Advantages: Brilliant first / budget bike, sporty all rounder, mid-range grunt, cheap
Disadvantages: Budget suspension, budget feel

...I passed my Direct Access test in 2002, and was looking for a newbie friendly bike to get some miles under my belt, and do the commuting to work. Having no prior experience, I needed a user friendly bike with a bit of poke to keep me interested. The logical choice was the Suzuki SV650. Dubbed by RiDE magazine as the best first bike ever, and lauded by many other mags as a great budget bike, I had to find out more. The bike is light 170kg, has 70bhp, and a good spread of torque from low down. It comes as a naked bike the SV650 and a half faired 's' version. These differ slightly in foot peg and handlebar positioning, the former having normal bars, the latter clip-ons and rear set pegs. Both have good ground clearance. I bought my SVs (half faired) used, a W plate with 8k on the clock. Over the next two years I put on 22k miles... Read review

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Advantages: Fast and Furious meets MR smoothie
Disadvantages: Not a lot

...-3 weeks. I have fitted a matching rear hugger to keep the suspension spring and swinging arm clean to cut down on the cleaning later on. Suzuki do a lot of aftermarket spares for the bike but the prices are a little more expensive than other suppliers.It really does dont depend on whether you want genuine parts or patented parts and that depends on finances. The Suzuki SV650 has been likened to the TL1000 so that is not a bad thing.Personally i think it is a CBR600 meets Fazer meets TL1000. Overall the bike is great for those who want a first REAL bike after passing their test or those of us who want a bike that we can use.Whatever your requirements the SV650 will meet them. Test ride one today and i bet you will get off the bike with a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat. Grin factor 10/10... Read review

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Advantages: Price, looks, power, easy to ride.
Disadvantages: Speeding tickets, you'll want another one to park beside it!

...After spending far too long admiring other peoples' motorcycles and wondering how great it would be to finally learn how to ride one myself, I decided this was the year I was finally going to learn to ride. Okay, seriously, I turned 30, almost had a nervous breakdown, and decided I needed a little more excitement in my life so I bought a bike. There, honesty works every time. After passing the local motorcycle safety course and getting my licence, I decided to research everything I could on a good first bike. Initially deciding to go with a Kawasaki EX500 (good first bike, nice handling, brakes, suspension etc.) but it looked a little out-of-date looks-wise. For about a $1,000 more I wound up getting a deal on a pretty blue 2005 Suzuki SV650S (Canadian model) from my local dealership. The bike is far more modern than the Kawi... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, Fun, Economical Silly plaything!
Disadvantages: It hurts if you get knocked off!

...... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, easy to ride, insurance friendly, great first bike
Disadvantages: Build quality, when you park it next to a 900 or 1000cc, you'll want rid

...As a 22 year old who has always been into biking i decided to do my full test last september. I passed 2nd time (had trouble with a u turn in the wet on 1st!) and set about looking for my first 'big' bike. On a budget of about £2500 i had a fair few choices - the insurance companies managed to cut these choices down to 3 or 4 for me! In the end it came down to a choice between a 51 reg SV650S for £2400 or a R reg Yamaha Thundercat for £2300. I rode both and for me, the SV won hands down - so i bought it! As a first bike, you dont have to worry about squeezing the brakes too hard and locking wheels (although they are good enough to feel safe) as its a V twin. This was my first V twin and i was impressed how easy it was to ride, barely any power was needed to pull away and the low down torque was unbelievable! It was easy to throw... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, reliable, economical, good looks
Disadvantages: you get wet when it rains :-)

...Bought this bike a month ago and i`m very impressed with it. Been running it in but couldn`t resist giving it a squeeze- and it flies!! Don`t have much to compare it to being my first bike but this is what i know- Gets 150 miles out of a tank that makes it about 50mpg. Handles really well. Taking corners faster than i do in my car already- this is the confidence it inspires in me. Don`t even feel i`m pushing it yet. Looks great. I got the blue one and it is always turning heads. A bit different from the sports bikes and better than a commuter. Very comfortable riding position. I`m 5'8" and it is the perfect size. Easy to get the head down when you need to. Wind isn`t that bad anyway even at 100mph. Hard to say what the 0-60 is but i kept up with my friend`s Nissan Skyline, so it can... Read review

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Advantages: small and compact
Disadvantages: none found yet

...I purchased my car new the last day of march 2004 .and from the time of collection I have not looked back on the purchase.The test drive and ordering a week prior was very well organised being allowed to take the car for an hour with my wife on our own so we both could try out the little beast. I had chosen the sport model as I still wanted pleasure from driving a smaller car. I have not been dis appointed small speedy and economical .The sport model comes ready fitted with recaro front seats white dials turning blue when lights are on and a trip computor systemn telling time of journey km per hr average and time. The car is compact but well fitted trim and plenty of storage areas.The boot cover is the only flimsy dis appointment being made only of a netting, but it does hide from view the boots contents.service intervals are 9000... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, loads of kit, sporty look
Disadvantages: not as refined as some....its a real drivers car

.../radio WITH MP3 (I love my mp3's) Had a look on broadspeed.co.uk who deal in new cars only and to my surprise they had the Ignis Sport up at.......wait for it.......£7200. £7200 for a brand new, sexy looking and fast rally bred car...fantastic. I phoned them up straight away, confirmed the price and went for it. They gave me a good price for my current car an threw in 12 months tax, 3 year warrenty and 3 years road side assistance. Only problem is, I had to go and pick it up from a Suzuki dealer in Huddersfield (Hilton Suzuki) which is a 9 hour all round trip for me. But I didn't care; it would give me a good chance to test out my new motor. Sunday came and I finally got there, picked up the car....and what a beauty it is, there's hardly any of them around so you stand out from the beginning. The faired aches, spoiler and white alloys really... Read review

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Advantages: fast, light, cheap to insure and run
Disadvantages: lumpy at low revs, needs good tyres and regular servicing

...brakes. Newer EX500 D models from 1994 have 17" wheels and all round disc brakes and better styling. The latest EX500 E model from 2002 comes with Dunlop K275 tyres, twin front disc brakes and twin horns. This bike has been around in various forms for almost 20 years. Its proven, tough and reliable. The engine is plenty beefy enough. It out accelerates a Porsche and up to 100mph nothing much on 4 wheels will keep up with you. The GPZ kicks out 52rwhp placing it ahead of its main rival - the Suzuki GS500. The porky new 186kg Honda CBF500 puts out 56rwhp, but doesn't have a fairing. The GPZ can be easily boosted to 56rwhp and the weight dropped to 172kg with a few simple modifications which are described below. A brand new 169kg Suzuki SV650S only puts out 72bhp, which may explain why I can keep up with them so easily! The handling is fine... Read review

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Advantages: Faster than a speeding bullet
Disadvantages: Where do I put me socks?

...to leather and accessory manufacturers mean post box red. Are you sitting comfortably? ------------------------------------- I'm not the tallest of women at 5'6", and I've struggled with bikes where the seat height has been stated as 805mm. I was on the balls of my feet most of the time with my Honda VFR (805mm) and my CBR (810mm). The lean angle against the tank on my SV650S (805mm) was so severe I struggled with tip toes. Then I discovered a Yamaha Fazer (780mm) with both feet flat on the ground, and then I moved on to a Ducati 748R (780mm), also a very nice flat foot on the ground position. So why oh why oh why - when its clearly stated in ALL reviews and magazines that the R1 has a set height of 833mm, should I be able to get my feet FLAT on the ground sitting astride it? The answer is simple, the seats on all of the other bikes (with... Read review

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