Naturally no prices were included.

Hi John

We are the UK importer for Zero Gravity screens, they are superior quality and available in stock replacement, double bubble and sport touring for both the SV650 and the SV1000, they come in various colours. Check them out at either www.zerogravity-racing.com  or www.tts-performance.com  they retail at £55.00 plus VAT & carriage.

Cheers Jan

Ironic that this should drop into my intray after all the talk about melting clocks

Hi John, Just got my website up and running and was hoping to include your website as a link as it's a great website. Would this be okay? If so, could you include my website on your links page? It's : www.globalsuperbikes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk 

Let me know if that's alright. (link added)

Cheers Pete Morris

GlobalSuperBikes

Hi guys, My latest project for my 99 naked Sv is a fairing conversion. I would like to purchase an R1 front fairing (top part only) to modify it into a bikini fairing for my bike. If any of you guys read my articles in the past you'd know I converted my bike to clip ons and rear sets which I find very comfortable and has turned the bike into a great carver. Also changed rear sprocket to 44 teeth as on SV650S. You may ask why I didn't purchase the SVS from the start, but the thing is I never did like the front bulgy fairing (no offence to SVS owners of course, this is only my opinion). This picture of a bimota DB5 inspired me to do something similar on the front. I've also found that some scooter parts can be used for indicators following the DB5 fashion. Guess if done right should look great.

So any of you people know from were I could find that R1 front fairing with headlight, mirrors and all?

Regards,

zunkus

I've just read this months page and have noticed that several people have suffered from melting clocks. A friend of mine works for Poole motorcycles (Dorset) and one of the first bits of advice he gave me as a new biker was NOT TO BUY A DOUBLE BUBBLE SCREEN for this very reason! As a solution has anybody tried fitting dark screen tint to the inside of the screen? Maybe this would cut down on the amount of light coming through the screen and shouldn't effect any iridium etc coatings on the outside? Just a thought but not tried it mind cos have only got a standard screen!

Carl Prewett

Hi John,

Just read the article about melting clocks, and I seem to remember this affected the old shape SV as well. I am sure there was a certain brand of screen that magnified the sunlight onto the clocks.

I also read that you are thinking of changing your brake lines? Go to www.ride-out.com, and you will find a link to a page listing members discounts:

"HEL have kindly offered a massive 25% discount to our members, just Quote Ride-out.com to a Mr. Simon Lane."

You may want to let the rest of the gang know about this! Biaggi, Roberts, etc all use HEL lines.

Enjoy the last days of good weather!

Martyn Daniels

Hi,

I've saw the post on the website, I've had my dash melt on my SP2 and HONDA accept its an issue with sunlight at a certain angle focusing on the dash and melting a line in it as the sun moves..

Thought you might like to know.

Pete Smith

Thanks Pete, I'm sure Chris Viney below will be interested. John

Hello John,

Long time no speak (if you get my drift?) Thought I'd send you a pic of the latest paint job. Probably the last on this bike, as it's coming up on 100,000 miles now (but we'll see). This must be a record mileage, any one else topped this?

When I get time I'm aiming at writing down the highs & lows of the past couple of years with the SV Good idea, I'll publish it here if you like. No plans to change just yet, but I'll have my eyes open at the NEC this year ( fancy the KODO MT01). I think I know what this is, might have seen one at the NEC last year.

Sorry I couldn't make the rideout this year, but once the date was set I knew it clashed with Silverstone Racing and I had a freebie for hospitality for that. I don't blame you for holding onto the freebie, there'll be another rideout next year, by which time you'll have changed the colour scheme of the SV again ;-)

Might just hold on to the SV for next year?

Cheers Mark.

Little images of my bike loaded up for a little trip :P

André

Hi John  As a big fan of the little SV and as it is my first bike I have invested time and money making it look the mutts nuts and found it only fair to share the pictures with all. I have ridden a lot of friends bikes but am always glad to get back on the SV even if my friends do not want to hand it over. Hope you enjoy the pictures and post them onto your board, I have used all Suzuki parts for body work as this does give the best colour, but my best part is a cheap exhaust I use, £99 oval Viper can as I wanted to hear what a race can would sound like but not pay the earth for it. The shop said it would not last 6 months but I have had it on for 15 months and still looks great no rust or holes and best of all a mate with another SV with Scorpion can said mine sounded better all the way through the rev range. Anyway great site keep up the good work.

Will Pidgeon (Worthing, West Sussex)

Hello John.

