I'm trying to decide... 1st gen or 2nd gen?

My semi-random thoughts on the subjet:

I didn't want carbs either, but now I don't mind them at all. I'm not sure if this was the case with SVs, but many bikes had pretty unforgiving fuel mapping when they were first offered with EFI. Seems like a wash to me at this point.

For nakeds, I think styling is a wash between first and second gens. I really don't like the stock gauge arrangement on first gen naked, though. For faired SVs, I think the second gens look better. That said, curved vehicles tend to age much more elegantly than do edgy vehicles. Once vehicles are old enough to look old, then the edgy ones often look out of style while the curved ones often look good, despite looking old. This is easiest to notice when looking at old cars, and even when correlating design language to commanding price for good examples today.

So, the second gen looks more exciting now, but my prediction is that the first gen will age better and, thus, be more pleasant to look at once both of them are old.

My first thought is don't try and turn your first gen into a second gen. It seems like people like one more than the other and a first gen that looks like a second gen isn't going to appeal to anyone. I would look into upgrades like rebuilding the front end, upgrading brakes, nice levers/rearsets, stuff that any rider would appreciate. If you decide a little further down the road that you do want a second gen, you aren't stuck with a *******ized first gen. A clean first gen will sell easily in almost any market.

Second, it seems like carbs scare you because you have not worked on them. Not buying a carbed bike because you might have to jet it at some point is either silly or lazy. Also, FI isn't the holy grail of reliability and can often be more difficult to diagnose problems. Each have their pro's and con's. Try and find someone local that can walk you through pulling the carbs and cleaning the jets before you pass judgement on your bike.

I have one of each. It is my impression that the '05 handles just a little better overall than the '02 with Conti Road Attacks on both bikes. The frame of the 2G is supposed to be stiffer and that may account for the difference, but it is not a major difference anyway. Both gens are a hoot to ride so you can't go wrong on the handling issue.

FI is a nice feature, I like the convenience of not having to deal with the enricher, but again, a minor concern. Carb work is easy so don't be afraid of doing simple re-jetting, it isn't rocket science and you will be able to get all the help you need here.

If you really like the looks of one gen over the other, that makes it easy because there isn't a great difference otherwise in care and feeding or performance. The 2G bikes look better to me with partial or full fairings than the 1G bikes but I much prefer naked anyway and think both gens naked are good looking with a slight nod to the 1G.

Currently I live in Houston TX so the elevation change is measureable in double digits. We had considered moving to colorado and may end up doing that at some point, but a lot could change between now and then, so i'm not leaving it as a 'requirement' for my bike.

Just out of curiosity, if we took a road trip to the rockies, what would I have to adjust to make my bike behave properly?

I also saw mention of someone putting a gen 2 engine in gen 1 frame, but sounds like thats a lot of work in itself. Also if anyone cruises their local junkyards, keep an eye out for one of those KTM Duke 690 headlight assemblies.... I think its going to be hard to find since its a brand new bike.

Thanks a lot for all the input, I really appreciate it. You corrected a lot of my misconceptions and clearified all the rumors I heard. I love my SV and cant see having any other kind of bike and its nice that there are so many other people out there that feel the same way.... Although i did Ride a Ninja 650R and that was fun, but the seat kept giving me a wedgie...

I've got a friend here in town that has a second gen, I'll see if he'll swap me bikes on a ride sometime and see if I can even notice a difference.

For a road trip I probably wouldn't adjust anything on a Gen I, just ride it there and home again. If you lived there I would go to the trouble of rejetting it. The nice thing about the Gen 1's is there is lots of information about jetting to where you could just plug in the new main jets and just ride.

On any motorcycle, you should plan to replace all cables and hoses about every ten years, every piece of rubber on any motorcycle shouldn't be on the bike more than 15years. How old is a first year Gen I now?

Little things make a bike feel "tighter", new cush drive in the rear wheel, new brake lines, intake manifolds make a huge difference. New chains... All these things wear out and need to be replaced for optimum safety and handling.

One thing I really hate about Gen II's is the shape of the tank. For any kind of sport riding, the Gen II tank is just too darn tall and I have a helluva time getting my posture correct on Gen II's. Gen I's are much more posture friendly.

dp