The Suzuki SV650 motorcycle has been discontinued in the UK, and as of early 2026 there are only a few ‘new’ 2025 models left in showrooms. Suzuki launched this motorcycle in 1999, and the last engineering update was made in 2016. It is an old motorcycle… I’m amazed at how technology has moved on: bikes now have electronic clutches, multiple computer controlled settings for traction control, ABS that works in corners, and touchscreens where the rev-counter used to be. However, a wonderful thing about old technology is that the quirks have been ironed out. To buy a new Suzuki SV650 is to buy a reliable machine. The technology may be 10 to 25 years old, but on a machine which accelerates from 30 to 60 mph in the blink of an eye, reliability is a good thing. As a person who loves old-tech such as analogue film photography and mechanical bicycles, the SV650’s old-tech really appeals to me.
Back in the early 1990s I learned to ride a motorcycle because my mate said it would be fun. Neither of us could afford cars, but we wanted to be able to travel with more freedom than public transport could give us. He bought a yellow Honda 400-Four, and I bought a Suzuki GT500. Mine had a metallic blue tank, a long bench seat, a two-stroke air cooled 500cc engine and an exhaust that regularly fired the baffle back down the road. It drank oil as quickly as it drank petrol. The long wheelbase (and awful tyres) meant it didn’t like corners, but in a straight line it was fast. I had to hold onto the bars for dear life as the wind pushed me back along the padded bench seat. I loved it. That motorbike took me to work and back for a year or so, as well as seaside outings with my wife on the back, and even one ridiculous return trip from Hull to London to see my parents. When the pistons decided to disintegrate on the A63 out of Hull one evening, the resultant damage was beyond my pocket to repair. We had a daughter, and we lived pretty much hand-to-mouth financially. Thankfully there was a reliable train service for the commute… but motorcycling became a thing of the past.
This year I started a new job, with responsibility for a Church of England benefice that covers 100 square miles of the north Pennines. That’s much larger than the 20 square miles of south Pennines I used to cover, and while I could cycle around Kirklees as a visible priestly presence, if I cycle the length of Weardale it takes me an hour each way. I love the route, and cycling in Weardale is wonderful, but as the Vicar of four churches and with a wider Diocesan role, I can’t justify the time it takes.
I have a small car with a fairly small engine that does about 51 mpg. It is useful to me, and I hope to eke out the life it has, but the maintenance list gets longer each year. My heart sinks when I imagine myself driving everywhere for work when I’ve come from a job I could do by bicycle. I did consider getting an eBike, but they only assist up to 15 mph, and I can already do the return trip faster on my regular bicycle.
As someone who loves two wheels, I felt it was time to return to motorcycling.
When I started thinking about this last year, I originally wondered if the new Honda GB350 would be a good ‘return to motorcycling’ bike. I loved the idea of an easy to ride, single cylinder, air cooled 350cc thumper. While watching video reviews of the GB350 I became convinced it would be possible for me to ride a motorcycle again. However, as I began to think about the reality of the Weardale landscape, I realised I would need a bike which would feel at home on big climbs and long A-roads. One of my parishioners in Marsden had a Triumph Scrambler 400, and that looked beautiful – this took me down a review rabbit hole as I imagined owning one of them. Again, it was the lack of road presence which put me off. I felt it would be lovely on tiny back lanes, but on A-roads I believed I needed a bigger engine.
I briefly wondered if I could get a second hand Suzuki Bandit, but then I realised I could afford the finance for a new Suzuki. In my head, the SV650 became the GT500’s spiritual successor and I was hooked. How many hours of your free time do you spend researching before buying? I delved into blogs and YouTube videos, and found that each review started out by talking about how dated the Suzuki was, but as the ride went on the reviewer would find they were thoroughly enjoying the simplicity, and no one complained about the power.
I’m not ready to use this for work yet. I need to become as familiar with this motorbike as I am with my bicycles, because travelling on two wheels is an immersive experience and requires my full attention. It is good to give things your full attention, but re-learning to ride a motorbike is exhausting: not only is there the operation of the bike to concentrate on, I’m a lot more alert to changes in the road surface, adjusting my speed before I corner, and the movement of other vehicles around me. I want to spend a year getting smoother with my throttle and brake control, becoming physically stronger and more instinctive with the SV650’s operation, so that eventually I will have more attention for the road and other traffic in busier conditions.
However, as exhausting as it is to ride a motorbike, the Suzuki SV650 is so exhilarating. At first, my inner cyclist was braking for corners based on 28mm tyres and rim brakes… whereas the engine braking alone on this v-twin is astounding. The brakes are perfect for me, because merely a gentle squeeze of the front brake, followed by a toe on the rear brake, and I’m dropping from 50 mph to walking pace just like that. On the approach to corners I was sometimes having to speed up again to reach the bend, and although I’m learning to brake in the right place I haven’t got it right yet. I feel as though I’m slightly too slow when cornering.
Accelerating is a different matter though. I am very happy at 27 mph through towns and villages in 2nd gear, the engine burbling along at 3-4 thousand rpm, but when the road opens up, I snick into 3rd gear and find I’m doing 50 mph without seeing the speed change in between. The engine growls at 5-6 thousand rpm, and if I shift into 4th gear it settles down into a slumber. It seems to be asleep at 50 mph in 4th gear, until a little more throttle lifts the pace to 60 mph. This motorcycle feels alive, but never threatening. I haven’t felt the power delivery trying to throw me off the bike, and perhaps that’s because the seat leans slightly forward into the upright riding position. I want to treat this engine well, I want it to be as reliable in ten years as it is today, I want to take care of it. However, I find the engine is so happy anywhere from 3 thousand rpm upwards, and in any gear, that I don’t need to worry. To think it is only half the size of my little car’s engine and seems to be giving me about 60 mpg. My car isn’t particularly heavy compared to modern cars, it only weighs about 1000 kg, but the SV650 is only 200 kg and therefore does much less damage to our British road network.
The suspension is squishy. I love it. There is a gentle bounce on uneven roads, and a slight wallow in corners. I feel cushioned and the bike feels planted. What I mean is that the tyres feel like they hug the road while I feel swept along in the saddle; riding in comfort. Suspension can be a nightmare if it is too stiff and I remember a friend of mine used to drive a Subaru Impreza, he said that the brakes only work when the wheels are on the road, and the Impreza’s suspension would put him in the air more often than he liked. I never feel like I’m skipping over bumps on the SV650.
So the Suzuki SV650 is old tech, but beautiful, reliable and with more power than I had in the bike I had 30 years ago. Modern tyres lean into corners so easily – I just need to look where I want to go and the bike turns. I’m at the beginning of my return to motorcycling journey, and I’m very happy so far.