Hello. If you’ve found this blog because there is a motorcycle on it, you may find it helpful to know that I’m a priest in the Church of England, and a dyed-in-the-wool long distance cyclist. I’m also a vociferous advocate of active travel – so why am I writing about a 650cc v-twin motorcycle on a blog about ‘cycling, faith and photography’?
Have faith… there’s a reason.
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… technology has moved on and bikes now have electronic clutches, multiple computer controlled settings for traction control, ABS that works in corners, and flat screen televisions 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 and a lack of distractions is a good thing.
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 Marsden and Slaithwaite as a visible priestly presence, if I cycle from Frosterley to Cowshill 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, but every year the repairs list gets a little longer. This ageing car is useful to me and I hope to eke out more years from it, but I just can’t see myself driving everywhere for work when I’ve come from a job in which I could cycle all the time.
I did consider getting an eBike, but because they only assist up to 15 mph, and I can already do the return trip faster than that on my regular bicycle, I ruled it out. Anyway I am also required to visit rural parishes all over the Diocese of Durham, from Hartlepool to Sunderland and west of the A1, and an eBike wouldn’t solve that problem.
As someone who loves two wheels, I felt it was time to return to motorcycling.
When I started thinking about this 6 months ago, I originally wondered if the new Honda GB350 would be a good return to motorcycling bike. I love the idea of an easy to ride, single cylinder, air cooled 350cc thumper. It was watching reviews of the GB350 that convinced me returning to motorcycling was a possibility, but as I began to think about the reality of hills and miles, I realised I would need a bike which would feel at home on busy 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 was going to need something that could keep up easily.
I briefly wondered if I could get a second hand Suzuki Bandit 600. However, when I realised I could afford the finance for a new Suzuki, and that the SV650 could be my spiritual successor for the GT500, 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 the Suzuki SV650 is, it is so exhilarating to ride. 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. 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. At first I was having to speed up again for the corner, but now I’m learning to brake in the right place. I haven’t got braking right yet: I’m still too slow in corners.
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 it settles down into a slumber. It seems to be asleep at 50 mph in 4th, until a little more throttle lifts the pace to 60 mph. This motorcycle feels alive. I want to treat the engine well, I want it to be as reliable in 10 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. This bike’s 650cc v-twin engine is terrific.
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 on the saddle in comfort. 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 stiff suspension would result in him being 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 so far I’m very happy. Sure the Suzuki SV650 might be discontinued, but considering I have just bought one, perhaps it’s a case of:
“The SV650 is dead, long live the SV650”