Before I had the SV I was on a restricted licence and was riding a Suzuki RG150rr 2stroke, Great bike to learn on. Revved to 12500rpm did a true 150km, very light. I learnt a lot of very valuable skills on that bike. I attended a number of track days and learnt even more about riding and the skills required from some very supportive people. I also learnt what it was like to go around a corner without a bike, not particularly pleasant. But once again a great learning experience. My last memory of the incident was sliding across the track thinking I hope my bikes ok ... amazing what thoughts go through your head while sliding on tarmac. That has been my only off. There have been a number of very close calls, most due to tin top drivers not seeing me, Thank god for all that emergency braking practice.!!!

My impression of the SV are that I cant seem to keep of the dam thing. I have been trying to keep the mileage down, Pa what a joke, in three months I have done 7000km and that is just fun riding I don't commute on it. So as you can see I really enjoy riding it. I will find any excuse to go for a ride. After work I will jump on and just ride. I don't care where I go. As queen put it "I just want to ride my bike".

I would like to change the front forks as I find them a little soft, and I will be changing the front tyre for a softer compound. Why I say this as at times I lost confidence in the front with the behaviour it has shown. Once again I am not that experienced and I may use terms that are a little baffling but I will try to explain what I have found. I don't no weather its a combination of tire / fork or riding style that gives this result. When riding fair hard (For me) in 120-130 Km corners the front feels like it about to slide away from me, (Admittedly over small bumps ) just dips me into the corner more and causes the sphincter to grip tight to the seat, then the reverse happens and it feels like its about to throw me over the side. This also happens in slower corners as well. This is unsettling and saps my confidence in the front end. Then other days it behaves impeccably. I have tried different tire pressures and check the pressures often, on the rides I go there is a far amount of stopping and starting, Perhaps the front tyre is warm enough yet, I don't really know. So I would like to put on a softer compound front tyre that warms up quickly (Any suggestions welcome) and see what difference that makes. Then the next step (When $$ are available) is to install Racetech springs and gold eliminator valves on the front forks. I have had know problems with the back end. It does slide around a little but I don't mind that..

Now back to some of the adventures that I have had. The most recent and one of the longer journeys was down to the South Island to visit a my lovely partner. I usually fly but decided to take the bike. I took a couple of days off and had  7 days down in the fair city of Christchurch.The Night before I left packed up the bike and checked everything over, tyre pressures, chain, lube, brake,... you know all the stuff you do before a long trip. Then next morning down to the Topcat fast ferry for a quick dash across the strait to the South Island. Now as this was my first time on the ferry I was a little concerned about the tying down of my beloved bike. After all the horror stories that I had heard.
But there were no problems, The guys on the ferry were great. I used recently purchased fox tie downs for the forks, and the ferry supplied ones to cris cross over the bike, Safe as. Had a smooth crossing which was a nice start to the holiday. Arrived at Piction, By the time I has unstrapped the bike I was last off the ferry. Quick stop to check all the luggage and a quick photo. Now this is the first time I have been down South on a bike so I was really looking forward to it. So I started off on my journey to Christchurch.

Now the roads down south are great.. So once past all the ferry traffic, which didn't take long.  First leg - Picton to Kaikoura, fast sweepers long straights lots of hills and windy roads and as I got closer to Kaikoura it got a bit more twisty. Heaps of fun,  I started to really get into the groove. I was having a ball. However ever aware of the boys in blue, Last thing I needed was a loss of licence on my first day. Once at Kaikoura it was time for more go juice. Once filled up away again. This time more twisty roads and ranges and more fun. I cant remember the name of the ranges but I had a ball. Really starting to power out of the corners and confidence building as well as speed. Trying to be smooth and fast. Since I didn't know the roads. Then the road straightened out to the plains and a head wind, not much fun, But Still managed a 100km average to Christchurch. It took just over 3.15 to get to Christchurch. I was happy with that. Time to unload the bike. The rear tyre was looking well used and so was the front. Bits of rubber hanging off everywhere.

Next day my partner was working so I took the opportunity to go for a "small" ride. I headed out to Akaroa a small beach town south of Christchurch. I had been there in a car and knew it would be a awesome ride and was really looking forward to it. but first I needed food. Headed  to Sumner for breaky and then over the hill to the Lyttleton port, Governors Bay and then the back way to Akaroa. This disserted back road was great to really open the bike up

. One up no luggage and a beautiful day ....perfect. So I let it rip. Confirmed that my 2000 silver model is speed limited to 183km. I know this as I have fitted a bike computer, average speed ,max, distance,...blah blah. It is more accurate than the speedo. So every time I hit 183km engine retardation kicked in. The SV still had plenty left. An un-restricted SV hits about 200-5 maxed out. Wasn't to worried as I was travelling at jail bait speed anyway. Then  came the fun bit the windy twisty road over a big hill that takes you to Akaroa. Open corners good road, not much traffic. Alight I said, smooth, looking through the corners, nail it out ... away I went. Far to soon the road was finished and I was at Akaroa. Quick petrol stop and head back over. This time was even better. Knew the road conditions the confident was up and I was feeling good. I rode better this run back as well. Posted 25km - 85km corners were taken a close to double that and a better rider could have gone well over that. I was having a ball, huge grin. Which what for me motorcycling is all about. The sound of the SV on full song ringing out across the hills. I thought this must be heaven.

