If we can count on one thing, it’s Suzuki bringing back the SV.
The stock market is up-and-down. Gas prices continue to yoyo. Even the weather is unpredictable these days. In this world of uncertainty, at least we can count on one thing: Suzuki is bringing back the SV650 for another year. To say the SV is long in the tooth is an understatement. Initially released in 1999, the perennial naked is now well over the drinking age (in the States).
The House of Hamamatsu seems content with pumping out the SV650 in current form as well. Suzuki most recently updated the model in 2017. Since then, the brand rolled out the café racer-styled SV650X in 2018, but the variant’s run was short-lived. Suzuki’s North American site only lists the base SV and its ABS counterpart in 2022, and new 2023 colorways released in Italy suggest that changes aren’t coming to the platform anytime soon.
Labeled as Blu Las Vegas, Gray London, and Black Dubai, Suzuki hopes its latest colorways will leech luxury by associating them with world-renowned cities. The Black Dubai livery carries over the same bronze-painted trellis frame and gloss black paint base as its 2022 Glass Sparkle Black. However, Dubai Black tacks on bronze-colored wheels for additional accents. The Blu Las Vegas color scheme repurposes the same frame and wheelset but pairs it with a navy blue tank and tail section.
The Gray London paint job may be the most intriguing option, but not for purely aesthetic reasons. Many motorcycle enthusiasts refer to the SV650 as the “poor man’s Ducati Monster”. Last year, the Bologna brand revamped its Monster platform with one slate gray/red livery. Looking at the SV650’s Gray London option, it seems like Suzuki nabbed yet another page from the Ducati playbook.
Aside from the new colors, there’s nothing new to report. The liquid-cooled, 645cc, 90-degree V-twin still hangs from a trellis frame. Despite its lack of performance and innovations, the SV remains friendly with a 30.9-inch seat height and a 432-pound curb weight. Here in the States, Suzuki hasn’t officially announced the model, but following the Italian reveal, we’re anticipating three new(ish) paint jobs and an MSRP slightly north of the current $7,299 price tag.