Justin Wyatt

My First Motorcycle: Suzuki SV650

Posted by Justin under Personal, motorcycles, sv650

A few month’s ago I began my hunt for a motorcycle, my first one to be exact.  I started off with an itch for a super-sport, a Yamaha R6, after seeing an 08 on the showroom floor I was pretty much sold.  I’m lucky I don’t make much money in my current career (the Air Force) otherwise I probably would’ve bought one that day.

As the immediate attraction to the R6 wore off from being in it’s presence, I came home and began researching my options.  Considering a brand new R6 was going to put a decent dent in my wallet and that it would be my first bike.  I looked into several options including:

None of which seemed to fit the bill for myself, and others I simply could not stand to look at.  It seemed like with the lower displacement bikes there were the people who felt they outgrew them too fast (I highly doubt they rode them to the full potential) and had to buy other bikes.  Then you had the people who got scared away from motorcycling by buying too much bike for their first (namely the 600 SS bikes) then also lacking the self control to behave themselves on it.  I wasn’t sure which of the divide I belonged to but I felt it was probably more toward the middle, similar to the Yamaha FZ6, but I just couldn’t seem to see myself buying the thing.  Especially with the memory of the R6’s amazing looks still somewhat fresh in my head.

During the research I began to notice one motorcycle continuously popping up in my browsing for good beginner bikes.  The Suzuki SV650.

Review after review, article after article, all having nothing but praise for this bike that I hadn’t even heard of.  Most of them touting it as one great beginner bike.  I tried to take this with a grain of salt but I couldn’t think that this many reviewers and forum members could all be wrong.  The near cult-status following of this bike compelled me to look more deeply into them, it’s ridiculous how many owners there are and how much they love them.  A really great forum I found pretty much convinced me the SV650 was the bike for me, without ever seeing one in person.  It was the trip to the showroom that sold me though, seeing that shade of Gray (I know sounds like the paint on a prison’s wall) on the 2008 up close was the icing on the cake, it’s almost a gunmetal which I am a huge fan of.  Needless to say I put a deposit on the bike immediately.

My first noob-ish rider impressions were great, the bike was sooo easy to lean, it was even easier than the Honda 250’s they had me ride in the MSF course.  By the way any new or looking-to-be riders reading this I highly reccomend you take the MSF course.  The smaller rear tire (160) makes the bike incredibly easy to throw around.  The throttle was smooth, and as I broke it in I realized how easy the power band came around.  Looking back I’m so glad I picked this bike as in the end it will probably make me a much better rider than if I’d started out on the R6.  I’m much more confident after only having this bike a few months, I’m planning on starting track days next season perhaps, or maybe just taking a rider course at a track.

This bike absolutely jumpstarted my passion for motorcycles.  If you’re looking for a first bike, without hesitation I would say this is it.