Just a quick line to let you know that all the details of the Wheeltrax Nürburgring weekend have been sorted. Details can be found on the SV650.org Forum.

I am contacting all member who advertise their e-mail addresses on the forum. If you are in contact with anyone interested in the trip who may not have e-mail please make sure that they are informed.

If we want to secure our places at the hotel we need to get a list of names together as soon as possible. Your help in this would be very much appreciated. (It would also be a good idea to be able to arrange the ferry well in advance).

Looking forward to seeing you all,

Kevin Smith

Tour Director

Wheeltrax Motorcycle Tours

Its taken me a little while to get round to it, but I've hosted on my site the images of the MCN article about the SV that me a Scoob's appeared in. Below are the links to the images that I though you might like to add.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/thegrinch/Imagefiles/mcn%20title.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/thegrinch/Imagefiles/mcn%20words1.jpg

Regards,

Daniel Martin Aka Grinch Homepage: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/thegrinch

I love the comments about the much larger indicators on the later machine. So the experienced MCN writer can't spot aftermarket mini indicators on the old shape SV. I think the tea boy writes most of these articles.

Might want see the the old girl with Stebel Nutilus horn , DL hand guards and Beowulf rad guards.

Philthunder

Hi john, Hope all is well Just thought i would let you know we have moved business premises and have a new contact telephone number . Our new address is:-

UNIT 3

UNITY COURT,

BROADMEAD LANE ,

KEYNSHAM,

BRISTOL.

BS31 1ST.

TEL/FAX 01179 868844

We are making some BIG changes to our business and to our machine shop, we are taking delivery of a new dynojet 250i rolling road which will allow us to use the new tuning link software offered by dynojet, as well as this we will be able to offer our customers more of our products which have been tested on the track over the last 2 years of racing the sv650 within the minitwins series. We are also embarking on a new project with the SV1000 and more news will be available soon, but to say we shall be racing 2 machines in the sound of thunder class within NG road racing and New Era clubs. And we are hoping to be able to Race the SV1000 in the TT this year (fingers crossed.). Keep an eye on our web site for further details and up dates. Best wishes and the best of luck.

James Holland www.jhsracing.co.uk

Calling all fellow SVer’s ! (and Hairnets, Kwaks, Dukes, whatever you ride) This is your chance to show what a great community we are! I know there have been lots of appeals recently but this one concerns a fellow biker and therefore is closer to home to everyone here on this site.

On April 17th, 2005, I shall be running the London Marathon. Well, you don’t run 26.2 miles and miss out on the opportunity to raise some money for a good cause.

Please read on for more details, but here are the links if you would like to sponsor me for my good causes; see here : http://www.justgiving.com/svrunner  (RNIB) and see here : http://www.justgiving.com/stevecowen  (Littlehavens)

What’s the relevance to SV650.org?

I bring your attention to the following posted by Debs (alias Coolgirl) (the original was lost when the sv650.org site crashed for about a week towards the end of last year)

coolgirl wrote:

It is with deep sadness that I announce my retirement from biking. Here’s why:

Ten years ago, a routine eye test identified an unusual result to a standard exercise. Following inconclusive tests, I was referred to Moorfields Eye Hospital, where I was immediately diagnosed with a rare genetic disease of the macula. Basically, it’s a degeneration of the back of the eye. If you want to know more, this is a good source of information

http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_rnib003658.hcsp 

My consultant, Professor Alan Bird, said he couldn’t put a date on when I’d start to have problems with my vision, but said I should expect to start to have difficulty reading and driving within ten years. I was advised to do some of the things that I might not be able to, or might have difficulty with in the future – having a child was one of them and getting my bike licence was another. My partner at the time was supportive and we decided to have Isaac. The bike license came a few years later.

Following discussions with Prof Bird last year, we decided that as my eyesight is now deteriorating significantly, this would be my last season on the bike. I always knew this would come, so have felt pretty well prepared for it, but it doesn’t make it any easier. The DVLA have put me on a temporary license for both car and bike until 2007. However, having gotten into biking more that I ever expected, I am well aware that acuteness of vision is an asset, and decided that it isn’t worth the risk to myself or anyone else to continue to ride. I will hang onto the car for a while though.

I had planned to have a farewell rideout over the next few weeks, but recent events have left me with no heart for biking or appetite for celebration, so I’ll slip away quietly. Bullseye’s going up for sale in the next few days, stripped back to standard, so keep an eye on the ‘for sale’ board if you’re after any of the trick bits.

But I do have some great memories of my two lovely SVs, Soho meets, crazy rideouts with loads of fellow nutters (Hastings in a hailstorm in February, anyone?), did the inaugural Eurotour 2004, faced my fears on the track at Brands twice, and finally got my knee down last month - on a cracking left-hand hairpin going up the St Croix pass in Switzerland no less. Best of all though, I have met some fantastic people, whom I am proud to call my friends, and who have stood by me throughout the difficult times such as when I had my big off and broke my jaw, and through the devastating events of the last few weeks. I mention no names, but you know who you are and you’d better go dig out your pillion seats from the back of the shed cos I’m gonna be needing a ride……

With lots of love to you all

Debs x

PS If anyone has any photos or footage of me riding, I’m compiling an album and DVD, and would appreciate copies.

