While everyone’s clamoring for a slice of the heritage market, one manufacturer’s quietly been sitting on a sweet modern-day UJM, ripe for customization. We’re talking about Suzuki, and the SV650.
A modern day classic, the original Suzuki SV650 was launched in 1999. The ‘poor man’s Monster’ lasted ten years before being replaced by the (far less popular) SFV650 Gladius. And now, after an incredible 400,000 global sales, there’s a new SV650 for 2017. The $6,999 all-rounder is receiving praise for the qualities that made the original popular: good performance in a versatile package. It?s also affordable?playing in the same ballpark as the Yamaha FZ-07, but coming in cheaper than the XSR700 and Ducati’s Scrambler Icon.
Looks-wise, the SV650 a pretty vanilla motorcycle. But that makes it the perfect blank canvas for a modern custom. Suzuki?s Greek distributor shares that sentiment, so it handed a SV650 over to Athens-based parts manufacturer C-Racer, and asked them to make nice things for it.
?The whole idea of converting a modern street bike into a scrambler?by ways of offering a bolt on kit?was something that we had been mulling over for a year,? says C-Racer’s Antonis Kapetanios. ?Soon enough, Suzuki Hellas threw a collaboration offer on the table?the making of a bolt-on kit for their new version of the SV650.?

?We rode the bike and we were pleasantly surprised with how well-balanced and easy to ride it was, both in...