Back on the SV again
By: Pascal Reid

Way back in 2000 I was fortunate enough to get a new 2000 red SV650. In the span of two years that bike and I covered over 48,000 miles when on a beautiful day on November 9 2002 I went down in a low side going about 25 miles an hour on a Pennsylvania back road. I was slowing down for a stop sign when the front end just went out. I don’t know what happened except 4 minutes after my Shoei proved it’s worth and took the hit to my head I came out of a concussion. I was wearing a leather jacket and Joe Rocket ballistic pants. The equipment saved me from any road rash and the helmet from literal death. The final result was a shattered right arm and a bruised bike. I felt more pain from the loss of that bike than the 10 out of 10 pain I felt after the 6 inch rod was surgically inserted to repair my arm. It was on that day that I knew my joys of riding were over. The bike was totaled and my wife sold her SV 3 months later. Shortly after that I sent my farewells to Beth, Jack Roe and Bill Metz and the other great contributors of the SVrider.com forum list of that day, truly a sad time in my life.

Much has changed since that day in November, 6 months later the rod was removed from my arm and one week later we moved from New Jersey to So Cal. I never thought I would ride again, especially when December of 2003 we had a daughter join our family, so imagine my emotions when in late March 2005 my wife took me to LA and showed me my brand new 2004 (left over) Yellow SV650.

Well, I’m back on a bike again, I have the emotions of my daughter when she was learning how to walk, one moment laughing for delight as I ride ever so cautiously and the next scared when a slight bump lies ahead in the road, but like my daughter as she improved her stability and speed, I am regaining that confidence to ride again but still I have taken the stance that I am a new rider, needing to start all over again, I will take the next MSF experienced rider course offered in a couple of months and will go back to the parking lots and practice eights and quick stops and swerving.

Will I be back to my old self again? not really, I have a family so no sliding off the seat and taking those curves at top speeds, no, now I am doing what I missed so much these last few years, that being, taking the time to enjoy the ride, hearing the sounds of the engine, the wind on my helmet, the smells I completely missed driving a car these last few years. This is a new start riding a new bike on new roads- can it really get any better than that?

For someone like me, thinking I would not experience this again for many years, I am emotionally ecstatic. I am willing to bet this is the same feeling many new riders taking up motorcycling are feeling, scared yet enjoying the ride enough to get back on the bike again and doing it over and over again. In some regards it’s good I took the time away, my heart longed to ride again and I enjoy every mile now not taking anything for granted. It is good to be back on an SV, nothing else, except my family, quite makes my heart beat as this specific bike has and does today.