Zach’s Garage

Not much to report. Just about 1300 miles on the SV now, everything is running smoothly. I got another car to work on, so that’ll be sucking up a lot of my free time for a while.

Pit bull rear stand

I have been missing the center stand that was on my Ninja, so this was a late birthday gift from the parents. Other than making chain maintenance possible, oil changes will be a lot quicker since I won’t have to keep tipping it up to level to check the oil. Its so stable on here I don’t think I could knock it over if I wanted to. Works great with the Motosliders swingarm sliders. I like the design of this forward handle model since I’m able to get it up on the stand by myself.

Motosliders

This should have been the first thing I bought for my bike, but they have been out of stock until now. Arguably the best sliders for the SV, I got the set that includes frame sliders and swingarm sliders, which double as spools for a rear service stand. I don’t think they look bad at all, and should give me some cheap insurance. The frame sliders also double as a nice way for a quick stretch of the legs while on the highway.

Viper exhaust

I finally got my Viper slip-on last week, and went about installing it. I rode the bike over to a friend’s metal shop since they have a Sawzall and any other metal working equipment I would need. First hurdle was the heat shield with those welded on bolts. I took a forum member’s advice to just snap them off with tons of pressure on the wrench, which worked great. Next came the cut. The sweet spot turned out to be about 1.5 inches from the weld at the header pipe.

I applied plenty of Permatex Copper and slipped it on. Everything lined up great, but trouble came when it was time to clamp it down. The clamp at the header pipe worked fine, but the one at the muffler simply wouldn’t do its job. I would tighten it down to the point where I felt it was about to break and the muffler could still be slipped right off. Something wasn’t right. I was out of time so shot an email to the site I got it from. The next day I had a reply, they suggested cutting a couple more slits at the muffler’s connecting pipe (There was already one there). This was pretty easy with my Dremel, and solved the problem completely. Nice and snug now.

The sound is perfect. Not too loud, but nice and throaty. Really unique sound too when normally all you hear are screaming inline fours or Harleys with open pipes around here.

Poconos

I took a ride up to the Poconos to visit some friends earlier this week. This was my first real long distance ride on the SV. I used a bungee net to strap a small duffel bag to the rear seat, in which I had jeans and sneakers to change into once I got there, a few bottles of water, Swiss Army knife, extra copies of directions, my digital camera, tape, and extra batteries for my GPS which was mounted to the handlebars in the same spot as my Ninja. I had a bit of trouble deciding how to use directions, but I ended up taping them on either side of the gauges. Not the prettiest setup, but it worked. During one stop somebody asked me if the bike was for sale, they thought the directions were a for sale sign.

For the route up I wanted to avoid highways and make it an interesting ride, so I took 611 north about half the way there, right through Easton, then promptly got lost when NONE of the local roads had proper signs. It wasn’t bad though, some nice mild twisties through the woods for about 30 miles until I popped out at the intersection of a few major highways. From there I got new directions, and it was a short 20 miles or so to the house. The ride up clocked in at 130 miles. Only took 2.1 gallons to fill up the tank when I got there, I had left with a full tank so I averaged about 62MPG. Not bad at all.

I was told the last quarter mile of road leading to the house was gravel, so I was a little worried about that. Once I got there I realized it wouldn’t be a problem at all when I found out it was actually hard packed dirt and gravel. Still not the most ideal surface, but I took it slow in second gear, primarily used the rear brake and had no issues, except for when I left later that night and what I thought was a stuck shifter turned out to just be a pebble lodged in between the shifter arm and peg.

Coming home I wanted to save some time (and daylight) so I just took the turnpike for about 90 miles, which puts me out about 15 minutes from home. It was much more boring, but I really appreciated the passing power the SV has while at those speeds compared to the Ninja. It also didn’t feel like it was going to explode, it was very relaxed at an indicated 85MPH most of the way. This route only took about 100 miles to get home. Much quicker, but not nearly as interesting.

Completed the 600 mile service on Wednesday since I was just over 700 miles when I got home. Changed the oil, filter, checked all the chassis/exhaust bolts (nothing was loose), cleaned and lubed the chain, checked the throttle/clutch cables for slack and proper adjustment, and a few other odds and ends. Much better than paying the dealer around $200 for what amounts to little more than an oil change and a looking-over.

First video test

Went for a short ride this morning before the storm came in and tested out the video camera mount. It worked great, but I won’t bother posting the video as it was really, really boring. I kept getting stuck behind slow moving trucks.

Gas tank camera mount

Installed the gas tank camera mount tonight. This should let me get some fun videos of rides. Since I haven’t been out with it yet, I took a picture of the camera’s LCD so you can get an idea of the framing, but basically the camera records the top of the tachometer and the rest of the frame is through the windshield. The mount is nice and solid, I could grab it and rock the whole bike back and forth. Should be nice and quick to remove and put the stock screws back in should I want to, but with the camera removed it’s barely noticable, and even with the camera in place it doesn’t get in the way at all.

70 degrees?

Rode up to Lake Nockamixon today, and did about a hundred miles in total. I don’t know where this perfect weather came from today, but I certainly enjoyed it. That annoying break-in period will be over in no time.

200 miles

Passed 200 miles today. Changed the oil this afternoon between rides at around 165 miles. Cleaned her up afterwards, here’s a few shots. Really digging how the rear end looks without the fender.

Fender eliminator

Removed the stock rear fender tonight, and installed the eliminator kit I purchased on eBay. The one I bought keeps the stock rear signals, and bolts in place of the stock unit. Just a couple of holes to drill. The hardest part was getting all the bolts and fasteners off and working the rear bodywork off, ambiguous instructions didn’t help either, so I was figuring much of it out as I went. I’m happy with the results, the rear of the bike looks much cleaner now.

Replacement Bike

Finally got the insurance check late last week, so Monday I went and picked up the red 2007 SV650S the dealer was holding for me. I initially preferred blue, but the color is growing on me…

Updates

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. A few weeks ago I was heading out for the fourth ride on my new bike when somebody turned left in front of me and caused a pretty nasty wreck. I’ve been advised to not go into any detail until everything is sorted out, but I can say that I’m glad I always wear my gear. I should have a replacement bike soon. I’ll be sure to post more information when I can.

First oil change on the SV

Did my first oil change (@93 miles) today, here are just a few observations and notes, mostly compared to changing the oil on my previous bike.

1. The angled/offset drain plug is nice since you use the sidestand.
1a. The stock drain plug is magnetic, sweet. Bought one of these aftermarket for my last bike.
2. Having a normal spin on filter is great (the EX250 uses a cartridge type), but you really do need the tool. I managed without it, but it was a major pain, partially due to the oil cooler being in the way.
3. The oil came out and looked perfect, still amber, there were no shavings on the magnet and the filter looked brand new. I still feel better having fresh oil in there though.
4. This thing uses as much oil as my car!
5. Need to find a cheaper filter, dealer charged me $13. I don’t like Fram which is all the local auto store has.

Sidenote: Went for a short ride today. It was about 45 degrees, and the bike had been sitting since early last week. It started immediately. Fuel injection is a wonderful thing.

More eye candy

Here are some more shots of the new bike in better light. I am loving it. Even while keeping it under 6K RPMs for the break-in period the power is just amazing.

New bike :D

Just picked up my 2007 Suzuki SV650S. I suppose it’s time to change the name of the site…