Hi John,

We came across your forum but noted you don't accept commercial posts. We also noticed you had a links section on your website (http://sv650.org/) for Gladius and SV650 bikes. We have a website that we think will be of interest to your readers and we wanted to know how we might get a listing.

The relevant pages of our website are;

http://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_group/Gladius

http://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_group/suzuki

Please can you let us know if this is possible.

Kind Regards, Jenny King

Tim Earnshaw sent me a couple of emails recently.

Hi John

I dropped Tim a reply asking for more details about the bike and the work carried out.

No accident, it hasn't been on the road since 2006 and all the paintwork had bubbled. Also I'm 45 now and getting a bit old for these crotch rockets and rather than buy a  bike with a more sedate riding position I decided to convert it. Took it for it's first run yesterday and with all that weight gone it really does shift. The tail  is a race R1 unit I got from a club racing pal. I had to build a new subframe for it. The exhaust is the same, a Kenz Sports race system (totally separate pipes) which sets car alarms off! I've fitted a top yoke from a naked SV, a set of Renthal drag bars, an enduro front light cowling and a Trail Tech digital speedo which was a nightmare to wire up. New fork stanchions were needed as they were rusty and pitted. I've painted it matt white and the frame, forks and swing arm are going to be shrink wrapped in matt black vinyl at a later date. It certainly turned a few heads when I took it out. Roll on summer.

This from an old friend called Ray who wanted to pick my brains about the racket his SV engine was making. Sounded like a flapping cam chain, but I'll let him tell the story.

John,

Just a quick update. After reading the forum about decent dealers near to where I live, I decided to give Orwell’s in Ipswich a try. I took the SV in yesterday for the cam chain rattles and a 30k service. The workshop supervisor had a listen to it and agreed that the noise was the cam chain. He said he had come across it before but it was not a common fault as my bike had the later type tensioners fitted. I was given a couple of month old GSR750 as a loan bike, and very nice it was indeed. The more upright riding position was good for the twisty bits but a pain at 80MPH on the dual carriageway. Overall a good handling bike with plenty of poke. I collected the SV as arranged in the afternoon. Some of the valves needed adjusting and they took both tensioners out cleaned them up. They felt they were a bit gummed up with old oil and this was causing them not to work properly. They refitted and reset them. They changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs & brake fluid. Reset the throttle bodies and carried out the rest of the checks required at 30K. I collected the SV and a £290 bill. Overall the work seems to have been done to a high standard and the cam chain is no longer rattling. The workshop supervisor who had listened to the bike earlier in the day took the payment and was good a explaining the problems with the cam chains and tensioners. He was impressed with the condition of the SV given its age and mileage. He had noticed that it had the original chain & sprockets and could not believe what condition they were in, although he suggested that they would probably need changing at the next service. This would give potentially 34k of service, and that’s with just good maintenance and no Scottoiler how bad!!!

Thanks for your help, hopefully see you the weekend.

Regards

Ray

How Ray gets that sort of mileage out of the chain and sprockets is one of life's mysteries

It's obviously been a while since last updated this page.  Needless to say there's not been a lot to report about, even the Suzuki press pages have nothing much to say at least about the SV or the Gladius. Having said that, I did note that Suzuki are offering a Gladius in Barry Sheene racing colours a month of so ago. I find that kind of sad that they have to stoop to that level to promote a bike that is clearly not selling as well as it's predecessor.

I'd like to say that I've been on loads of rides this summer, but the weather and other distracts have precluded that.

There was also a rumour that Suzuki have re-started production of the SV650s, I didn't know they'd stopped.  It really is about time Suzuki gave us a proper replacement for the SV, and not a tarted up Gladius in a race fairing. We want a they thrills of a Ducati without the Ducati prices or fragility.

Four months after removing the alarm from my SV, I still have a nervous tick about turning on the ignition, subconsciously expecting the siren to blare out.

The other big news, is the changing of the rules for choosing the annual rideout (AR). There is a saying "don't fix what isn't broken". I thought the old scheme was broken. Why? Well there was some odd results for some winning bids, that is strange voting patterns in other words. The mods were also tired of sorting out the constant spats that resulted in these voting periods. So in November I'll be asking the forum readers for bids on the running of AR13. These will be sealed bids to stop any carping before the result is announced. The mods and I will choose the best candidate based on various criteria such as location, planning and perceived popularity. I'll have the final say and then we'll publish the result and the bid details too. I'll be looking for good planning and location that the majority of people can get too and preparation.

My final ride out of the year will probably be the Staffordshire Classic Bike show in a couple of weeks time. No doubt it will bucket down.

John