I finally have more than 500 miles on my new SV650.  Monday, I took some time to ride down the back roads of southwest-lower Michigan.  While riding I crossed the 500 mile mark.  This was the first opportunity I’ve had to put any extended time in the saddle.  I rode about 120 miles through small towns at speeds from 25mph to 70mph on the freeway–ok a little faster.  Going from small town to small town hitting every stoplight red the SV preformed great.  Its power to weigh ratio provides a very enjoyable 0 to 60 experience even while keeping the RPMs under 5500 during the break in period.  For about 40 miles I took the freeway.  The SV handled well on the freeway but being very light had a tendency to blow around in the wind.

Returning home covered in bugs I was quite pleased with my new purchase.  

Suzuki should have never removed the fairings from the GS500.  When I started writing this post I was going to say I liked the looks of the Suzuki GS500 better than the Honda GS650.  However, yesterday I made some time to ride down some back roads of Southwest-lower Michigan and stumbled upon a Suzuki dealer. On the show floor sat a new GS500F.  The GS500 with fairings looked so much more complete that I wondered why they took them off.  I think the real problem I’m seeing is that this naked bike was designed to have fairings.  Suzuki decided to enter the naked market on the cheap without re-designing the bike.  When the fairings are removed an ugly frame designed to be hidden, is reveled.  What Suzuki and others should have done is design a new bike from ground up with frames and engines that complement each other.

The one up shot of the GS500 is the engine is a focal point.  When designing a bike it is important that there be some type of focal point and the engine is a safe place to draw peoples attention. 

The weekend is finally here.  Now it is time to ride.  Unfortunately rain is being predicted for the weekend here in southwest-lower Michigan so I’m not sure how many miles I’ll be able to get in.  I need to put a few more on my bike before May 20 when it goes in for a six hundred mile service.  Hopefully the weather will break in time to get a nice ride in this weekend.  I’ll keep you posted.  In the mean time if you have any weekend riding adventures feel free to leave a comment.

Next week I’ll continue my series on naked with the Suzuki GS500.  Till then keep the paint up and the rubber down.

The Honda HalkGT NT650, has been considered by many to be the first production naked motorcycle.  Honda was the first motorcycle manufacture to catch on to the stylistic removal of fairings.  This bike, produced for the 1988 production year, was key in developing the naked bike cult-like following. 

The NT650’s soul was a twin 647cc SOHC (Single Over Head Camshaft) engine.  Not a particularly striking engine but it seemed to do the trick.  As I look at this bike I think the combination of aluminum frame and engine is ugly.  It really should be a sport bike with fairings.  Honda did not spend enough time on the frame design to make it aesthetically appealing.  The frame is boxy and cuts through the middle of the engine area leaving holes under the gas tank take that draw your eye to nothing.  The single sided swing arm is a nice touch but the stock exhaust destroys the affect. In fact, this bike is so ugly that people decided to produce fairings to return it back to its sport bike heritage. 

The one redeeming feature of this bike is the wheels.  I particularly like the styling of the wheels.  The triple spoke design with a fan like twist is quite nice looking and the best design feature of this bike.  They are the only piece of this bike that indicates it could go fast.