I finished running in my SV650 on Sunday morning (since then I've done another 162 miles). So I can sum up my findings on the SV a little more.
Looks: I really do like the looks of the SV, the half fairing and lovely tail piece look great; especially the dual LED brake light strips. It will look even better with a tail tidy and a set of fairing lowers.
Ride quality: So far excellent, it soaks up the bumps and ripples of even very poor road surface’s leaving more than enough control to corner hard.
Engine: The V-twin pushes out torque very early in the rev range so easily that your speed can catch you out. You rev up like you would on an inline four waiting for the "power-band" to propel you along, about 6000 rpm you begin to wonder when it's going to begin shoving and you look down at the Speedo and realise you're already going faster than you realised. It does however also rev pretty smoothly and has a burst of torque that appears at 8000 rpm. When you hit that point you're already going fast and suddenly everything goes a bit more nuts. When the throttle is fully open the back wheel squats down and the front goes light. All that torque should make wheelies easy. It is a very useable engine suited to road riding and blasting away from the lights.
Handling: This bike can corner. In fact it can corner way beyond my current riding abilities, I also suspect it will be a while before I catch up with its full capabilities.
Ergonomics: I was originally surprised at how sporty the seating position is, now after 1000 miles I have adapted and it's not bad. My wrists are fine with it but my right hip aches a bit (I blame getting old). The position is good for weather/wind protection and I've been surprised at how good the fairing is at keeping the weather off me. The seat is firm but I prefer that to a soft seat, I believe that over distance a firm seat is much better for comfort. The controls are light and easy and the clutch is easy to use. The mirrors are complete tosh though; I cannot believe that a company that has made motorbikes for decades and this particular bike since 1999 can put such rubbish mirrors on a bike! What were they thinking? C'mon Suzuki I want to see the road behind me not my arms, all you had to do was make the stalks two inches longer...
Gearbox: At first the gear box and I were not seeing “eye to eye” but now that it's run in it is living up to Suzuki's reputation for great gearboxes. Smooth and easy, it works without effort.
Economy: So far it seems to be returning around 44mpg, this of course may drop as I can ride it harder now.
Finish: I'll tell you more after riding through a winter with it. Until then I will say that the lacquer on the tank is very thin; I marked it on my first day with my tank-pack. Comparing it with the paint on a friend’s 1989 Suzuki GSF400 bandit you can see that Suzuki's paint finish has greatly worsened over the last 16 years.
Tyres: I am not impressed with the OE tyres at all. They are Dunlop D220's and the give little feeling of security. They seem to squirm under very heavy braking and are terrible in the wet. I'm looking forward to wearing them out and replacing them (Pirelli Diablo's?).
Lights: Excellent, I particularly like that both lights are on at the same time rather than the "one light is dip and the other is main-beam" system.
Brakes: Good strong brakes on the front, they only require “two finger” pressure to haul the bike up. The back brake is currently very fierce; I need to work on running it in more thoroughly.
Pillion: No idea, I haven't got a spare lid yet but the people who've sat on it while stationary didn’t seem to complain.