Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Tue, 15 Oct 2013

Things I Don't Miss About the SV650

When I got back from my epic 6-week trip around Europe on a 2002 SV650, one of the first things I did was to get back on my little Ninja 250.

Of course, I was coming from 10,000 km on a massively torquey V-twin with three times the power of the Littlest Ninja, so my first thought was to wonder if the engine had something wrong with it. The Ninja 250 cannot be ridden in the same way as the SV650, no doubt.

What I didn't expect, though, was some of the negative reactions I had to the SV650 as I started riding my little Ninja again.

The first thing I noticed was the ignition lock. On the SV650, at least the one I had, if you didn't line up the key into the lock pretty carefully, it would jam out of alignment, requiring some force to break free. I recognized it as being annoying on the SV, but I didn't realize just how different it was until I started up the Ninja 250: the key slid right in, and even trying to start it out of alignment, utterly refused to jam. It was ridiculously pleasant.

To my absolute surprise, I found the transmission on the Ninja 250 to be way nicer. Not just the neutral finder (at least in daily riding -- if you want to bump-start the bike, the neutral finder makes it more or less impossible), but the whole thing. Shifting was smoother, and the transmission on the Ninja 250 was just generally much more pleasant to use. Shifts on the SV650 were notchy to the point of being annoying, and every shift required the patented BMW technique: lift up for the upshift, and hold the pressure until after the clutch lever is released. Otherwise, it'd be a false neutral every third shift. The SV costs thousands of dollars more than the Ninja; I was shocked at how bad the more expensive bike's transmission was.

This is more specific to my modified Ninja 250, but the suspension was another surprising difference. I have replaced the springs in my forks, putting in much higher-rate springs. I have comletely replaced the rear shock with a Hagon after-market unit (with a slightly too-strong spring). The suspension on the Ninja 250 felt much more taut and controlled than on the SV650. This also comes down to not loading 50 lbs of crap on the passenger seat, but I was still surprised. The Ninja felt like a race bike compared to the soft cruiser-ish suspension of the SV.

Not surprising at all was the weight of the Ninja 250. The dry weight is only 50 lbs different (304 vs. 360-some, as I recall), but the larger engine on the SV takes more oil, and the weights are set up differently, so the center of gravity is also doubtless in a different spot. The Ninja 250 felt like a toy bike compared to the gravitas of the SV650. I feel a similar difference when I go from riding the Ninja 250 a lot to getting on a bicycle.

Of course, in the end, it will take many months of riding the Ninja 250 before I forget the extremely gratifying power of the SV650 engine. That is the one and only glaring difference most of the time: now, when I grab a handful of throttle, I am acutely aware of the limited performance of the Ninja 250. I still like the bike, but I won't soon forget the simple, thoughtless ability to go faster right now, pretty much no matter my initial speed. The only time I noticed any lack in the SV650 was riding the Nürburgring, being passed by supercars and liter bikes. I can't even imagine what the Ninja 250 would have felt like there.

I still like my Littlest Ninja. I'm not likely to trade it in for an SV650 any time soon. But suddenly the Ninja 300 sounds a lot more appealing with its more torque, more horsepower and better gas mileage. May have to start saving my pennies.

Posted at 00:06 permanent link category: /motorcycle


Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater