Of course this annual event took place while my access was broken. For those that attended, and it was very well attended, I hope you had a good time. I had to cry off this year as once again it fell on the weekend that I'd booked my family holiday. "why did you choose that weekend" I hear you cry, well I don't have a lot of choice, all my work colleagues want time off in school holidays too and I have to fit in with them. I much preferred it when we held this event in May or June, still democracy is the way we work here.

I can't believe that the last update on this page was the 21 May. Sorry for that, but there has been some good reasons. First I've been having an extension built on my house which has taken a lot of my attention and we've, well TSM, has moved the website and forum to a new server, which required sorting access out etc.

So what else has been happening, Well I had a weekend biking break with my chums from London in North Devon at the end of June. Very jolly it was too. Before I set off, I got the bike MOT'd and that in turn required a new rear tyre, so a new Conti was ordered and fitted.

I met up with the London crew on the M5 at Taunton services and we set off for Croyde. So far no problems. Day two we took a trip to Bude via a scenic route through the middle of nowhere, so one of the Tony could look at car for sale (another story). A mile or so in and I heard a 'Gloing' noise from the rear tyre. I must have clipped a stone and sent in pinging off into the hedge whilst cornering on an island. Something about the sound didn't sound right though!  I took it steady for a few miles just in case the tyre was damaged, all seemed well, so I carried on. After a good 30-40 minutes, I soon become aware that the backend didn't feel quite right. I'd just got to the point of pulling over to take a look when Tony behind started flashing me. Yep a big flat tyre.

This is the point were you curse the SV for not having a centre stand. So Tony pushed the bike forward while I looked for foreign objects in the rubber. No foreign objects but there was a hole in the tyre the size of the Mersey tunnel. B******s!  Now I did have tin of tyre weld on me, but it was clear that it would take more than that to plug this hole. So it was time to call Carol Nash and use that useful bonus of a breakdown service. A couple of phone calls and the truck was on it's way. Meantime a very nice lady who was cutting her lawn offered us all drinks. We had conveniently stopped by a farm entrance ;-)

The breakdown guy arrived and wasn't overly sure what to do with me. I thought there was not point in going to a Kwik Fit, which is what this chap had in mind, so I asked to go to the nearest large bike emporium. Luckily NCM in Bude sprang to the chaps mind and off we set. The guys at NCM were a great bunch, I think they were all ex-despatch riders from London. The tyre was changed for a Pirelli Diablo something, well I didn't expect them to have a Conti. They didn't rip me off on the price and within 30 mins I was ready to go.  We asked about a good lunch spot, and we then set off for the recommended Bay View Inn in Widemouth bay. Check out NCM if you're in the area, they had some nice Benelli's for sale

So what do I think about the Pirelli? Well it's okay. It obviously doesn't match the Conti on the front and it won't roll into corners as well as the Conti did, but it grips okay in the dry. Not sure I'm impressed with the wet performance. It seems to break traction more easily that the Conti. It's spun up on when overtaking in the wet, but it does it in a nice gentle controlled way. I'll keep it for the time being. In case your wondering the dead Conti covered 400 odd miles before it was killed. Judging by the size of the hole I suspect that it was more than a nail, probably a bolt.

John

That's how I felt yesterday when re-fitting the rear wheel. For some reason there seemed to be a slightly bigger space between the ends of the swing arm, did I leave out a spacer? Not that I can see. One wheel, one sprocket carrier, two spacers, one each side of the wheel and the brake carrier. Odd. Yet there seems to be an 3-5mm gap.

I tightened up the axle and the space soon disappeared, probably my imagination. I span the wheel, it seemed slightly tight, so I loosened off the axle nut, that improved things and the wheel spun fine. Alarm bells where now going off in my head. You can tighten the axle as much as you want and it should not put any lateral pressure on the bearings.

At this point the penny dropped. Did I check that the spacer that goes in the sprocket carrier was present? Only one way to check. Off came the wheel, popped of f the sprocket carrier, no spacer. So where the hell did that go?

A quick check in the garage soon located the item. I had removed the wheel the night before and put all the parts on the work bench. The spacer must have slid out overnight and when I later picked up the carrier the space got left behind.

Now I'm usually fairly careful when it comes to this spacer. Back in 1979 a bunch of us went to the IOM for the TT. A friend had a Suzuki GT550 and it broke down with a failed bearing in the sprocket carrier. Guess what was missing, yep the spacer. My friend had forgotten about the spacer, and tightened up his axle putting lateral pressure on the bearing. It got him from London to the IOM and then collapsed. Without the carrier being held properly in place the rear spocket could move around alarmingly along with the chain. Getting him home was another story.

So the  moral of the story, is check your work and if you suspect that something isn't quite right, take it apart and check, don't ignore it.

I dropped the bike!

Yep, I fell foul of the dodgy side stand again. Regular readers may recall that my bike fell off it's stand last summer, after parking it up to talk to a silly car driver. On that occasion it fell onto some railings and did a lot of damage to my wallet. On this occasion I had parked in my drive and was standing next to the bike when it did another highside straight onto my foot.

Damage was limited to a broken gear lever and a very bruised foot, as that took the full brunt. I've no idea why the stand gave up. It's not tight and there's nothing to stop it travelling as far as it needs. I've now filed off a few thou's of an inch to make it swing slightly further forward, but I no longer have much faith in it.

