Has there ever been a more universally loved bike that the Suzuki SV650? The more I immerse myself into the motorcycling community, I really wonder. This is all subjective of course, but there really isn’t a lot to complain about with the SV. It came along and dominated the mid-sized bike market in 1999. Even if you don’t love it, you must admit its impact was substantial. The SV’s first and second generations sold from 1999 to 2012. Suzuki took a hiatus, until the Yamaha FZ (MT) 07 came on to the scene in the U.S in 2015. Suzuki released the 3rd generation SV650 in 2017.
The success of the SV650 was simple: handling, style, affordability, and a fantastic twin engine. Another interesting part of the SV’s history is near to my heart: Canada. Full disclosure, I’m Canadian. I’m also American, but I was born in Canada, Vancouver to be exact. When the SV was released in 1999 it was popular, but in the U.S you couldn’t buy the S model. The S had lower handlebars, rear set foot pegs and a bikini fairing. There was a lot of researching going on at the time about how to import bikes from Canada to the U.S. The S was also available in Europe, but for obvious reasons Canadian imports seemed a little more feasible. Quick sidebar: in 2009, when the Gladius debuted in the US, guess where you could still buy an standard SV? I digress. Whether it was the S or the standard model, the SV 650 took over the middle weight bike category, out selling the other options on the market. The SV first fell onto my radar when I kept stumbling on members of the motorcycling media community singing its praises. Spurgeon Dunbar of Revzilla even posted a video while he was riding one, taking the stance that an older SV 650 is a better buy than a lot of new bikes:
This 2000 SV650 only has 8,543 miles on it. From the pictures it looks to be in excellent shape, and the seller goes as far to say it’s “very near perfect”. The seller has a done a remarkable amount of maintenance on the bike including oil changes, chain maintenance, carb cleaning, and the tank has been decontaminated/coated. The list goes on from there. There’s also quite a bit of accessories that come with the purchase of the bike that are listed in great detail in the post. To be frank, I have rarely seen a longer and more detailed classified ad for a motorcycle in my hours looking online.
Find this Suzuki SV650 in Temecula, California for $3,000 here on Craigslist.