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

...I own a 2002 SV650s and i must say that the bike cant be praised enough in my opion. The SV650 is the new kid on the block and you wont go far wrong if you buy one.The SV650 is fast becoming one of the best middleweight bikes around and deservedly so. With the V at an angle of 90 degrees there is plenty of torque on tap and plenty of acceleration when required. The SV650 produces about 70BHP at the back wheel at it lays it on the tarmac with greatest of ease.The best part of the range is from 3rd gear thru to 5 th gear when you can really feel the bike getting the power down and hear the roar of the exhaust at full bore. The SV650 weighs 165kg(363lbs)so it is fairly light compared to other bikes in its class.The ground clearance is 140mm(5.5in)so you REALLY can get your knee down if you want. The SV650 is only 750mm(29.5in... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent Roadholding, ecconomical, comfortable
Disadvantages: very slightly underpowered

...Riding a motorcycle is a very personal affair. What one person loves, others will hate and vice versa. At first glance, the Honda NT650V - Deauville may not be everyones cup of tea. As more and more people get in to biking, or return to biking after many years away, the demand for stylish, high powered performance bikes is the driving force behind most of the major manufacturers. For the last 8 years or so, the king of the large touring section has been the Honda Pan European (ST1100). This reliable, comfortable shaft drive bike has found its way in to the highly competitive market of big tourers, even dominating the market as the choice of most of British Police forces as their main traffic response bike. However, many people have found the Pan to be too big and heavy for day to day commuting, with fuel effeciencies not that much... Read review

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Advantages: VERY ACCURATE VERY EASY TO USE
Disadvantages: A LITTLE EXPENSIVE NO OTHER Disadvantages

...INTRODUCTION As a freelance driver i can be just about anywhere from driving local or driving long distance so i chose the option to buy my self a sat nav. i didnt brealise just how many diffrent types oand models they was out and aftew a long trudge round many shops and a few pubs.. to quench my thurst i decided on the navman 650 and this is my review This review covers the navman iCN 650 which is the newer model of navman iCN 630 V2. First it incorporates the new 2004 V3 software. Includes a number of new features like Topographical maps as one. The iCN 650 also has another bonus in that it has complete Western European maps pre-loaded. Unlike the iCN635 which comes with a 128mb SD card, there is an SD card slot available on the iCN 650 but it's filled with a 'bung'. The reason for this is because the iCN 650... 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: 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: cheap overclocking abilities gd looking build quality highly upgradable
Disadvantages: asus wbsite very slow when wanting to dl updates

...a normal family pc because it is always upgradable more than a basic cheap asus board as asus spend more money on it and it looks alot better especialy if you have a side window on your case specs and connections Manufacturer: Asus Form Factor: ATX CPU Socket: 775 FSB/HT Speed: 1333 MHz Chipset: NF650i SLi Memory Type: DDR2 Memory Type (ECC): Non-ECC Memory Type (R/U): Unbuffered Memory Speed (Mhz): 533 667 800 Memory Capacity: 8GB Graphics Interface: PCI-E (x16) Expansion Slots: 2 x PCI (32 bit) 1 x PCI-Express (x1) 2 x PCI-Express (x16 Graphics) SATA: SATA II RAID: SATA RAID Back Panel: 1 x 10/100/1000 (LAN) 1 x 5.1 Audio I/O 1 x eSATA 1 x Firewire (6pin) 1 x Line In 4 x Line Out 1 x Mic In 1 x Parallel (LPT) 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x SPDIF-Out 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 Internal I/O: 1 x 24... Read review

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Advantages: Perfect all round light weight tourer.
Disadvantages: None

...As my wife and I started to have more free time, we decided to take up touring again. We mistakenly purchased a Shadow as the seat height is low and I am only 5' 9". Big mistake and my wife hated it. We bought a new NT700V Deauville and were very happy with it. However, I had a few problems with keeping both feet on the ground at lights etc. For some unexplained reason, we replaced it with a new Shadow Spirit. This only lasted a few months before we went back to another ne NT700V. For some unexplained reason, I have no problems with both feet on the ground with this one. This is good because the NT700V is the best light weight tourer I have owned. It has excellent manouvarbility, good acceleration and spped, excellent fuel consumption and probably the most comfortable seat on modern bikes. All round, an excellent bike... 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: Looks, performance, equipment, style, comfort
Disadvantages: Running costs, availability of spares

...(especially from cold) it's the Hydraulic Lash Adjusters, its not a problem if it disappears after about 5-10 minutes. It can be quietened down using good quality Synthetic oil or Wynns HLA treatment (you can get it from Halfords). 9. Check the idle speed once the cars been running for a few minutes, the 24v model should idle around 650rpm. 10. As with all cars check the documents match up, check the body panels for crash damage, run a HPI check if possible. An AA inspection is also a good idea. Check all the electrics work (cruise control is a common not working item) and give the interior a once over to check it consistent with the mileage. 11. The electric aerial nearly always either bends or wears out on Probes, a replacement will set you back 250GBP from Ford or around 40GBP independently. 12. On 93 to early 95 models there were... Read review

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