2 month SV650S review

So I've had my little baby girl for about 2 months now and although she still remains nameless, I love her to bits.

She has enough power to see me amused on city streets and quick on highway runs. She's light and her centre of gravity is low enough to stop me freaking out on hills or angles. I've become used to the need to accelerate all the way around the corner to stop the front wheel from feeling too light and her initially pinchy front brake has worn in (or out, may need replacing) so I don't suddenly find myself with my nose out over the front light.

She has some not so cool points. At slow speeds that involve a lot of clutch work, you find yourself resting on the handle bars. This causes cramp and sore hands. Eventually, it cuts the circulation off to the tips of a couple of my fingers and leads me to start slipping it into neutral in stopped traffic just to get a rest.

For some reason, the peg seems to be directly behind my leg when I put my foot down. This means when I pull away, even if I'm quick to lift my leg up, the peg still catches my leg. The peg just folds back but it could be dangerous and is annoying. I've tried putting my leg out sideways further but it doesn't work as my legs aren't quite long enough.

There is no engine temperature gauge. This freaks me out a little in 30+Celcius weather when I'm sitting in stationary traffic.

My seating position means that when I got over a bump or hit a pothole, I'm jettisoned into the tank. I don't know how the boys survive, as I'm a girl and I still nearly cried after hitting a couple of aggressive holes.

Overall, the bike is balanced and easy to manoeuvre. The power comes on quickly but controlled and a quick twist of the wrist tends to get me out of trouble and not into a whole lot more.

Her brakes are good and stopping suddenly mid-blind-corner for a road-worker casually spinning his stop/slow sign didn't cause too much drama, other than scaring the crap out of all involved and almost tempting me to give him a mouthful of abuse for his carelessness.

She purrs like a kitten and her custom pipe means that I'm usually heard before I'm seen.

All in all, I'm in love with her. Although not completely disillusioned by her not so cool points.