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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #1  
Old 2 Mar 2019
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SV650 Adventure bike???

Has anyone here converted a SV650 into an "off roader"???
I stumbled across a converted bike (raised suspension,etc) on Google and it just looked right. It looks like a great potential starting point for an adventure bike.
They are very reliable and spares are readily available so what could go wrong???
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Old 2 Mar 2019
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I guess it depends on what you're calling an "adventure bike." From my perspective, you'd be trying to turn an SV into a DL...and what's the point in that? If you're aiming at more of an off-road bike there are quite a few offroad-ish twins out there: 800GS, 800XC, 790, etc.

If you're just looking for a challenge, expense, and a fair amount of frustration (plus the chance to do something unusual), well, maybe.
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Old 2 Mar 2019
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I have a Gladius- same as the New sv650 with xr650r forks.
and many things to yet be fitted, 800 tiger shock, vstrom 1000 tank and seat(already done, Buell 8 inch headlight. sv650 header with r1 titanium muffler. these can all be done and will be in the about 400lbs.
My health over the last few years kept me from finishing it, need many hours of welding practice but did buy the tube bender for the crash bars. Though i have ridden it with a shield a nice ride, having the adjustable gsxr600 shock with a 1000 spring. I wanted a Steel frame so the Gladius, with a strong integral subframe could make a nice touring bike.
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Old 3 Mar 2019
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The SV's a great road bike, but it's not light and the suspension is no way suited to offroad use. If you start spending money to convert it to something it was never designed to be you'll waste money and end up with something that isn't as good as a more focused adv bike.
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Old 3 Mar 2019
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Tenere Tom,

If you are a skilled mechanic why not? Here's more info by someone who did it:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/sv650...thread.283894/
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SV650 Adventure bike???-a702331d-e3d0-4e8f-ae4c-d2b7af385c7c.jpeg  

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Old 4 Mar 2019
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Thanks for the great information.
I'm now on the lookout for a SV650.

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Old 4 Mar 2019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenere Tom View Post
Has anyone here converted a SV650 into an "off roader"???
Sure! Suzuki did! They called it a V-Strom.
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Old 4 Mar 2019
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Sadly the Vstrom is overweight and under powered.
I'm wanting to build a fairly lightweight and nimble green lane basher with the potential to be much more.
The Vstrom is a bit vanilla if you know what I mean...

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Old 4 Mar 2019
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Overweight, underpowered, and available for two grand at any used bike shop in the world.

But yeah, lots of people have put long-travel suspension and knobbly tires on sportsbikes. If you are excited by the idea of a bike like that and want to build a unique one yourself - awesome! Make sure to take lots of pictures and make a nice build thread, we'll read it with interest.

But if you just want a lightweight nimble green-lane basher, you'll probably spend less money just getting an old dual sport.
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