Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

oh hi you live right by my hairdressers

Ah niiiice. Looks good in the sun

Selective photo composition. The massive exhaust can is letting it down but it rides really well. Aggressive position but assertive, confidence inspiring. Scares the shit out of me but I love it already.
Can’t imagine riding a 1000 sports bike. Must feel like piloting an actual missile. Haven’t got the balls for that.

Just waiting on @Jules now to either find one or give up on trying to find an SV650 and buy something else! 😏
We gotta ride before the warm has gone!

Just a straight recover would do me - want to avoid a wet arse for the next few months. I could drop off and leave it if necessary but would rather it not be a postage job. - would love some advice.

I found a straight KTM replacement for £109 today but not until mid Oct - I've broken out the gorilla tape in the meantime.

I’m checking eBay, gumtree and autotrader every 5 minutes!
Got my heart set on a SV650 but I would mind being persuaded on something else.
Bike looks sick! Can’t wait to get my own!

You say that, but you strangely enough do feel the need for something more insane after a while.
Congrats on the bike by the way, looks pretty damned kick ass.

@Jules You set on a twin? There's loads of other wheels I'd look into. F4i's are pretty fantastic for not much money. The later ones were mechanical predecessors to the 600RR in a more comfortable package.
Why not a Monster? They're pretty cheap these days.

Right. Sorry to ask but I've confused the hell out of myself:
I've a full UK car licence from 2005 or something.
Route to 125cc Motorbike:
CBT.
Theory.
Practical?
Route to >125cc:
Ride on 125cc for a while/ do DAS?
Totally lost by the gov.uk resource too. I'm sure it was simpler like last year.
All I really want is a old battered 125cc to get around town.

Won’t the F4i be pricey on insurance? I do like the look of them. Will have a look on some comparison sites tomorrow.

If you want a 125cc, you can ride one (with L plates) as soon as you've passed a CBT.

You can continue riding it after the initial 2 year period by either taking another CBT (which you'll have to do every two years) or take your theory, mod 1 (technical practical - emergency stops etc) and mod 2 (on road practical - think driving test) which will give you a full license.

You can go the second route for a full license whenever you want and it will obviously allow you to ride without L plates but also larger cc bikes.

They really weren't for some reason. I think they're not classed as a sports bike but as tourers. The F4's are even cheaper to insure. The F4i has two versions. Later banana seat ones and earlier split one.
Split one tend to be a bit more expensive to buy and insure.

I think that distinction (split/banana) was only in the USA, over here I think all F4i had banana and the f4i sport had the split.
My 2001 model has a banana seat and was reasonable to insure - £260 TPFT (garaged, not London, 0 years no claims).

Yeah I had a look at them and the insurance wasn’t too bad. But I want something that’s 2007 or newer for ULEZ so they aren’t really in budget. Been looking at the Aprilia Shiver. Seem to get a few cheap ones popping up. I really like Hornets as well.
It’s got to the point where I just want a bike. Not fussed about finding the perfect SV.

Now this is quite a thing. It runs four disks on the front end. I imagine it's quite a beast to ride ...

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There is a diode pack somewhere on the bike, usually near the stator,might have gone bad allowing weird stuff to happen.
Yes on charging issue, it would go bad quite suddenly ime. Usually just a wire breaks or it shorts out against itself internally.
Go for a new battery, if it's more than 3 years old always worth getting a nicer one
Have a li on on the BMW. Been there about 3 years or so, even courier on it with hand warmers full tilt, lights on and a phone charfibg it never struggls

Go for a new battery, if it's more than 3 years old always worth getting a nicer one

Yuasa on order.

Looked for a Lithium one but couldn't find anyone making Lithium batteries that did one for a '99 xv250s (understandably) and didn't have much luck searching the dimensions and values.

Broadened my search to the Hornet 600 and Aprilia Shiver as well as the SV650. Wouldn’t mind a Street Triple but none in my price range unfortunately

Hopefully fixes it. Batteries are weird things, had a car battery crack/ explode when I charged it for first time. Though TBF it had been sat in a schimattar for about 20 years

Hornets are rowdy with the right exhaust. I rented a shiver down here a couple of times, I like the feel, not much the power plant.
Street Triples are tricky. I want a triple again, but I'd never get one with more than 20k on the clock, which means I'll have to slap down the cash. They're very service finicky and have a tendency to be 'hoonigan' bikes, so do get ragged quite a lot.

Anyway

I’m viewing a SV650S on Wednesday so hopefully I’ll be posting on here that I have a bike.
It’s got a few modifications, some I’ll keep and some I won’t. Top of the won’t list is a riser conversion top yoke. It comes with the original clips ons so I’ll switch them over. It’s got an aftermarket exhaust but I can’t make out what brand it is. I can see “SP” on the side of it.

Don't give up on the risers until you've tried them. I absolutely LOVE the renthal conversion on my GSXR - so much more fun and easier on the wrists around town.

Good luck!

Oh yeah I’ll definitely give them a try. I don’t plan on spending my weekends in the garage when I can be out riding

Easier for wheelies init

20k ? I probably do that in 18 months lol
Though I think I know what you mean, most bikes only see occasional use, and that use often isn't gentle and can see at least one owner per year. Seen plenty of bikes that are 5-6 years old with 10 owners yet less than 10k on them, mad imo

To be fair, if a bikes looked after tagging it everywhere won’t really matter.

Rather one that’s ridden hard and looked after than the alternate.