[TLstreak]

So I bought an SV650 after my long term heavily modded TL.

1st impression was I liked the motor, zippy and the bike was light.
so I put some lines on it improved the brakes and regeared it a little differently. Seemed better for all day and not as buzzy with a 525 and +2 in the rear than with the -1 up front on the 520 and didnt beat on me so bad on the HWY.

2nd impression was it needed suspension work done worse than the TL ever needed.
I bought a 636 showa shock and did the conversion. 9.5 sonic springs and spacer with oil change. Alot better, still felt wrong.
1 in raise in the rear made the back end great but threw the front end way off. I played with raising and lowering nothing helped. Took it to my suspension guy and he set the ride height and said the only thing he could do farther was emulators.

Hmm ok ill wait and get used to the bike first.

3rd impression is I hate this bike and it has to go. The engine was good, but after countless trial and error with the bike and having to trail brake and gag the shit out of it to ride roads I could normally fly down, im watching a new rider on a VFR look like he is Rossi sit on my ass end and me fighting every inch to keep a decent pace. which was a snails pace.

Bike is gone this week replaced with an I4 after ohh 13 years of not owing one. And only riding the SV for less than 5000 and not owning it a complete year.

I would not suggest a 650 to anyone off this board that enjoys the TL. It will be extremly hard to find comfort on the bike leaving that long reach to the bars to the position of the SV. You will miss the power and long gearing of the motor even if you think you shift quick now, youll require 8 to 9 gears on the 650. It is a great little bike and fun to ride for a little while but just isnt the replacement for a big twin sportbike. I thought I would be ok being in the mountains and not really needing a bigger bike, but once your spoiled with the liter bike size it is very hard to step down.

Only real thing I loved about the bike was the ability to interchange sooo many parts with it. There is almost an unlimited source of applications you can do to these bikes. It just wasnt the bike for me. I was pushing on this bike harder than any other bike ive ever owned and would have ended up crashing it pretty hard if I would try and keep it.

If your thinking about one...test ride it for a day if possible. It was a complete let down for me.