Hello Everyone Glad to finally be here

[OreoGaborio]

Did a great ride today never enough. I adjusted the sag/preload on my sv today and what a difference! I put a ninja 600r shock on it when I bought it but never set it correctly. I think it is much better now but the forks really suck. I changed the oil this spring with 20wt and it has progressive springs but it will still bottom over rough road and I don't like the feel under hard braking. I wish there was a direct swap for these as I don't want to do the GSXR fork swap. My bike sits really high in the rear and even with the forks lowered 12-13mm in the triples it dosent feel right. I don't want to loose the front speedo cable or swap to a hall effect setup but I guess I will have no choice if I am going to keep it, my only other option is to buy a ninja 300 to race/track day with.

This on the SV? Stockish forks? How much fork leg is showing above the triple? What's your preload set at?

Tall rear end and low front end = unstable.

[Ducati999]

Thanks for the link I will check it out and see what I can come up with. My biggest problem with the sv is that my other bike is a Ducati! When I ride the duke everything is just perfect for me and it handels soo good that when I get back on the sv its just not the same. I don't think the sv is bad just different. I have progressive springs in the front already and the oil is new and higher weight (20 wt possibly too high) and I put the Ninja 600r shock on the rear. I set the sag pretty well but the balance of the suspension is off as the shock has rebound and compression adjustments which I believe I have dialed in pretty well for my riding level and the road conditions I ride. The forks are deff the issue I need to address. The reason I am considering buying a 300 is I am very interested in the class of racing. I love the idea of tight competition with a lot of equally equipped riders. The SV is a bit more open as to what can be done performance wise but the 250/300 class is very stock (or I am misunderstanding the rules) and the recurring costs of racing seem less then with the sv (tires, body parts and mods). I have never raced and I would like to start. My wife and I are trying to buy more rental properties so my budget is not as open as the last couple of years and if I want to race I need it to be affordable. Plus I have a big fast bike and I truly believe the smaller bikes make you faster the big bikes just are faster. I appreciate the help though because I have not decided if I will keep the sv or change to a 250/300 so any info will help

[Ducati999]

Oreo Gaborio my SV has progressive springs with 20wt oil in them and per load spacers and the preload adjustable caps. I have set the sag according to the info I found on SVrider.com. I have a 2005 Ninja 600r shock on the rear with the proper spring for my weight and the sag is set again to the advised setting. I have approx. 12-13 mm of fork showing above triple clamp and the bike is not high in the rear nor low in the front. I cant find proper ride height numbers for my bike because of the ninja shock in the rear. I think I need to lower the rear with custom dog bones to restore proper geometry. The bike handels pretty well for how it is set up but the forks do bottom over rough road (not all the time) but the occasional clang over a big bump is scary. My ducati never bottoms even if I come down hard from a wheelie while the sv will dive really bad under moderately hard braking. I am not talking about lifting the rear wheel in a stop just pulling strong on the front brakes to scrub speed fast. I think there may be an issue with the internals? I added the heavier weight oil and it did help a little but the only way to stop this issue is to dial in a lot more preload to the forks but this effects the sag numbers so I think I need to get the proper weight/rate springs and lose the progressive springs. Well if you have any ideas please feel free to let me know because even if I sell the bike I would still like to see how well it can be before it goes. Thanks for the reply

[maxim_X]

I think your info is a bit mixed up. There are 2 general setups when racing an SV, supersport and superbike. SS built bikes are near stock motors with exhaust mods allowed and stock style suspension. SB's are allowed to have fully built motors and change suspension components like with a gsxr for swap. SS are allowed to run in SB races but not vice-versa. Sometimes even winning. I may be over simplifying it, but the idea is that a race prepped SS SV is relatively cheap to setup and very similar to the others racing.

The 300/250 class will be a mix of SB prepared 250's with Productions class 300's AFAIK. It could be a substantially larger investment to competitive 250 VS a SS SV. As far as crashes and repairs, the SV crashes well and there are many people running them. The decision seems easy because you already have an SV. If you were starting from nothing it would easier to consider either class. Once your suspension is actually setup you may forget about riding that Ducky.


Have you done any trackdays?