I was going to buy a new gear lever, but my makeshift repair seems to be holding out fine. I filed off the broken stem, drilled a 8mm hole and used a 10mm tap to make a thread and dug out an M10 bolt and screwed that into the lever along with the rubber. Very useful is a tap and die set.

Yesterday Suzuki GB announced that they are reintroducing the SV650s. For the last year or so the only SV on sale in the UK was the SV650s Sport, which is essentially the same bike but with fairing lowers and a tail hump.

The blurb quotes;

Suzuki GB is delighted to announce the return of a real value for money middleweight, with the reintroduction of the popular SV650S at a new lower on the road price of just £4,999.

Held in high regard by thousands of novice and experienced riders the world over, the SV650S has become an established and important model in the Suzuki range, going on to become one of the most sought-after middleweights available on the market.

Offering a significant saving of over £700 compared to rival manufacturer offerings, the SV650S once again leads the way as the best value machine in its class.

Suzuki GB general manager, sales, Paul de Lusignan, commented, "Just as we did with the introduction of the GSX1250FA earlier this year, once again we are pleased to bring value back to the market. With the SV650S ideal for new or experienced riders, this offer has potential to appeal to a wide variety of customers."

Boasting a lightweight, sporty chassis, a punchy 650cc V-Twin engine and cutting-edge styling with wind cheating ergonomics, the SV650S ticks all the right boxes.

For further information on the SV650S or to find your nearest dealer offering test rides, please visit www.suzuki-gb.co.uk

Personally I'm pleased to see this act, I do think Suzuki were doing they're best to kill the SV when they brought out the ugly (my opinion) Gladius. This still smacks of a stopgap measure to keep sale afloat until a replacement comes along. That's assuming that Suzuki will bring out a replacement. I think they're mad if they don't.

http://mailer.motocom.co.uk/press_release_archives/index.php?company=suzuki&tblreleaseID=15770

Greetings,

I have had an intermittent fault with my headlight not coming on. The 2 park lights would work, just the head light would not come on. The bulbs, the fuses, connectors and the ignition switch were all checked OK. When the wires from the switch were jiggled the light would sometimes work.

Today I opened up the right side handlebar switch and found that the contactor against which the push in start switch makes contact was very very dirty. Not any sort of electrical residue from a bad contact, just dirt held there with what looks like Q20. So I cleaned this lot with an electrical cleaner, the non residue sort, and presto my head light is now working. I will monitor over the next week to see how successful this was and let you know.

This is part of an email conversation that I had with Dave. What Dave was describing didn't match my understanding of how the SV lights work in the UK. Dave is based in South Africa (at the moment). I asked Dave if he had permanent lights like us, as I could see how the starter switch would affect the lights He replied

 My bike only has a dim/brights light switch. When I switch the key on, the lights come on. When I push the starter button in, the lights go off and once started and I release the starter button the lights come back on.

I have finally solved my problem. The starter switch has a copper contacts band running over it. Underneath this copper band, believe it or not, is a small spring. This spring ensures that the contacts keep making contact whether in the lights on or start mode. The push action of the button ensures that the lights are off when the starter relay is energised so that all the available battery power goes to the starter. Have a look at the attached diagram. This little spring was jammed!

This fault puzzled my local Suzuki dealer.

Regards, Dave Loubser

So there you have it, Dave's bike which is probably and Sk7 or 8 has a switch to cut the power to the lights when starting the bike, my Sk4 doesn't have this and I'm now wondering if this is a UK thing or an update that's slipped into the later bikes. I can't believe this wasn't fitted when the pointy was first introduced, if my battery is a little low, I have to mess about pulling off the headlight connecters in the fairing. I've included Daves diagram which shows what a simple solution it is

Hello

John! Im a Hungaryan SV fun! Sorry but I litlebit speak English!!! You can see.. :) I have got 2002 SV 650S k2 My quvestion is:can i put on 180/55 zr17 tyre,my rear wheel? I know the original s 160/55 zr17.. I know ,2003 Sv wheel rim size 5.50 (operate 180tyre!), 2002 rim is 4.50(operate160 tyre) Operating so my original wheel with 180 tyre? I hope you can help me!!!

Thanks! Stewe

I did my best to put off Stewe from using a 180. It might be a tight squeeze but apart from that I can't say that it will improve the handling of the bike and might do the opposite. I can appreciate that it looks cool to have a 180 on the back. And after seeing Stewe's bike (the silver one) I can see that image is something he's into.

I came across these while Googling for a front page image. They were buried in a forum discussing the merits of using a trailly type bike for touring. Someone mentioned the DL650 and that lead to these bike being a better example of how Suzuki could I have styled them. I love the first one.

6 March - Turn of the Season

I was just looking at the photos I took last weekend in the garage whilst working on the SV, and it dawned on me that it was time for a new page on this site to switch from Winter to Spring. I can't say it feels very Spring like at the moment. The snowdrops in the garden has surfaced along from some Crocuses. Always a great sight.

Also the days are getting longer and I can ride home in the evening after work in the daylight. But first I have to finish screwing the SV back together. My exploits on the winter rebuild can be seen here.

No planned rideouts this year yet. I'm not even sure about the AR, as this falls again in the Summer holidays and I might well be away on my family holiday, which also has yet to be planned.

So raise a toast to warmer lighter evening and a chance to ride the bike without being trussed up in warm layers.

John