Joined
·
276 Posts
Hey there. This is my first time posting here, but I've heard great things about your forum over on www.gstwins.com (my normal home *laugh*).
Anyway, my GS is slowly succumbing to various mechanical problems that are getting too time (and money)intensive to fix given the value of the bike (16 years old, and lots of miles), and how much I ride (lots, as soon as I fix one problem, another arises). So, naturally, I'm in the market for a new (or slightly used) bike. And, since I started out on the GS500, the SV is a natural step up, though its not the only bike on my list.
So, I have a few questions for those of you with far more SV knowledge than myself.
Firstly, and most importantly: what is the maintainance schedule like, and how is the bike on reliability? I do a *lot* of riding. At the rate I'm going, probably about 40,000-50,000 miles a year. I work as a motorcycle courier in San Francisco, so I do a lot of riding on beaten up city streets, and a lot of freeway miles as well.... so, I'm curious as to the maintanance intervals for a few key items, mostly:
Valve adjustments, clutch, chain/sprockets, fork seals (do they fail much? I dont wheelie, but I do ride on lots of rough pavement, over curbs, etc), etc. I'm especially curious about valve adjustments, as I read somewhere that the SV needs them every 3500 miles or so (which seems a bit ridiculous).
Secondly, of those maintanance issues, any that are too much work for a pretty damned competent amatuer mechanic to knock out in a saturday afternoon? I'd prefer not to have to take my bike to a shop (and thus not be able to use it for work), if possible.
Third: how well does the SV respond to modifications? Primarily interested in full system, intake/airbox/breathing mods (heard that the bike is a bit choked up in that department), and of course a power commander. If I did all that, and took the bike to a dyno for fuel tuning, would I see noticable performance gains?
Fourth: Reliability issues? Does the SV like to burn oil (big concern of mine)?
Fifth: As I mentioned, I do a lot of freeway miles, usually in the 85-90mph range when I'm carrying a time-critical package. Now, that kind of treatment is absolute murder on my GS's motor. 90mph (indicated, of course, really its more like 83 or so) has the bike spinning at 9kish, on an 11k clock. For hours straight, every day, for months on end... well, thats a lot of stress to put on a motor. How stressed is the SV at those speed ranges, in top gear? I know the SV revs to about 11k... what does the tach read when travelling at 85ish?
Sixth, and lastly: with a combo of commuting and enthusiastic riding, how long do your tires normally last? I'd be running something like Metzler Roadtechs or Diablo Stradas (sport touring tires).
Anyway, sorry for the long, long, long first post. And, of course, thank you for any help you guys can offer.
Anyway, my GS is slowly succumbing to various mechanical problems that are getting too time (and money)intensive to fix given the value of the bike (16 years old, and lots of miles), and how much I ride (lots, as soon as I fix one problem, another arises). So, naturally, I'm in the market for a new (or slightly used) bike. And, since I started out on the GS500, the SV is a natural step up, though its not the only bike on my list.
So, I have a few questions for those of you with far more SV knowledge than myself.
Firstly, and most importantly: what is the maintainance schedule like, and how is the bike on reliability? I do a *lot* of riding. At the rate I'm going, probably about 40,000-50,000 miles a year. I work as a motorcycle courier in San Francisco, so I do a lot of riding on beaten up city streets, and a lot of freeway miles as well.... so, I'm curious as to the maintanance intervals for a few key items, mostly:
Valve adjustments, clutch, chain/sprockets, fork seals (do they fail much? I dont wheelie, but I do ride on lots of rough pavement, over curbs, etc), etc. I'm especially curious about valve adjustments, as I read somewhere that the SV needs them every 3500 miles or so (which seems a bit ridiculous).
Secondly, of those maintanance issues, any that are too much work for a pretty damned competent amatuer mechanic to knock out in a saturday afternoon? I'd prefer not to have to take my bike to a shop (and thus not be able to use it for work), if possible.
Third: how well does the SV respond to modifications? Primarily interested in full system, intake/airbox/breathing mods (heard that the bike is a bit choked up in that department), and of course a power commander. If I did all that, and took the bike to a dyno for fuel tuning, would I see noticable performance gains?
Fourth: Reliability issues? Does the SV like to burn oil (big concern of mine)?
Fifth: As I mentioned, I do a lot of freeway miles, usually in the 85-90mph range when I'm carrying a time-critical package. Now, that kind of treatment is absolute murder on my GS's motor. 90mph (indicated, of course, really its more like 83 or so) has the bike spinning at 9kish, on an 11k clock. For hours straight, every day, for months on end... well, thats a lot of stress to put on a motor. How stressed is the SV at those speed ranges, in top gear? I know the SV revs to about 11k... what does the tach read when travelling at 85ish?
Sixth, and lastly: with a combo of commuting and enthusiastic riding, how long do your tires normally last? I'd be running something like Metzler Roadtechs or Diablo Stradas (sport touring tires).
Anyway, sorry for the long, long, long first post. And, of course, thank you for any help you guys can offer.
