nice!!
what valving did they do in the forks?
Send it to Boston or NY?
Are you getting a TRE?
New springs and racetech cartridge emulators, everything is set-up for my weight.
Boston. Already have TRE installed. Will need to adjust the TPS.
You buy the TRE off svrider?
How did it feel?
Boston is good people, they checked the frame on the now late '636.
Looking good!
Yup, Steve’s TRE. Can’t really tell you how it feels…
Goes with the thread
We get a lot of postings on our message boards informing us that an average rider will go just as fast at the racetrack on a well-prepped SV650 or similar machine than he would on the latest, hottest superbike. We decided to investigate a bit further by having Lee Parks bring his souped-up SV650 to the track to see how well Ole got around on it. We’ll let him tell you in his own words what that was like.-Editor
Lee’s SV is a very well put-together bike. It is stock except for the suspension, wheels, rearsets and handlebars. He added Heli-Bars to make it more streetable, and he took the front and rear suspension from his 2001 WERA National Endurance Racing Championship-winning SV650. Basically it has a Penske rear shock and highly-modified SV650 front forks with Honda CBR600F3 cartridges, Race Tech Gold Valves and springs, and YZF600 fork caps (set up for Lee, who weighs about the same amount as I do). To top it off it had cool-looking forged aluminum Carrozeria wheels (3.5 x 17 and 5.5 x 17).
Because of the fact that I also own a well-set up Honda Hawk, I’ve always been looking forward to the possibility of riding a well-set up SV650. Lee’s bike lived up to my every expectation (and more). I first got to ride it on the stretch of Hwy 33 between Reyes Peak and Lockwood Valley (not an overly fast section of road, but very technical and full of interesting surface changes, with occasional bits of “gravel spray” thrown in to make it interesting). After getting off the Gixxer it at first felt very weird being on the SV650 until I reminded myself that it was just like my little Hawk, but with more power and much better suspension (and Michelin Pilot D.O.T. race tires).
Knowing how well it handled, and that the tire grip would be way beyond the limits which I chose to set, I pushed the SV down the mountain at a pace much greater than I would have if I’d been on my 675. Just like the Hawk, the SV650 makes it unbelievably easy to ride fast. The low center of gravity and high/wide bars make transitions from corner to corner as easy as just thinking about giving a little push on the bars. Although I knew that I probably could have gone slightly faster on my 675, I still had a total blast on the SV650.
On the second day of the test, I got to run quite a few laps on both my 675 and the SV650. As I’d already been riding my 675 for 5000 miles, I was pretty comfortable running her around Buttonwillow. After a couple of warm-up laps on the SV650, I quickly became totally at ease pushing it much harder than I did on my 675 (she’s not prepped for the track yet, and I didn’t want to take any risk with having to replace my stock bodywork).
I’ve already reported on how awesome the 675 is on the track. With the Triumph having nearly twice the power of the SV650, I was quite surprised to see that running laps at the same consistent (and safe) pace on both bikes my lap time on the SV650 (3:02) was only four seconds slower than a comparable lap on my 675 (2:5. Just like when I was riding the SV650 in the twisties (on the street), it was again a total hoot to ride on the track. Even at a safe pace (don’t crash Lee’s bike Ole!), I came away from every SV650 track session laughing at how easy it was to come to my turn points, slap the SV over onto my line, and power through the corners without a shimmy, squirm, wobble, or any untoward movements from anywhere on the bike.
The SV is an absolute joy to ride, but I’m not trading in my 675 for one. If I was in the market for a bike which I’d use only for the tightest and most technical roads or tracks, the SV650 would easily be my first choice. In most of the terrain where I ride my 675, its significantly higher power, nearly equivalent handling, and Triumph Triple sound and feel still makes it the bike for me.
If you ever have a chance to take an SV650 on a blast through some good twisty roads or to do a few laps on a nice technical track, take it! You’ll have a great time. And isn’t that why we ride?
Lee Park’s SV in the article essentially had all the suspension almost max’d out aided with those $1600 set of wheels. If you think how essential suspension and unsprung weight is to a 3000lbs car’s handling, can you imagine how critical it is to a vehicle system the require the suspension to work while they are at an angle, and how critical the unsprung weight is to a vehicle that weights sub 400 lbs.
You got to remember that his SV, if it is in fact stock, is a 1 gen carb bike with zero power mods.
This is what I’ve been saying about running in the lightweight superbike class, a somewhat competitive bike will cost you around $8k easy.
Getting there :excited:clap
Suspension in and ready for Sunday. Need to do some wire work for the transponder; PC, new filter & fairing on its way. Going to get a new rear sprocket for more accel. Bike should be ready for first race, not sure if my body will be…
rofl
What gearing are you going with? What track? 520 chain right?
LOL, I am going to cheap out and use the stock 525 chain for now, just going to get a cheap aluminum 45T; which is the gearing most of the people are using for Loudon.
I will do the 520 conversion when the stock chain is dead. :thumb
i can do about 3 flying laps on a 2.5 mile track before my legs start to burn like crazy :rofl i am way too out of shape for racing
^^ I’ve been hitting the gym everyday since I joined PF, I need a lot of cardio and leg work.
Test fitted the fairing I just got, the fit of these ebay fairing really sucks…:rofl. Looks like I will doing some paint work this long weekend.
Glad to see people using these bikes for what they were actually designed to do!
Had two bike track days booked before my buddy went down and busted up his wrist. 
Gonna have to wait again.
Alright, who wants to be my first sponsor??? rofl
Rattle can 20/20 paint job FTW…:rofl
You should put mad trojan and four loko stickers all over it.
rofl
you have to put a saftey wire thru every freakin bolt on the bike to make it a legal race bike?
what do you need just to do like a track day? just fully leathers?
Safety wire is just for racing, for track days if I remember right just the oil filter needs to be tied down somehow. Gloves, a up to date helmet, full leathers, boots are all likely required.