I think awesome might be overstating things ;-)  Black does look good when it nice and glossy.

Sounds brilliant. I dropped Dave a reply to ask how he was getting on with mk2 SV after his mk1 got totalled. His reply.

John,

I have submitted an article in the past to SV650.org about a shifter repair. Recently, I have added a windscreen and did some research before deciding on a Givi A750. In this process, I developed a summary with pictures to help me decide based on looks and dimensions. Here is a copy of that summary. If you think other would like to see it, please feel free to post it so it can be shared with other SV'ers.

Regards,

Leslie

Brilliant, thanks

PDF file 275KB

A longer article is coming....

John,

Feisty Racing is an all girl motorcycle race team, the racing arm of www.bikegirl.co.uk  We are due to host a trackday, in conjunction with Focused Events, in July with the aim of encouraging as many female motorcyclists to meet up and try their hand at track riding. Obviously the spread of female bikers extends far and wide, so we are looking to get the word out on as many web sites as possible. I would be grateful if you would please grant me permission to post this flyer up on the site, or include it in your next mailshot to users. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Trix

Feisty Racing - 07880 714461

Happy to help.

The bike is obviously a 1999 sv650. I've had the bike about a year now, though it was off the road for 6 months . I started on it in October last year, but hey it's the winter so I wasn't to fussed about riding it. So work began and I started to strip the bike and prepare it for a few changes. Work on it stopped in about November because I just didn't have the energy to sit out in the cold garage. Anyway I finished what you see 2 weeks ago.

I've highly polished the swinging arm, front forks and wheels. Raised the rear of the bike with a jack-up kit. Put braided hoses all round and the rest can be seen on my pics. All of which I had done myself, as I didn't want to spend lots of money.

I decided that I wanted an orange paint and found this one, it didn't have a name just a code. And I brought a litre from my local paint supplier. It is a cellulose pearl based paint, which though it sounds really snazzy, its not so easy to get right. It took around 5 days to finish, because I had a couple of reactions where the paint peeled and flaked. This isn't the best thing in the world, when you've just spent £200 on paint. So it was back to square one and out came the wet n dry. To get the colour matched on all the panels, I had set up the garage so that I could spray everything in one go. Which to my amazement I only under sprayed one panel which was simple.

I lacquered all the parts which 2-pac. And I was left with two spots on the whole bike that came up orange peel. I rubbed these out with G3 compound. And buffed the whole bike with an ordinary vehicle buffer. The paint consists of a primer, then a copper pearl base coat and a top coat which looked like gold.

I used a 1.3 spray gun, and breathing apparatus. And some how managed to make my dull black Sv, look like it is straight out of the showroom. When I had so much trouble with reacting paint and spray painting in a garage with plastic dust sheets everywhere. So considering that, the end result is very impressive.

Its certainly been worth it now that I can ride it again. Raising the back end and putting the braided hoses on it, has really improved the ride. I've never had a bike with Braided hoses. Brakes are your life and it has certainly done wonders for this early SV.

I look forward to more sunny days so I can get out and enjoy now..

Stuart. It looks wonderful to me. Some people go over the top when they customise their bike, but this looks just right. Sounds like you had some experience in paint spraying, it's the one thing I've never managed to be good at. Enjoy the Summer.

ThunderSprint, 

May 12/13 - Northwich, Cheshire, Town Centre          

Free Admission and Free Parking

If you have any interest in motorcycling then Northwich Town Centre is the place to be on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday May 12 and 13 for the tenth Thundersprint, sponsored by eBike Insurance. Free admission, free grandstand seating and free parking, courtesy of Vale Royal Borough Council, ensures that the Thundersprint is the best value in motorcycle sport.

The weekend kicks off on Saturday 12 May with the Thundersprint Bike Show, sponsored by AGV Sport, at Winnington Park Rugby Club, which is two miles from Northwich town centre. There will be over 100 classic, race and custom bikes on show alongside a huge range of displays promoting rider safety.

Free test rides will be available from BMW and Ducati.

Thundersprint stars will be visiting the show throughout the afternoon and in the evening there is entertainment in the clubhouse. Admission to the show, and parking, is free of charge.

Winnington Park is also the venue for the Thundersprint camping.

On the following day, the show moves to Northwich town centre for the eBike Thundersprint. The centre of the action is the ultra tight, twisty sprint circuit laid out right in the town centre. Unlike a conventional race track, spectators can get close enough to the action to smell the race fuel and peer down the carburettor bellmouths: truly a unique experience when compared with sanitised, modern motorsport! There’s nothing in the world like seeing a works Honda scream just a few feet in front of you as the rider fights it through the testing, tree lined circuit.

The race entry is led by six times World Champion Jim Redman, riding a 1972 CR750 Honda which was the most powerful Superbike of its day. Dutch star Michael Buttinger will be in action on his almost unique Asama Honda.

Other exotics include Karin Leffrang and Steffen Bauermeister on their ultra rare, German built, AWO racers, which have never been seen before in Britain outside of the Thundersprint, and Chris Alty’s genuine Grand Prix, 50cc Kriedler - a 140mph moped!

Modern stars include British Superbike Champion Ryuichi Kiyonari and his HM Plant Honda team mate Jonathan Rea, works Kawasaki star Stuart Easton and Spanish Champion Pepin San Millan.

Also look out for "Top Gear’s" James May and a whole host of media personalities.

The lunchtime cavalcade has got to be the highlight away from the track. Over 200 race and road bikes will take a 5 mile trip around Northwich escorted by Cheshire Police. The sight and sounds of thoroughbred GP bikes screaming past the shopping centre is unmissable.

As the cavalcade returns to base get ready for another treat as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire salutes the racers with a stunning aerobatic display.

If the bikes can’t keep you entertained, there is everything from Morris Dancers and street theatre to a fine food centre. Then there is over a mile of trade stands with manufacturer displays from most of the leading marques and tons of biking bargains.

And, perhaps best of all, spectator access to the whole show is completely free of charge, including parking and grandstand seating. Can you beat that for value?

For more information, visit the Thundersprint website - www.thundersprint.com  - or ‘phone the event information line on 01928 740 498 between 9am and 8pm.

1st March 2007 - Boing!

Bit of an empty page at the moment, hopefully it will fill up ;-)  As I've mentioned before, the popularity of the forum has almost rendered this side of SV650.org obsolete. I say almost, as I think there is still a need for static site to bring order to the chaos that can envelope the forum.

The new forum engine has brought additional functionality and more importantly more stability. It might take a little while to get used to, but most of the tools you had before are still present, just tucked away in a different place.  There are also some extra features that I have discovered, that brought a smile to my face, such as being able to enter more than one recipient in a PM. So many thanks to TSM and Jonboy for their hard work.

So what's new here. I did manage to get my SV back out of the garage in the last week of Feb all nicely serviced. Not a great deal to do this year.  I was also happy to bump into my old SV in the bike shop next to my work place. It's only covered an extra 1k miles and still looks great.

Spring is starting to show it's face, and it's nice to ride home in the daylight again. Having said that it rained solid all day today :-(   Things can only get better.

Take care.

John