It's Kris from Poland how you know. I writing this because I want tell about my holiday. And I can speak a lot of this. It was really hard travel for hard men. I was in Ukraine on my SV. 7-bikes (SV, Varadero ,Hornet ,SuperTenere, Dragstar, RoyalStar, Shadow), and 1 car. 6 person 18-28 years old, and 3 about 50 (grandfathers ;-) ) We made 4680km in 2 weeks. In 1 side we rode 3 days. Last day to there was worst-18 hours in saddle, 770km, 500 km in rain (or tornado rather!!!).You can't ride fast cause roads there awful. In Poland we have bad roads too, but... . I rode 1000km without bike numbers (reg plate) cause from holes it broke. Our destination was Sewastopol a beautyfull city and Krym generally. It's 1960km from my home. But what can I say that WE THERE BACK! This is a very beautiful place in the world! And travel is challenge. Hard, long and without comfort. But Ukraine is very beautiful country with excellent people.

What about my SV? (It's from 2000 year and have 42640 km!Shit!) - 1 spark damage (a new Denso! after 2000 km), why? - a hole in tire (why me?) there is no problem with vulcanization - front fork problem. It works properly but on the irregularity road there is a loudly knocks from there. I suppose that front fork is "beat in" or "knock out" (I don't know how it say) from wheelie or bad roads. I don't know what parts inside front fork is responsible for this noise. I want change this parts because a new front fork is too expensive. Do you know what I could change? -front brake discs is a little bit crooked. I feel a vibes while breaking. Can I straighten it? So. But I really pleased of my bike. You can put this on your web site of course if you want. I send you a 19 photos (1,8MB) but we made 550.

Best regards. Kris.

I couldn't post all Kris's photos, as I have to consider space and keep the images biking or SV relevant. Sounds like an excellent trip.

Hi

About three months ago I put a powerbronze blue matrix double bubble screen on my 2003 sv650, since doing this the clock surround has started to melt.

I took the bike back to my dealer and they blamed the melting on the new screen and because it wasn't standard it means it is not covered by warranty. I wrote to powerbronze and they said that their screen would not melt anything as the screens actually reflect the sunlight, instead of letting it through. I went back to my dealer and told them this, also armed with a letter from powerbronze and they still say it is because of the screen and turned me away.

So I would like to know if you have heard of any other members having this problem and also to warn others not to buy the double bubble screens if what they say is true. the offending dealer is rob wilshers in Southampton, who have not been very helpful, and so far I have tried not to use them and opted to go to crescents in Bournemouth instead.

Let me know if anyone else has had similar trouble

Thanks Chris Viney

c.viney#lawson-his.co.uk (change # to @)

I'm sure I heard a story of other people having this problem with the new SV. Must be piss -poor plastics if it can't cope with a bit of heat in the UK.  I'd go and speak you local trading standards officer for advice. Might be worth doing a Google on this too, because it definitely rings a bell, and any other cases will strengthen your position.

Hi John, Don’t know if this rally has already been highlighted on the website, but I believe it is in everyone’s interest to at least be aware of the rally. Don’t know how to publicise this letter explaining timings and route etc on the website, or if it’s even possible? Cheers for the excellent site, it helped me to make a great choice for my first road bike (at 49!!!)

Cheers Baldyman (Leigh)

Dear Supporter,

Thank you for visiting the KillSpills website and adding your name to our on line petition. Without your help, our campaign would not have made such an impact.

-Are you fed up with diesel spills? -Do you want to improve road safety for bikers and other road users? -Do you want to be part of one of the biggest bike rallies London has ever seen?

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions then the KillSpills Team would like to personally invite you, and as many of your biking friends to join us at the KillSpills road safety rally to be held at the Ace Café London at 11am on the 11th September.

Don’t just read about it in the news and magazines, be a part of it! Join the KillSpills team at the Ace Café, Ace Corner, North Circular Road, Stonebridge, London, at 11am on the 11th September 2004.

The route will take the rally from the Ace Café, onto the North Circular road, heading towards Hangar Lane. We will then take the A40 to Paddington, turning off onto the Edgware Road, Park Lane, Marble Arch, Constitution Hill, Queen Victoria Memorial, The Mall, Trafalgar Square and on down Whitehall. The bikes will park at Millbank. We will set off at approximately 12.00 hours from the Ace Café, arriving at Millbank at 13.30 hours. The KillSpills team will continue to Downing Street and hand the petition in at 14.00 hours. The team will return to Millbank around 14.30 hours where there will be time for group photos. A minute’s silence in memory of 9/11 will be held at 15.00 hours. The Police will then escort the rally back to the Ace Café

If you intend to come to the rally, reply to this email and let us know your coming.

