Hi,

I currently own a Honda Magna 2002 750 and absolutely love her. Have had her for a year and ride her rain, shine, hail, and have put about 5000 miles on her. I am a new rider ... just the Magna under my belt.

I want to up my riding ability and hope to attend the cornerspin and cornerspeed riding schools and do 6-12 trackdays over the course of the next 18 months.

I had planned on replacing my Manga with an sv650 for the said purpose.

Again my motivations are:
1. Have loads of fun
2. Up my riding skills -- I want to feel safe on the road and it is my utmost priority.
3. possibly set myself up for racing in 2014.
4. Do it on a budget -- sadly I am not rich and I also have grad school tuition to take care off
5. Be safe.
6. Use the same bike for commenting to work (roughly 6k miles a year)
7. Tour the roads of our great country (I've just hit my mid life crisis and come to the realization that I've spent all my youth looking at computer screens).

I have come to realize that that a clean superhawk can be had for about a grand less than a clean sv650.

And I'm debating if I a superhawk would serve me for what I want to do, just about as well as an sv650

I'd love to get your thoughts on this subject.

Note I'd also considered:
1. Getting an RC51 but was advised It'd be cleaner to just blow my brains out.
2. a Ninja 250 -- which I thought would be the preferred vehicle to develop cornering skills -- but folks said that after a Magna I'd be bored our of my wits
4. an sv1000 -- which folks said was not really a good bike.

Clarification:
1. I am looking for a bike that will take me through next year 2013 ...
2. If I get into racing I'll might get a different bike
3. So 2013 is: track days, touring, commuting, fun

Cheers!

 

For racing, get the SV... For road, get the VTR... For both, take your pick...

The RC is a very, very good bike and for track it has got the rest of your list beaten, before you fire it up... But it's certainly not a learners bike in any way... It takes skill to use it's potential... The big SV is kind of porky, and sedate for what it is, and on a track it's not a learners bike at all... It's either go slow, or wring it's neck... The 250 will be good for honing skills, but yeah, it's totally opposite the Magna and the rest... Very sanitised, very wheels in line, and then just screeeam it on the straights...

 

Good question. I think the SV650 is a terrific bike and may be easier to find than a superhawk. As far as I know, there are no "must fix" things like the R/R and CCT on the superhawk. Even the first generation SV650S are great bikes and just like the hawks need suspension upgrades to make them great on the track. Gas mileage is also better by about 10mpg and range of an SV650 is much better than a superhawk. At the end of the day, find a bike that would fit your budget and is in good shape. That will matter more than whether you get a superhawk or an SV650s....

 

The SV is a great bike. You can get fuel injection after '02 and the '03 was a one year bike in a few ways. I had a '00 carb bike. It was great, but I always wanted a Hawk. They were too similar to keep both. 50-55 mpg is not hard to do on an SV where 40 mpg is hard to get on a Hawk and its easy to get a lot less. Probably easier to get even better mpg on the FI bike. Insurance is cheaper. It's lighter. Lots of SV parts cheap on Ebay. There are tons of mods for the SV. It will need suspension work but front springs and an Ebay shock can do wonders. The SVRider forum is a wealth of information.
It probably handles better than the Hawk and you would learn more from it.

On the down side it is not near as fast as the Hawk and doesn't sound near as cool, but the tires may last a little longer.

 

I just Googled Honda Magna.........Bleh, sorry, probably a cool bike, just not to my liking. Be prepared for way better brakes on any sport bike you buy.

 

There's a pretty big following of SV track riders... like was said, suspension and brakes are the first to upgrade on both bikes. Only using it for the track or would you be taking it on the street too? In terms of consumables (fuel, chain, tires, etc) and aftermarket support the SV won't be more expensive in the long run despite finding it's a grand more right now. But what I'd do is sit on both with the track in mind and that'll help you decide.

I rode an sv1000 and after 5 minutes I knew that I would never own that bike. It's not bad in any particular way, just didn't feel like I had a connection with it. Or some kind of spiritual gibberish like that...

 

Hi,

A superhawk I'm looking at from a young gentleman has the following specs:

1. Relatively clean.
2. No clicking noticeable CCT
3. R&R seems to have been replaced -- it looked different from the factory part.
4. Laid down on the Right hand side ... faring rash and right can had a dent
5. Carbs looked ok
6. Everything else checked out
7. She's a 1998
8. 36,000 miles on her.
9. Tires good
10. No leaks on the forks
11. Didn't know enough about the rear suspension
12. not cold blooded
13. Images attached
14. He has the under engine faring
15. Some oil staining on the bottom of the engine oil pan ... where u open the blot to drain the oild.
16. Break looked good
17. Break fluid clear

What would be, in your opinion:
1. Fair price
2. Fire sale price

Thanks in advance.

 

I'd probably pay 2K, depending on how bad the rash/dent is.

FYI, the CCT won't give a warning, it'll just go out and destroy your motor. I'd consider it a "must replace" part on every used bike, even with 1000 original miles, unless manual ones are already installed. But a pair of them will only cost you 100 bucks. It's not a huge cost, but it could save you a bunch of headache in the future.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the note on the CCTs .... how difficult is it to replace them .... or generally how many hours of labor do you think it'll cost.

Thanks.

 

I agree that $2000 is about fair for that year and condition. I paid $1600 for a 1998 with 31k miles that looked to be in worse condition. My understanding is that CCT does take a few hours to change.

 

For a skilled mechanic it should take less than two hours of shoptime if you are paying for it... If it takes more, he's out behind the shop texting his gf instead... I'm fairly slow compared to a pro, and I can do it in roughly 2 hours...

 

ya, she's not a prom queen by any stretch of the imagination but when I got back into motorcycling after more years than I can count she's been a bucket of fun and generally very forgiving for the handful of times I've gotten myself self onto the Darwin Awards Nominee list.

I do agree, I'm never confident with her the breaks.

Today I rode a few hundred miles on her to see 3 superhawks and if it all goes well I'll be getting one of em tomorrow :-).

My ride back was 80 miles I think though a cold cold dark night -- she was playful and loads of fun. It was just me, her, the occasional cager, aloof stars, the harsh cold dark night, the classy growl of her V4 -- even though I was not dressed for the occassion it was a night, I hope I'll remember for many years to come.

 

Go with SV650S 04 or later. 03 first year for FI but there were some reported crank problems on 03 year only. Gsxr 600/750 front end bolts directly on the bike as well as several model rear shocks bolt on with slight battery box mod and different battery. I have both vtr and sv650s and hands down no question sv is better street and track bike. Lighter, sit lower in the saddle, turns better, and FI. The motors are rock solid and the sv rails on track.