Modifications

Modifications to Margarita Blue

Finding a windshield that would fit the bike wasn't easy. The instrument cluster on the SV1000 is mounted directly above the headlight instead of a bit behind it, so it gets in the way of most fairings and shields. You need a shield that mounts almost vertical.
The National F15 Sport Shield works well. It matches the look of the bike, attaches fairly easily, and deflects the air off chest and hands the way I wanted. I can even tune the air flow by changing the angle of the shield just a little.
I had to make two changes to the shield's fittings:
The windshield brackets clamp to the headlight brackets. Fittings on the headlight brackets get in the way, so I cut each 'shield bracket and bent it enough to clear them.
The windshield bolts to the brackets, but National provides large polished fittings that look really bad against the black of the 'shield. I replaced them with parts from the local hardware store, all of them black to match the 'shield: Allen-head bolts, small stiff faucet washers, large rubber washers against the plastic.
Other riders have installed the bikini fairing that Honda sells for the 919. It works well and looks good. Suzuki used to make a very cool mini-fairing for the 650 that could be adapted to the 1000, but it's no longer available.
The stock mirrors looked clunky so I painted them black, which helped a little, but the mirror stems are short, as well, so I tried a couple of EMGO mirrors. The smallish trapezoid-shaped ones looked really good, but they vibrated like crazy and their stems were short, too. Eventually I wound up with these Napoleon bar-end mirrors. They're terrific.

The Suzi has a single round headlight, and driving on dark roads is like driving through a dim tunnel. These FET CATZ XSLs light the road ahead and to the sides, even in corners. They're mounted on the fork tubes, using steering damper brackets. They have a round beam with a 75º spread and they're aimed slightly to the side and up.

The Savage had soft saddle bags and the Connie hard ones, but neither were as useful as this Givi E460 topcase, which I installed shortly after I bought the bike. It's good for chores around town as well as touring. It's big and well-made, it mounts and removes easily, and it's very secure once mounted. Givi did a good job of aligning the frame with the bike's style lines but it's still sorta ugly, and attaching it was a pain in the butt.
In 2006, the Givi frame broke clean through after a fast ride over some paved but bumpy roads. After a month or so of obsessing over what to do, I hit on the notion of using the break constructively.
I wanted to get a second E460 hard case, anyway, for longer trips. I'd be retiring soon and planned to spend lots of time touring California. So I added side racks to the top rack and made the top rack removable by cutting the other side of the frame at the same corresponding spot as the break. I used threaded rod to make inserts that slide into the permanent frame and which the top rack frame slides onto.
In order to make this work, I had to remount the turn signals. The lights have to be remounted, anyway, because the side racks are so close together. Givi supplies hardware that mounts the lights on the top rack, but I didn't want to do that because I wanted the rack to be removable. Besides, the lights look goofy up there. So I shortened the stock stalks the lights are mounted on, which moved the lights in just barely enough to make room for the side racks.
The end result is a very flexible hard luggage arrangement. I can ride with nothing or with one case or two. If I bought another hard case, I could ride with three.

Over the fall and winter of '03, the steering on the bike got heavier and heavier. Eventually, it felt as if the bike didn't want to turn at all, and I had to wrestle it around corners. To get it to lean, I had to push down hard on one handlebar and pull up just as hard on the other.
I had raised the forks in the triple clamp, so I first tried lowering them to the stock height, but that had little effect. So then I took off the steering stabilizer to see if that was the problem and, damn, was it ever! The bike felt 100 pounds lighter. It leaned into a corner just by thinking about it, and slow-speed manuvering, which had never felt entirely secure, was now slick as a whistle.
I checked a couple of online forums, especially the SV1000 Portal, to see what other riders were doing. I found that the stock stabilizer is very low-end, as stabilizers go--it leaks air and isn't adjustable. Serious riders replace it with $500 rotary stabilizers, while other riders only replace the oil and make sure there's no air in the chamber. I decided to take a middle way--I replaced it with a lower-cost Shindy Daytona oval-body adjustable stabilizer.
The stabilizer worked way better than the stock one. Then I foolishly parked the bike among some redwoods. The ground was too soft, the bike tipped over, and the stabilizer was bent beyond repair. So now I'm riding without a stabilizer. I probably won't get another one.

