Sonic BOOM

Street Fighter.

Cafe Racer.

Naked.

Call it what you want, but I've already replaced the front fairing on my SV650s with some driving lights, and made the whole thing look evil. I still need to finish my rear cowl cover and paint the bike, but I'm on the way to creating my dream bike...









Here are some quick pics of the changes...

The Fork in the Road

I've been out riding only a handful of times; I'm waiting until I take the MSF course I'm signed up for. Even then, it's only been in parking lots, with the exception of one time. Well... technically twice, but I crashed the bike within a block, and stood by Steve's bike while he rode mine back to his house. So I'm waiting for the course to go on roads again. As Steve so candidly put it, I'm taking a chance until I take the course. In the meanwhile, I've been pacing, both literally and figuratively.

One day, I went over to the shop where I store the bike to ride it, and I was caught in a downpour within five minutes of practicing.

Rains sucks on a bike.

Now that you know the circumstances of my situation, I'd like to tell you about the figurative fork in the road I've encountered since purchasing the bike. But first, I need to tell you a bit more about myself. I am at heart a tinkerer. I like to take take things apart, and I enjoy modifying things to my ideal. So what do you do when you don't feel comfortable on streets yet, but have to see a new bike sitting there?

You take it apart.

Then you plan the transformation from rough first bike, into your ideal street machine. Exposed wires hang from the front of my bike, the result of my recent headlightectomy. My bike is going from stock, to something... meaner. So am I a cycle customizer, or a motorcyclist? I'm not sure, but I know which path I went down first. Expect a two wheeled demon to hit the streets in the next couple of weeks.

Now I just have to learn how to ride the damn thing...

The Bike

I found a bike on SVrider.com that seemed to be everything I wanted. It has some damage, so I don't have to worry about dropping it (it's already happened twice). Here's the post from that site:


Lexington, KY, yellow 2004 sv650s, 25,000 miles and counting...

The bike has been down, front forks were replaced with 05 barely used forks and front rim was replaced with new from factory.

Front fairing is plastic welded together... quite a few cracks in the front fairing. A front fairing runs $240 from dealer. http://www.oneidasuzuki.com
The gas tank has a 3x2 inch dent in it, and paint inside that dent is scraped. I'd guess its probably $250 to fix... comparing to work a friend had done.

I have ridden the bike alot... took it across the country and back. I take good care of it mechanically so I dont get stranded. I replaced the sprockets, chain, air filter, all fluids last season. And, of course, the oil has been changed on schedule with Rotella, every 3k miles and before and after storing for winter.

The bike has a fairly new (bought end of last season) Leo Vince SBK exhaust (mean sounding, $300 new), Frame sliders, swingarm spools, really nice Corbin seat ($260 new).

Spares: stock seat, stock exhaust, 04 yellow front fender (almost new)

These pictures are up to date... I tried to show the front fairing and the dent in the tank on the left side.