I was lucky enough to be able to buy Coolgirl’s rennegade exhaust. However, after reading why she was selling I decided to volunteer to raise some money (£1,000) for the RNIB by running the London marathon on Deb’s behalf.

Unfortunately however, I didn’t get an automatic place through the ballot system but was forced to secure a golden bond charity place. I got my place through a local charity here in Southend called Littlehavens, who do some fantastic work for the terminally ill. For more info see here; http://www.seech.org.uk 

This means however that I have to raise a further £1,000.

So please, one and all, I need as much help as I can possibly get. Please help me meet my sponsorship targets by donating yourselves, and spreading the word amongst your friends, family, work colleagues, other forum sites etc.

I shall be putting a lot of effort into achieving my target time of 4hours and 20mins. In the 16 weeks between Jan 1st and April 16th I am aiming to run about 425 miles in training. So far in 6 weeks I have run 115 miles. That’s a lot of blisters and not a lot of time for fund raising. So please please please, help as much as you can.

You can donate by visiting the following web sites; see here : http://www.justgiving.com/svrunner  (RNIB) and see here : http://www.justgiving.com/stevecowen  (Littlehavens)

many thanks in anticipation of your help and generosity

Steve (Svrunner)

Hi John, would you be so kind and add a link for HM Racing a Kent (Green Street Green) based tuning business they did a superb job on my K3 SV new full Akrapovic system ( road Legal ) K & N filter and a retune on a Yoshimura box. Which surprisingly develops more mid-range power with the baffle in but doesn't sound so cool.

They were extremely helpful, gave good advice and have boundless experience in tuning race and road bikes of all kinds. They will also be involved in racing minitwins this year. So expect new and exciting developments for our SV's. I had a word with them and they would be happy to add their link to the site. Give the site a look

www.hmracing.co.uk 

Many thanks the site is great and so useful

Phil Cooper

Greetings,

Every year at the end of November Bikers throughout South Africa participate in a Toy Run. The idea is to collect toys for underprivileged and needy children and the toys are usually handed over to a couple of charities to do the final distribution. The "Run" usually starts at a local shopping centre (who proved us parking space) followed by a short ride to a Polo Pony club about 20 Kms away. Here the Toys are handed in and we usually hang around at the food and drink stalls for a while before going home. The bikes are usually escorted by the Police and the whole morning is very organised. From Durban this year we had about 4000 bikes of all shapes and sizes, from 50cc through to 1200cc including off road bikes which the Police turn a blind eye to for the day.

My apologies for the timing, my PC has not been well and I had to wait for the pictures to be developed and then scanned.......

Regards, Dave Loubser.

Sounds just like the one that occurs in Shrewsbury each year, only ours is wet and miserable.

John, Just a a quick one to show you some modifications I have done to my K4; Suzuki lower fairing kit; Suzuki single seat converter; ermax hugger; hamicad fender eliminator; 8'' by 6'' number plate; motographix tank pad; Harris paddock stand bobbins. The crash protection for the lower fairing is on its way as the DHM mushrooms I had fitted aren't compatible with the lower fairing kit. I have also fitted a K3 exhaust as I came of earlier in the year and badly scuffed the can. The only thing is the mounting plate needs to be drilled for it to fit. (See Photo) I bought the K3 exhaust for £25 on eBay. Might be of interest to others as the K4 exhaust is around £600 to replace from Suzuki and there aren't many second hand one floating about. Cheers Calvin

Calvin McFarlane

Dear John

Here some pictures of my yellow SV 650 of 2004. Now I have arranged some stuff on my bike. An undertray and wheel hugger from JMV Concept'' (I like the indicators). A original belly pan of Suzuki. An exhaust pipe from Laser with the unique dual sound concept. And an aluminium air thing (I don't know the word(Rad cover)). Can you please post them on the site. More to come if the weather is better in Belgium... at the moment very wet.

Greets

Jan Goris

Feb 1

Hi i took this picture of my pride and joy and am rather chuffed with the outcome , I would like to add it to the gallery. I'm afraid i don't know how to reduce the picture though. I have had the bike done in Rizla silver colours so ill send more pics later. Thanks Brian Mcintyre

Hi, hope you are all keeping well. I managed to go down with the flu since last month and that has caused me to slow up a bit. Still waiting for my Sunrisers to arrive although the new HEL brake lines are sitting here waiting.

Went to the Autosport show in mid Jan always a great show for petrol heads. http://www.autosport-international.com/ worth a trip if your in the NEC area during Jan.

Rideout 2005 is on my mind right now. I'm trying to keep up with the forum comments, but it's tricky now that the site is barred by my employers, so bear with me if replies are slow in coming.

My bike is still parked outside and in one piece. So far the winter has been mild in Shropshire, so every time the sun comes out I'm tempted to go for a spin, although there is always something else that draws me away. I need a time management system!

Spring is coming.

John

PS thanks to Mitch for the cover shot, it's either 50 below freezing or he's got some serious corrosion problems ;-)