This modification will make sense to SV owners but maybe no one else.
The passenger seat has to be removed with two hands, which is a nuisance because you often have something in your hands when you're removing the seat. Such as your helmet, since the helmet locks to a tang under the seat. Needing three hands to lock my helmet annoyed the heck out of me, so I bought a 3-inch spring at the local hardware store, cut it in half, and popped each half into the big rubber stoppers the seat rests on. I bent the cut ends of the springs just a little so they wouldn't dig into the seat. Now the seat pops up automatically and I can remove it with just one hand.
At the same time, I figured out a way to lock the helmet without removing the seat at all. I hooked a large split key ring around the helmet hook. In the closeup of the Givi frame, you can see it sticking out from under the seat.
Since I bought the Givi, though, I don't use the ring any more. I stash my helmet in the Givi.

Okay, this is funky, I admit.
The standard footpegs hurt my feet after a couple hours' riding. I could have bought boots with thicker soles, I suppose ... or I could cut a cheap handgrip in half and tape each half over a peg. These have lasted 10,000+ miles so far, and I only replaced the tape once.

Other modifications include a Tankslapper tank protecter, a pair of insulated bottle carriers behind the windshield for stowing stuff (gloves, water bottles, sunglasses, spare change), and a Fenda-Extenda on the front fender. Debating the best way to attach a Fenda-Extenda can keep a riders' forum going for days. I attached mine with epoxy glue and no screws; clean off the inside of the fender with alcohol first.
My safety mods include a Kisan headlight modulator, a Signal Dynamics brake light flasher, and FIAMM horns mounted forward-facing on the radiator.