The rally is designed to be a fun day, showing the caring and responsible side to motorcycling, whilst delivering what we believe to be a very important road safety message to the Government. The route we will take will pass a lot of the major sights so there will be plenty of opportunity for you to waive at passers bye.

The KillSpills team really appreciate your support, we can and will make a difference, and your attendance here today re-enforces our safety message.

Visit www.killspills.org.uk for more details.

Thank you for your support, we look forward to seeing you at the rally.

Stephen Edwards, Daz Bourne, Jo Evans, Neil Flitcroft Martin Fishwick

The KillSpills Team

Hi John,

My name is MiniTim and I created the whole MiniTwin race series. I like the sense of community within the Sv 650 owners established by this site.

May I suggest that the community of MiniTwins and the community of SV owners can unite by organised ride outs to visit the MiniTwin race days?

There are only a few dates left of the 2004 season, (Brands 11and 12th sept, Silverstone 24th sept, Snetterton 2-3 oct, Lydden non championship 9th oct and brands 23rd oct Finals), but it may provide a taster of the the response to such a suggestion with a view to regular spectator attendance.

This will help raise the profile of both the site and the racing.

I would also like to establish a link from your site to mine, is that possible? I am at www.MiniTwin-Engineering.com Of Course!

The race series is primarily for riders wishing to race on a sensible budget who are finding the SV to be the weapon of choice. By promoting the series to the Sv owners we may be attracting riders who already know the virtues of the SV and fancy a go at racing. Same net result approached from a different direction.

I run MiniTwin-Engineering from home to keep the cost down as much as poss. I intend to maintain low overheads and low prices for all concerned. I feel there is little point in spending all this time creating a budget series only to over charge participants for spares and the like.

I launched the company purely to provide the pieces of the racing jigsaw which were not already commonly available.

I run a large race team alongside this company which looks after 5 riders. I am the only race team who will take on complete rookie racers and coach them each step of the way. I think the sport can be dangerous enough without blindfolding yourself.

TWO magazine and Streetfighter magazine both have bikes in the series and therefore publish a write up of all their antics each month. Minis are possibly being promoted into National status events for 2005 with the creation of MRO MiniTwins. The club races will still exist for the lower level but it shows the depth of interest.

I was charged with looking after Harriet from TWO who rode at the French Mini round recently. Look out for her write up in the next issue.

There was a full grid of minis all season so far, with five extra SV's in the supertwins class at Cadwell this weekend. This probably makes them the single most common model in the race paddock now! Who would have imagined that a couple of seasons ago ( apart from me) ? I used to get surprised looks when I used mine as a track day instructor, now riders are buying them as track specific bikes.

I will be publicising spaces available in the MiniTwin-Engineering race team for 2005 in the next couple of months, and i would like to offer support to any of the SV owners on the site who decide to give it a go.

thanx for taking the time to read this

Speak soon,

TiM tim@minitwin-engineering.com

Firstly thanks to Mitch Cave for this months cover shot, very nice. Some of you may have seen these shots in the forum but it's worthy of a repeat on the home page.

Were did August go, I missed it completely? I managed to get out for one lengthy run a couple of weeks ago with DarylB to the Devils Bridge in darkest Wales, but apart from that it's just been the daily commute.

I got the SV MOT'd in the middle of July, it's 5th Birthday. No real problems, although I was warned the front brakes pads were a bit low. These are the original pads and they have now covered 20k miles. So you can see that I'm not a hard braker. Can't say why this is, maybe because I was brought up on early Jap bikes were the brakes were a lot poorer than they are to day, so you rode around the problem. I must admit the brakes were feeling a bit soggy, they seemed to lack bite. This has happened before and the best way to bring them back was to go for a hard thrash and really use them hard. I guess this took the glaze off the pads. This approach wasn't work anymore, so I assumed it was time to get ride of the ageing rubber brake lines and invest in some braded versions. But I didn't do that.... for some reason I recalled that brakes can feel lacking when the pads start to get low, don't know why. So I bought some EBC HH pads. The old pads were far from expired when I came to replace them, sure they were low, but they might have lasted another year with the mileage I do. I junked them anyway. I took the bike for a spin after the job was finished and can't say I was immediately impressed, but then after a mile or two and things has warmed up!!!...wow, my brakes were back. Loads of bite and feel, merest touch on the lever and instant reaction.  Don't get the impression that these pads will be a liability in the wet, they won't. Recommended!  I still plan to dump the brake line this winter and I might fit some SunRiser bars at the same time.

Make the most of what's left of Summer.

John