I was feeling quite motivated today so I began to work on a 2000 Suzuki SV650 that I got from one of my friends for a crazy good price. His son took it to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and crashed it.

Since I am the kind of person who is attracted to project bikes and who also happens to adore the Suzuki SV650 and miss the one I sold foolishly to get a BMW I decided to roll the dice and see if I could get the SV back on the road.

Not gonna lie. I procrastinated and fiddled around with e-bikes for a long time while this thing collected dust in my garage. Oddly enough getting a car and cleaning out my garage gave me a nice neat work area for the SV.

This baby went from track busted to rideable today.



Notice anything missing? (Where is the foot peg???)



eBay for the win!


The old dash was busted up pretty hard with bits of wires and computer chip protruding from the fractured plastic. The Tach is missing entirely.



eBay again for the win.


These pics were taken during my least favorite part of the project today. The slow process of installing a new speedo/tach/dash.






You would think since I love building e-bikes I wouldn’t mind that part. The wiring isn’t the issue, trying to thread the bolts that hold the dash around a rats nest of wires while holding the dash was a major pain. Much profanity ensued….

After what felt like ten million years later. Progress.





It’s looking like a moto again!



Look how bent those bars were!



Adjusting the clutch was not as bad as I was expecting!



At around 10 o’clock tonight I got it all buttoned up and decided to see if it would start so I could take it for a ride.

I turned on the key, flicked the kill switch over to run and hit the start button.

Nothing happened!

Then I remembered it is a Suzuki so it won’t start unless you pull the clutch. The clutch lever was missing for so long I got used to starting it like all my other bikes that don’t require you pull the clutch for it to start.

It fired up the first try! I had run it the day before so the carbs weren’t feeling neglected.

I got to take my Blue SV650 for a ride for the first time tonight after owning this bike a loooooong time.

You can see my uncle about to rev it in this pic just to make sure our neighbors hate me.


What a fun bike!



The first gen SV650 is a LIGHT bike! I owned a second gen SV650 and currently also own a naked SV1000. This thing feels totally different.

It doesn’t have the grunt of the 1000 but it feels waaaaay more nimble and smaller/lighter.

This project still has a bit of work to be done but I am super stoked that I can finally ride this bike.

Todays progress:

Installed replacement headlight housing
Installed non busted headlight
Installed new dash
Installed new handlebars
Installed replacement clutch lever
Adjusted the clutch
New bulb in front turn signal


Still left to do:

Take dash apart to replace bulbs for the speedo, tach and high beams indicator.
Swap out dented gas tank with new gas tank
Figure out why rear brakes are squeaking so badly
Adjust front forks

Nice progress for one day! So currrrvvvvyyy. Miss my ‘03 SV650

Nice work!

I've got my eye on a Honda CX650 (the transverse V-twin) that I want to try my hand at making a Cafe' out of.

Kid has it, "gonna fix it up some day" and I have a standing offer to buy it from him when he finally realizes he ain't gonna do it.

Had two of those in that color. First got totalled at a track day and I bought another. It had a Scorpion pipe and had been properly rejetted. FUN little bike.
I even put some Givi side bags on it and road tripped it from STL down to The Dragon.
Loved the sound of that bike.

Walk around today. It has a pretty side and a F&$ked side.

What's with the 'drip shield' around the gas cap? Was that used with some sort of dry brake/track fueling arrangement?

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
What's with the 'drip shield' around the gas cap? Was that used with some sort of dry brake/track fueling arrangement?

I suspect that's some sort of tank bag mount.

Good work and a rewarding day for sure! I find working around the instruments, controls, and headlight can be fiddly so nice that it went w/o a hitch.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

I've got my eye on a Honda CX650 (the transverse V-twin) that I want to try my hand at making a Cafe' out of....

That would be a longitudinal V-twin wouldn't it Paul? The crank runs longitudinal or front to back. On a transverse engine (such as your Yamaha in-line 3-cylinder FJ-09) the crank is sideways or left/right. Regardless it could make for a fun project. I don't know much about them but a friend had the predecessor CX500 years back and ran it for years.

the Honda CX650 motor IIRC looked like the MOTO GUZI style motor with the cylinder heads sideways of the frame....... drill sgt.

Powers77 is correct, it is a mount for a GIV tank bag. It won’t be installed when I put on my minty fresh and dent free gas tank that came with the bike.

Not that this will help immediately. But I have raced sv650's since 1999. And have built 6 of them to go racing from new bikes. I have all the stock parts from those bikes, so contact me for additional parts that you might need...

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:
the Honda CX650 motor IIRC looked like the MOTO GUZI style motor with the cylinder heads sideways of the frame....... drill sgt.

Yes cylinders point up/out similar to a Guzzi, only at a shallower angle I believe. Still a longitudinal engine just as most V8's in RWD vehicles are.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Good work and a rewarding day for sure! I find working around the instruments, controls, and headlight can be fiddly so nice that it went w/o a hitch.

You are so correct my friend. I messed around for an hour or two as I disassembled the left side controls and debated whether I wanted to pull the tank to trace down the wires and install the replacement left side handlebar controls (blinkers and choke) that I had sourced from the fleabay.

In the end I managed to disassemble a busted control unit and to my total amazement (and absolute luck) manage to reassemble it to perfect working order. The choke lever was busted so I skipped worrying about assembling that back properly and just zip tied the cable to the clutch cable.

I can still yank on the end of the choke cable and actuate it to start the bike in cold weather (we had a hell of a cold front hit us here in central NC for Halloween.)


All in all it was a damn successful day of work on this excellent project bike.


I took it for a ride with my son and his friend today. They were riding my home built e-bikes. Group rides are fun. This first gen SV is really making me realize why the Suzuki SV fanatics are so rabid about the first gen.


In my first two rides I have to admit it feels vastly superior to the 2nd gen in handling, throttle response and aesthetics.


I dare say I’m becoming a fan of the curvy frame over the pointy one….

Glad to see it come back to life.

Thanks for the memories.

Sort of forgot about the tubular frame.

Owned a '02 and '04 SV650S, now a '13 DL650A.

Enjoy.

KirkP would approve