Modifications to Margarita Blue
	Finding a windshield that would fit the bike wasn't easy. The instrument cluster on the SV1000 is mounted directly above the headlight instead of a bit behind it, so it gets in the way of most fairings and shields. You need a shield that mounts almost vertical. The National F15 Sport Shield works well. It matches the look of the bike, attaches fairly easily, and deflects the air off chest and hands the way I wanted. I can even tune the air flow by changing the angle of the shield just a little. I had to make two changes to the shield's fittings: The windshield brackets clamp to the headlight brackets. Fittings on the headlight brackets get in the way, so I cut each 'shield bracket and bent it enough to clear them. The windshield bolts to the brackets, but National provides large polished fittings that look really bad against the black of the 'shield. I replaced them with parts from the local hardware store, all of them black to match the 'shield: Allen-head bolts, small stiff faucet washers, large rubber washers against the plastic. Other riders have installed the bikini fairing that Honda sells for the 919. It works well and looks good. Suzuki used to make a very cool mini-fairing for the 650 that could be adapted to the 1000, but it's no longer available. The stock mirrors looked clunky so I painted them black, which helped a little, but the mirror stems are short, as well, so I tried a couple of EMGO mirrors. The smallish trapezoid-shaped ones looked really good, but they vibrated like crazy and their stems were short, too. Eventually I wound up with these Napoleon bar-end mirrors. They're terrific.
	The Suzi has a single round headlight, and driving on dark roads is like driving through a dim tunnel. These FET CATZ XSLs light the road ahead and to the sides, even in corners. They're mounted on the fork tubes, using steering damper brackets. They have a round beam with a 75º spread and they're aimed slightly to the side and up.
	The Savage had soft saddle bags and the Connie hard ones, but neither were as useful as this Givi E460 topcase, which I installed shortly after I bought the bike. It's good for chores around town as well as touring. It's big and well-made, it mounts and removes easily, and it's very secure once mounted. Givi did a good job of aligning the frame with the bike's style lines but it's still sorta ugly, and attaching it was a pain in the butt. In 2006, the Givi frame broke clean through after a fast ride over some paved but bumpy roads. After a month or so of obsessing over what to do, I hit on the notion of using the break constructively. I wanted to get a second E460 hard case, anyway, for longer trips. I'd be retiring soon and planned to spend lots of time touring California. So I added side racks to the top rack and made the top rack removable by cutting the other side of the frame at the same corresponding spot as the break. I used threaded rod to make inserts that slide into the permanent frame and which the top rack frame slides onto. In order to make this work, I had to remount the turn signals. The lights have to be remounted, anyway, because the side racks are so close together. Givi supplies hardware that mounts the lights on the top rack, but I didn't want to do that because I wanted the rack to be removable. Besides, the lights look goofy up there. So I shortened the stock stalks the lights are mounted on, which moved the lights in just barely enough to make room for the side racks. The end result is a very flexible hard luggage arrangement. I can ride with nothing or with one case or two. If I bought another hard case, I could ride with three.
	Over the fall and winter of '03, the steering on the bike got heavier and heavier. Eventually, it felt as if the bike didn't want to turn at all, and I had to wrestle it around corners. To get it to lean, I had to push down hard on one handlebar and pull up just as hard on the other. I had raised the forks in the triple clamp, so I first tried lowering them to the stock height, but that had little effect. So then I took off the steering stabilizer to see if that was the problem and, damn, was it ever! The bike felt 100 pounds lighter. It leaned into a corner just by thinking about it, and slow-speed manuvering, which had never felt entirely secure, was now slick as a whistle. I checked a couple of online forums, especially the SV1000 Portal, to see what other riders were doing. I found that the stock stabilizer is very low-end, as stabilizers go--it leaks air and isn't adjustable. Serious riders replace it with $500 rotary stabilizers, while other riders only replace the oil and make sure there's no air in the chamber. I decided to take a middle way--I replaced it with a lower-cost Shindy Daytona oval-body adjustable stabilizer. The stabilizer worked way better than the stock one. Then I foolishly parked the bike among some redwoods. The ground was too soft, the bike tipped over, and the stabilizer was bent beyond repair. So now I'm riding without a stabilizer. I probably won't get another one.
	This modification will make sense to SV owners but maybe no one else. The passenger seat has to be removed with two hands, which is a nuisance because you often have something in your hands when you're removing the seat. Such as your helmet, since the helmet locks to a tang under the seat. Needing three hands to lock my helmet annoyed the heck out of me, so I bought a 3-inch spring at the local hardware store, cut it in half, and popped each half into the big rubber stoppers the seat rests on. I bent the cut ends of the springs just a little so they wouldn't dig into the seat. Now the seat pops up automatically and I can remove it with just one hand. At the same time, I figured out a way to lock the helmet without removing the seat at all. I hooked a large split key ring around the helmet hook. In the closeup of the Givi frame, you can see it sticking out from under the seat. Since I bought the Givi, though, I don't use the ring any more. I stash my helmet in the Givi.
	Okay, this is funky, I admit. The standard footpegs hurt my feet after a couple hours' riding. I could have bought boots with thicker soles, I suppose ... or I could cut a cheap handgrip in half and tape each half over a peg. These have lasted 10,000+ miles so far, and I only replaced the tape once.
	Other modifications include a Tankslapper tank protecter, a pair of insulated bottle carriers behind the windshield for stowing stuff (gloves, water bottles, sunglasses, spare change), and a Fenda-Extenda on the front fender. Debating the best way to attach a Fenda-Extenda can keep a riders' forum going for days. I attached mine with epoxy glue and no screws; clean off the inside of the fender with alcohol first. My safety mods include a Kisan headlight modulator, a Signal Dynamics brake light flasher, and FIAMM horns mounted forward-facing on the radiator.

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Last updated 8 May 2009.
Copyright 2003-2007, 2009 by Mike Bradley