which bike?

[matt]

hi all me again, passed my theory test today, got course 19, 20, 21 of this month with test on 21. one prob, i can't make up my mind which bike to get, toss up between brand new sv650s, or 99 yamaha r6, any ideas?

[Robby]

SV650

[G]

What riding experience have you had so far?

[matt]

i had a bike many moons ago, and had my nsr for 3 months, 2 of which derestricted

[Dusty]

I'd say go for a 99 R6, but them I am slightly biased (see add below)
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[Phil.]

Hello bud

I had a SV650s for a while, Really nice bike. But if i had the choice (money) i'd go for the R6..But me bein 19 an all i'd have to sell a body part to get insured on one of them.

I definatly fell in love with V twins after a few months on the SV. Had a few hairy moments with the engine breaking but its very forgiving. Not to mention that noise, tunnels were best fun

But..I did go abit mental and threw it down the road..

So its a either another sv or a 6 bandit for me next year...<jealousy>wish R6 were an option</jealousy>

Good luck mate

[Scotty]

[Dusty]

I've owned an R6 and ridden an SV a couple of times, they are quite different bikes and it really depends what you want from a bike as to which one you should go for.

Imo the SV is a very capable all round bike, It'll be good for doing a few long jouneys on, will be quite good for a bit of scratching and should be a more than capable wheelie tool. The engine will have a fairly even spread of torque right through the rev range, so should be easy to get the best from. The standard suspension prolly won't be as good as an R6's, but will still be quite capable. On the whole this bike should be a jack of all trades, ie it will do pretty well at whatever you ask it to do.

The R6 on the other hand will not be good for long jouneys, the seating position is far too extreme and more work will be needed on your behalf to get the best out of the engine. There is very little power below 7k revs and you don't get the real kick till 10k revs, but then that is what the R6 is about, it needs to be thrashed to be ridden properly. At the track the r6 should be the superior tool, but then you probably know that anyway.

In the end I would advise test riding them both and making you decision based on which one makes you smile the most. Imho both are great bikes, but they are very different bikes to, tbh the sv650 is probably the better bike if you are not that experienced, but the r6 is fun.


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[matt]

thanks for your advice chaps, i will wait untill i manage to pass my test, head say sv but heart says r6, i will keep you updated.