just bought second hand sv
bit disapointined with handling was wondering about getting better tires
any tips?
piltt power 2ct on the front and pilot road 2ct on the rear
Try Dunlop Roadsmarts
Make sure your tyres are properly inflated, I incorrectly overinflated the front tyre on my RSV once by 4 p.s.i. and the handling went to pots, skitty effect with less grip and in the wet it was scary as … it was understeering.Check your manual and don’t assume someone else has done it properly for you, get a tyre pressure pen/gauge of your own and a foot pump if you don’t already have one.
Most modern mobile phones have the ability to store a small text note, I now keep a note of what tyre pressures front and rear should be, then I noticed the Swingarm sticker with the same info, doh 
Still if you don’t have a sticker on your bike to remind you what they should be, keep a note somewhere on you or on/in the bike.
Hope it helps.
Have you adjusted the rear shocks yet?
The stock tyres are terrible. The Bridgestone BT020s are brilliant for the bike’s handling, particularly in the wet and is very confidence inspiring.
The best mods for a SV I had were the exhaust and then the tyres. Once you get the deep v twin notes it handles better and that flat spot at 5k goes away.
What pressure were you running to go 4psi over?
Is this with or without re-jetting? Would a carbed model need any tinkering? What kind of exhuasts would you recommend?
You don’t need to re-jet unless you’re looking for ultimate optimisation. The exhausts depend on what you’re after. The weight savings isn’t huge (often the riders could save more than paying for a high end). The best I’d ever used were the Renegade twin exhausts which are now mail order only. Mivv do the sweet small ones and Arrow are very good too. The tri-oval exhausts from Racetech can be dynojetted and you can bring your carb to do the same. I can’t remember their prices but they are very good for service.
Cool stuff, cheers for that!
Michelin Pilot 2CT’s are my No.1 choice…
i had Pilot Power 2CT’s front and rear on my old SV650S, great tyres, big lean angles and grippy as hell, tho a little soft for commuting, ie easy to puncture once they are warm as they are quite soft, also in the wet i found Pilot Road 2CT’s to be better, i have these on my current bike-SV1000S- tho next summer i will switch the front to a Pilot Power 2CT.
Conti Attacks i liek too, had them them on my work bike -CBF500- kd was easy on them, good grip levels and quick warm up time, plus they was pretty good in the wet too:)
The Best mods for SV’s are Braided lines, HH pads, Decent tyres…playing with shock settings helps as the supsension on them is limted ie its quite budget comapred to sportsbikes, gixxa rear shocks are a common mod as are full gixxa front end, or an easier way is to fit some more progressive front springs in the forks;)
im running pilots road 2ct on my other bike and they fantastic
maybe i try them on sv
i had bt020 before and didnt like them much. good for commuting but bit hard for confidance when cornering
as far as the pipe goes …
i try to download some pics
how about this for loud pipe;)
wait a minute how do you add a picture?
try them, i mate of mine recently changed her tyres from stock factorys to Pilot Road 2CT’s, upped her confidence massively!
i had a hire SV6 once with stock factory dunlop sportmax tyres, utter crap in the wet, if you ragged the bike and got the tyres warm they would justa bout work, KD on them was ok so long as the tyres were warm, but KD never felt as comfertable as on other tyres!
pipes?..ah…you want an M4, Scorpion( have these on my thou) or Blueflame ( had one on my 6).
you can my pipe on my 6 quite well hear;)
I hope it sounds great in real life! It would need to be, to make up for that Scottish bagpipe exhaust you have there! 
Lovely dent and scratch. 
Doesnt it burn your leg ?
Might as well take the pillion pegs and seat off mate, would be a brave (or very cold) person to sit on the back of that! 
The Pilots weren’t out when I had my SV. You must be really ragging it if you find the BT020 lacking in cornering confidence. They do need tyre pressure set up properly and have a soft compound so they don’t last more than 2k miles.