[Ducati999]

Thank for the reply. I stated in the last post I do not know all of the rules so I don't totally understand the difference in classes and mods for the classes. I have been looking around the site and read a few of the race rule sheets but all the info has not sunk in yet and there is a lot of info so it can get a little difficult to keep it all straight in my head. I will figure it out by the spring. I have not done any track days yet but I will be hitting Thompson at least once this year and I am hoping for 2 or more if it is at all possible. I hope to see you there. Here is a question about track days (I don't know if you can answer but here goes) I have aftermarket rearsets on the SV which required me to mount the rear brake master cyl on the outside of the rearset. The master acts like the brake side heel guard. Will this pass inspection or will I have to figure out how to mount it on the inside and fabricate a heel guard for the brake master ( I purchased a set of R-6 heelgaurds for this).

[OreoGaborio]

Oreo Gaborio my SV has progressive springs with 20wt oil in them and per load spacers and the preload adjustable caps. I have set the sag according to the info I found on SVrider.com. I have a 2005 Ninja 600r shock on the rear with the proper spring for my weight and the sag is set again to the advised setting. I have approx. 12-13 mm of fork showing above triple clamp and the bike is not high in the rear nor low in the front. I cant find proper ride height numbers for my bike because of the ninja shock in the rear. I think I need to lower the rear with custom dog bones to restore proper geometry. The bike handels pretty well for how it is set up but the forks do bottom over rough road (not all the time) but the occasional clang over a big bump is scary. My ducati never bottoms even if I come down hard from a wheelie while the sv will dive really bad under moderately hard braking. I am not talking about lifting the rear wheel in a stop just pulling strong on the front brakes to scrub speed fast. I think there may be an issue with the internals? I added the heavier weight oil and it did help a little but the only way to stop this issue is to dial in a lot more preload to the forks but this effects the sag numbers so I think I need to get the proper weight/rate springs and lose the progressive springs. Well if you have any ideas please feel free to let me know because even if I sell the bike I would still like to see how well it can be before it goes. Thanks for the reply

This is why shock swaps kinda suck............ sure, the shock itself is dirt cheap but then you need to rebuild so it's fresh, then respring for your weight, then revalve for the spring & pivot geometry... By the time you fix everything and get it all working together properly you might as well have bought a Penske and ended up with a far better piece of equipment.

If I had a bone stock SV and wanted to make it handle well, I'd bite the bullet & buy a Penske, then throw some emulators in the forks. Done. May be a little more expensive than a hack shock swap, but it's headache free and you end up with a bike that handles way better. When I first got my SV that's about all it had and it handled just as well as the bikes near the front of the pack.

[Ducati999]

I am starting to agree. I don't think there is much issue with the rear right now (unless the height diff from the shock swap is causing the issue with the forks) most of the problem is with the forks. I bought the bike with the progressive springs and I did the oil swap and new fork seals. The bike has a KnN filter, PC111 and Yosh exhaust. I did the rear shock just to try to get something with adjustment out back. I did not have anything but street use in mind at the time but after a few seasons of street riding with a few near misses with motorists and the constant threat with the police my buddy and I decided we should start taking it to the track and not push it on the street. I have been riding all of my life with a few years of from an injury and I have had more close calls with cars crossing the line, running lights and stop signs and one guy who almost rearended me than any other time riding. I don't ride crazy and rarely do more than 15 over the limit and yet I feel less safe than ever. I will be hitting the track this year to improve my skills and get some of the need for speed out of my system. I will need to decide if I want to upgrade the SV further or start fresh with a new machine. Thanks for the info and I will keep you posted as to what I decide to do.

[Dave603]

I will need to decide if I want to upgrade the SV further or start fresh with a new machine

I would bring your SV650 to GMD computrack and have PK set up the suspension for you for track. Then ride the SV650 the way it is and as you get more into it build it up how you like... or find one that someone already did all the work on in the FS section.
I have a gen 1 sv650 I'm doing a gsxr 600 front end swap and wheels and I've already put more money into the bike than what I paid for it.. if I continue and rebuild the motor and bring it from SS to SB spec then I'll have spent as much money as a newer used bike!! But I am ok with that because its a bike I plan to ride on the track for a long time so I'm in it for the long haul.