Sneaky Git!

[Yamazer-92]

I was a bit bored this evening after watching MOTD 2 and after the usual kicking about on the internet and chatting to mates on facebook etc I stumbled upon the SV.org forum (pretty similar to this site actually just full of dirty SV riders  ) and ended up finding this randomly! (Bear with me)


http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=183639


Started reading it through, looked quite interesting and was unsure of a few peoples clearly biased comments. Anyway, I get to the last post right at the bottom of the first page and someone has done a pretty comprehensive, unfair review of the FZS600 which to me of course is a cracking bike. So I'm reading it through and straight away think oh cool mine is a W reg...wait what...gutless...wheezy.... wow this guy sounds just like........ Wait a second!!!! I kid you not, that is my dad. Cheeky git I was absolutely stunned!


The story is completely true and legit and he is a member of the forum, he in fact was the one who suggested I search for a Fazer forum. We have swapped bikes a couple of times and yes his SV is actually a good laugh but I am not letting him get away with this! My side of the story, his SV for me honestly feels half as well made as the Fazer, could be the big weight difference and the V twin vibes. It is a good engine and was a laugh, but polar opposite of mine in that it is powerful up to a point then falls of the cliff completely, it is strangely quiet however when riding (he has the standard can), just rumbles with this strange whine like it has a supercharger. The brakes were absolutely shockingly poor in comparison, although the engine braking rips your face off before you need to pull any levers which was odd. He actually said to me he enjoyed riding mine however even when I told him he was riding it wrong after hearing his complaints, so this is why I was so stunned at his reaction when back on his home turf (the SV forum).


We do go out for rides every now and then together, I am often following him and out of respect if we are on the dual carriageway or some twisties or whatever I do not see any reason to overtake or make it into a race as we aren't usually hanging about anyway. But at no point when he pulls away or goes for an overtake am I struggling to keep up. One rare time I was actually leading and properly opened it right up for a test on a small stretch of dual carriageway near our house and all I could see was his headlight getting further and further away in my mirror, he later admitted to accidentally red lining his, obviously stunned at the "gutless" Fazers sudden turn of pace when taken out of 6th gear. 


I'm not annoyed that he doesn't prefer the Fazer of course, to each his own and he loves his SV I am just surprised that he would go as far as to not reccomend one to someone. I would always take my Fazer over his SV personally as an all rounder, however have reccomended the SV to some friends who are looking at getting their first "big" bikes as it was no doubt a great machine. Essentially, before I rumble him I just wanted to level the score a bit and see what some of you guys think on this site! Anyone tried an SV? All comments will of course be as unbiased as the guys on his forum I hope.....   Cheers

[Chillum]

I think you have a good point, and unless ridden with spirit, your Dad has a point too.

The old Fazer was my first bike, and although far from feeling gutless, compared to how it feels when you ride with the revs between 7000-10000 ALL the time, it is (in comparison).

Get your Dad to try the above on an older (T-Cat engined) Fazer (after getting all the nuts and bolts re-tightened to factory spec - it makes  a big difference to how taught the bike feels) and then let him tell you it's gutless.

Tried an equivalent SV650 once, now THAT was gutless. Didn't like being revved that much.

[Skippernick]

Never tried one but that is a funny story, give him some stick for it though.

[Yamazer-92]

Yeah he has a point I guess, but he was trying to pull big lazy overtakes on mine like he does on his and granted for that the SV is better. Mine is one of the old style thundercat engined bikes and for me personally the engine overall is more versatile than the SV engine as the alleged loss of ultimate torque is a lot less noticable than the cliff of wheeze his bike hits when revving hard out of its power band. Personally mine pulls very nicely from 2500 rpm and often on my general riding to college and work or whatever I am not really doing much over 4k rpm and it is as smooth and powerful as I like at that sort of speed.

[Chillum]

I did a riding course in Wales and the guy taught me to have the revs in the power band the whole time - once I was doing that he made me ride down a mountain road without using the brakes (to cure me of comfort braking). It was a bit scary but I did it - it felt like a totally new way of riding the bike (to me).

I'm perfectly happy to bimble along, but it's also useful to know your bikes capabilities - and your ability to handle them.

[Robbie8666]

dumb but serious question... whats a "power band"? ( and no jokes about music in here!)
I remember years ago working with lads that had RD350LC's and them talking about power bands.. at the time I was riding a Hinda cub so didn't understand!!
 

[clanadam]

whats a "power band"?

Slipknot may be an example - or perhaps Metallica/Megadeath etc 

[Raymy]

Robbie, get into 3rd or 4th gear and take it to 8000 revs. there's yer power band.

[Chillum]

Have you ever seen those dyno charts they make on a rolling rode to measure BHP etc? There is an optimum amount of revs in each gear that gives peak performance.

The 'band' (I think) is the area of revs that covers the peak in *all* the gears, so on the Fazer MkI I think it's around 7-8000 revs.

[evesdad]

It's the bit in the rev range where you will feel a surge in the rate of acceleration. Some 2 strokes had power bands that could best be described as vicious . Similar sort of thing as turbo lag on cars with big turbos fitted,can be all or nothing.