[spiccnspam]

Looks pretty sweet.

http://www.suzukicycles.com/Products/SFV650K9/Default.aspx

[briderdt]

It’s a beaut.

[Ben]

Very nice!

I’d love to get my hands on that bike to review!

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Rab]

Looks like a Ducati Monster with that exposed trellis frame. I like it; especially the black one.

Perhaps more relevant to a beginner forum, I also like their new TU250 a lot (the color, not so much).

It’s a real throwback. A standard style thumper (single cylinder) with a drum brake on the back; very retro and looks great.

Now if they’d just do something like that in a 350-450, maybe in a twin, it would be a great commuter / utility / gas-saver bike.

http://www.suzukicycles.com/Products/TU250XK9

[spiccnspam]

its name is so beast.

[Anonymous]

It looks like it’s taking the place of the SV650, since they put up all of the other 2009 model line-up, but not the SV650.

And that bike looks awesome.

[dcJohn]

So, I’m curious, how much does “going naked” on a bike effect the comfort for highway riding? I’m loving my 250, but I can tell that I’m going to be moving up to a bigger bike for commuting (round-trip of 70 miles between DC and Baltimore, all of it highway). The Versys is tempting, but at 5’8″ the height is an issue. So, that leaves the Ninja 650r, ER6N, FZ6R, SV650, and now the Gladius.

The ER6N and Gladius both look great, but I’m not sure how concerned I need to be about the fairings. Ideas/opinions?

[Rab]

You forgot the new for 2008, bargain priced, fully faired, 50 mpg, Suzuki GSX650F, a fantastic commuter and sport-tourer.

It’s very popular in Europe, where many people actually use their motorcycles as transport (what a concept!).

I too have a 70 mile round-trip commute, mostly freeway, and this bike is ideal. It has a four-cylinder, fuel injected, water -cooled engine with of plenty of power for one or two-up, immaculate roadholding; very smooth and comfortable too.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that the fairings do make a difference as to how much wind blast and rain you’ll catch.

You can see the GSX650F here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrZGLvqU9N0

As I own one, I’m obviously more than a little biased. Your mileage may vary as they say

[Loki]

pretty good looking bike.

[Andrew]

Nice.

[WeaponZero]

It’s basically the third gen SV650. Still uses the same old SV motor, just they’re no longer calling it the SV650 after this second redesign. I wonder what will become of the SV650SF…

[Rupmisc]

Looks really good. Maybe even a little more upright than the Ducati 696. A hell of a lot cheaper.

[dcJohn]

It looks Suzuki isn’t doing the SV650 for 2009, and I’m leery about going naked considering my highway commute, so perhaps another option is going big. While looking at reviews of the GSX650 (thanks Rab), I ran across some recommendations for the bump up to the Bandit 1250S (also available w/ABS):
http://www.suzukicycles.com/Products/GSF1250SK9

While the reviews on the GSX650 (which is essentially a 650cc Bandit) have been mixed , I’ve only found glowing reviews of the 1250S. Anyone have any experience with the bike?

[somebadlemonade]

I would love to start out on a 2009 SV650SF, I am pretty sure I could control it, but 2 things come up, dropping the bike and goosing the throttle coming out of a starting to drift. With something under powered, it would be rather hard to do that, and if I do drop it’s cheap to fix, so I am starting out on a used 250. And like that I can afford the bike and the protective gear.
—
Just call me SBL.

[Rab]

Can’t agree that reviews of the GSX650F have been mixed. I haven’t seen any magazine review that is less than glowing (Rider, Cycle World, Motorcycle.com, etc.). Haven’t really heard anything bad in fact, except from people who’ve never ridden one…

Anyway, that said, the big Bandit 1250 is indeed a well loved bike; I have a friend who has one.

Be aware however, that it’s a lot more bike than your 250 and is probably overkill in terms of usable power on the street; especially for a new rider.

Another thing to think about if you’re going to be doing much commuting, is that the bike is basically a consumable in that, depending on how many miles you do, you might be selling it in a year or two, so why buy an expensive bike you’ll just be taking a bigger depreciation hit on?

Anyway, just food for thought…

[Author]

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