Motorcycle Forums

I haven't ridden either the Hyosung or the ER6 but I will say the SV650, which I currently own as a second bike, has bags of character and soul for a Japanese bike made to a budget. When you're pottering through the countryside on the little V-twin, it's almost magical. Having a narrow rear end makes using panniers easy as you won't be taking up two lanes of the carriageway and little things like the lever span is great for smallish gloved hands and the clutch and gearbox are typical Suzuki perfection - smooth and light.. The top fairing does a good job of not only keeping the windblast off but keeps your hands dry in the rain and even the headlights give a good spread of light. My only gripe is the front suspension. It's pretty obvious Showa or Ohlins didn't get the gig for the SV650 and Suzuki decided to use Haribo, who probably used springs made form jelly sweets and put water in the forks instead of oil.

I owed an sv650s as my main bike for about 1 year, used the gt650 as an instructor and trainee bike for about year and a half, currently use the er6n as everyday instructing.

Gt650 was a great bike let down buy its looks but in your test you  are using the facelifted model which has a new seat unit and does look much better. The gt also doesnt fair well in slow speed drops as in u-turns or just loss of balance when stopping, the footpegs, rearsets, rear brake and gear lever are quite brittle and tend to break where the jap bikes would just bend. Also managed to burn out the clutch on two GTs but that was practicing for mod1 test.

Incomparison he kwack takes the punishment in its stride my only complaint with the er is the handlebars are very narrow and makes it difficult to see anything in the mirrors, unless you are a short slender woman, but nothing a set of renthals wouldnt sort. As for looks dont get the silver with red framed er as it looks awful once it gets a bit tatty all other colours seem fine.

Comfort on all 3 are ok the hoyosung seat is hard when you get on it but doesnt get much worse over time the er is good to start with but after a long day is very stiff i dont remember ever moaning about the sv seat.

 But the sv is the only one i would and did part with my money for, it could do with the option of upright  bars on the faired sv too (after market kit for £400). Mine was only sold to get a big traillie.

ER6

Had an ER6f for a couple of years. Fab bike, good engine. The one thing that I didn't like was the crampt leg position. My old knees began to hurt after an hour. Other than that not much wrong with it.

I knew immediatley that the er6 would win, I have owned an sv650s and i loved it very much a quality bike, but the finish was terrible, but it is definitly one of those bikes you will always look back fondly on, suzuki just really desperately need to update it, haven been on an er6 (although was only for a quick 10 mins) I was extremely impressed that kawasaki could sell it so cheap and still turn a profit, if it was my money it would be ther er6 every time

Real world observations

Came across this test today, thought I might impart my observations about it. My credentials are 40+ years none stop riding experience. Funny how magazine road testers view these bikes as a stepping stone, quite often they are all you will ever need. There is absolutely no reason to assume that everyone will want to "progress" to a superbike. Strangely enough I have owned each of these bikes albiet for a short while, so I speak from a strong position. I currently have a 2010 ER6N and whilst the engine and chassis are excellent, I do miss some wind protection. In respect of my actual bike I did have the benefit of a road test on a demo bike first and felt the poor tiny analogue speedo and rev counter might be a minor irritation. However if you are unlucky enough to need specs for reading (not for distance) DO NOT BUY THIS BIKE!!  Crazily the earlier bikes 2006/7/8 had an LCD Speedo.

The irritation has developed into a major gripe, first ever speeding ticket!! My bike also came with an annoying vibe/buzz at about 4000 rpm, which I traced to the afore mentioned speedo pod. Reported this to my otherwise helpful dealer, who said "they all do it" I have now rammed a bit of rubber tubing between the headlight cowl and the speedo head, not ideal but it works!  This coupled to the too narrow mirrors and Kawasaki  customers service response to my observations,  I cannot recomend this bike.

Turning to the Hyosung I actually traded this in for the ER6N in May 2010 as I had tried unsucessfully to sell it privately for 6 months, and the sequal to that is the dealer I px'd it with couldnt sell it either and subsequently traded it on. It remains on sale today on the web! A 2008/08 3k miles for less than £2k

Compred to the suzuki SV on which it is based I am afraid it is in a different league, the quality, fit and finish do not come close to Japanese standards, although it rides reasonably OK. I actually has the almost naked  (flyscreen) comet version, unfortunately the ergonomics of the bike are also very poor. If you think that by buying the version with the upright bars you will have a more comfortable riding position, forget it as the seat, foot pegs etc are identical to the sport!

In respect of the SV during my many years as a used car dealer I happened to take an 06 sport in px for a car. I delivered the car to my customer and rode the bike back about 30 miles. I absolutely fell in love with it and decided to keep it and did about 3000 miles on it. The previous owner had put a Leo Vinci can on it and it sounded sublime, the bike gave me a real buzz every time I rode it, unfortunately some one came in to showroom and wanted it. I am always unable to refuse a profit! So it went.

It was head and shoulders above the other two and when you consider that it is £500 less than the ER6's 2011 price and only about £250 dearer than the Hyosung which doesnt take an einstien to see the used values.

What a pity that Suzuki chose to re introduce the SV 2 months after I bought the ER6. Ah well if I can come to terms with the drop I will take on a 8 month old ER6 I would go back like a shot. Incidently 0% finance is really good when buying, but a real stumbler when trying to sell a nearly new!!!

MV