There were a few sphincter clasping moments. But that was due to rider error not the bike. Over cooked a corner, a few missed down changes which always makes braking a bit more interesting !!  The bike was handling great and I was pushing my envelope more than I had on the bike before. Back over the port hills to Christchurch. Now that was a bit different, the road wasnt as good more blind corners more traffic. It was good to wind down on after such an awesome ride.

By the time I got back the rear tyre had defiantly had a good work out, rubber missing everywhere. A few more rides like that and you could kiss a rear tyre good bye very quickly. Same for the front. But hey what fun was had.

The next few days were just puntting around town. Also helping shift flat. Then another free day so I decided to head back out to Akaroa, great ride out there, had breaky there. Getting faster all the time as I became familiar with that wonderful bit of road. Then on the way back I had the biggest scare of the whole trip, This was true seat sphincter swallowing moment. In a set of  S's coming out of the first corner nailed it getting lined up for the next corner, looking well ahead. Hence didn't see that innocence looking pinecone sitting mid exit in the shadow of the hill directly on my chosen line. The first I knew of it was when there was a large thump at the front end and all hell broke loose. The SV shook its head in shock to been made to run over a large obstacle mid corner, the front wheel jumped about a foot sideways and landed shaking the SV head again. As you can image if the SV was unhappy so was I. I though that this could be it. It all happened so fast. I basically was just a passage at the beginning. Luckily I have had the SV shake its head before so this wasn't a new experience to me, The severity was though. But due to the bikes well behaved nature it shook it head for a while then sorted itself out with little (Read NO) input from me and then carried on as if nothing had happened, admittedly on quite a different line than the chosen path. It was more of the bikes capability than the riders that this story doesn't end somewhat messier. I didn't have time to dwell on the incident as the next corner was upon me and I was on a different line than I had expected. Once around that corner the incident was put aside as coming up was a set of fabulously fast flowing open corners, Time to ponder "what if's" much later when stopped and feeling mortal. The experience only servered to remind me that the SV is a great bike.

So after a fabulous break & time spent with my partner it was time to head home. Would you believe that just as I was leaving Christchurch it started to rain, And rain it did. This wasn't a little shower this was good wholesome rain. Great if you are inside by the fire with a good wine. But not so much fun after three hot days and tar laden roads with a 3hr + ride ahead of you to catch a ferry. So there I was all loaded up, wet weather gear on travelling along, Very timidly at first, But the more I rode the more I trusted the bikes grip and capability in the wet. This was the first time I had ridden the SV in heavy rain so it was a great learning experience. The combination of  the MZ4s, South Island corse road chip I was able to maintain a fairly good pace.

As we started entering the windys (technical word) I was very comfortable on the bike in the wet. Cold yes, a little wet yes but happy with the bike. Now about this point a Subaru GTB passed me.... Now I wasn't going that slow so I though Ok lets see how well I could stick with him. Now that was fun. He had it in the tight corner but the more open flowing ones and the straights I was right there with him. It was good clean fun. Eventual as it got more tight he made his get away, On a fine day who knows. Stopped at Kaikoura for go juice again. Took my relatively new gloves off only to find that I had black hands, yes all the leather dye had come out in the rain and I had the result was all over my hands. Must have look bloody funny.
 

Filled up, ate what seem to be the best pie in the world on that cold windy day. Jumped back on and headed north again. The rain stopped and dry lines appeared so once again the trottle was given a full work out. Got to Picton early, so had food and waited For the ferry. The trip back across the strait on the ferry  was a little more entertaining than the last one due to the strong southerly, spent most of the trip worried about the bike. But got to Wellington and it was just fine. So over all I cover 1300km Road, hills, city riding and averaged 98.5km. Which I felt was pretty good.

The bike ran very well, the only hick up was heading back in the rain the front cylinder started to misfire. I had read about this, either water been thrown up around the front spark plug or water in the tank so I dropped a gear and ran higher rev for a couple of Km, that seemed to fix it, My logic run the engine a bit hotter and it may help dry the water out or use more fuel and clear the water. Weather my plan is sound or not it had the desired effect and the miss went away never to been seen again. This was the only mechanical blip of the whole trip.

So over all the trip was great, excellent riding was had and I learnt a lot about the bike and my skill level.

Back home now and the memories of those sunny days deserted roads have grown to legendary proportion. I cant wait until my next trip down there.