It's an italian bike with a race motor. It needs an oil change every 500 miles. The engine has to be rebuilt at 5,000 miles. All the motorcycle dealers by me won't work on it (two of them were former Aprilia dealers). There is no aprilia dealer in Chicago or for 250 miles.
In some ways its easy to work on since it's a two stroke supermoto but the engines have been known to detonate when they are not maintained properly. Very finicky machines from what I'm told. But I love it. So far its been worth every penny.
how is it worth every penny when u need to rebuild it every 5000 miles. Sounds like a money pit to me which surely will take the fun factor out of riding after awhile
Almost everyone I talked to uses AF1 in Texas. Boxing up the motor and shipping it at the 5k mark might be your only option if you're sticking with a dealer.
I can't imagine changing the fluids is any different than any other bike.
Buy a service manual from Aprilia for the bike, doesn't look like you're going to find too many shops to work on the bike unless you trust someone doing it on the side.
Brake fluid is pretty easy once you do it a few times, speed bleeders or a syringe and it takes less than 15 minutes. Other fluids are comparable in difficulty, but a service manual is almost required if you're working on it.
just change the oil and filter yourself. if you cant figure out how to do that then you should sell the fuckin thing or give it to me and give back your license/testicles! LOL
I'll have to poke around a bit, I might have some. The vast majority of those came in like a 16gb bundle - then I shared it out amongst a handful of friends and asked them to add any that they had to the collection.. I think there are around 20gb total of manuals in there, but a bunch of them are ridiculously huge pdf scans.
Saw some posts from you, did you get a 610 or the other race only one (drawing a blank on #?)
Kinda jealous. I'll have to ping you on the side and show you something the wife and I are looking at. I think you'll dig it.
Get what you want kids, I am probably going to have to move it before I start getting DMCA takedowns.. blah.. I'd toss a robots file in there but I think it's too late
Hey Reckless, I've owned an SXV550 for a number of years. I changed the engine and transmission oil every 300 miles. Brake fluid once per season (or before track days).
The transmission oil is very simple to change. I don't have pictures on hand to point out all the important bits but I would be happy to point a couple things out if you post up some pics (close up pics of both left and right side engine/swingarm area). I used 625 mL of 80 weight Mobile 1 synthetic gear oil.
As far as the engine rebuild at 5K miles that's a bit of a misnomer. There are many SXV's running happily with well over 5K miles on the clock. I contacted Amauri on AF1's forum to do a rebuild and he said as long as it starts normally and runs properly leave it alone and enjoy it. I had just under 3K miles on mine when I sold it having only performed basic maintenance and it ran like a champ. Never adjusted the valves either.
Let me know how I can help. I loved my SXV. Awesome bikes. Ownership experience sucked but still a cool machine.
JPK: Why did you sell it? I love this thing. I have a hard time imagining a better bike. Only thing it needs is more top end in my opinion.
I am not a mechanic and don't really have the time to get into the vehicle so much. I just want someone who can look over the machine once or twice a season. I used to have a mechanic who would come to my house and do the work for $45/hr and if needed more work he would haul it on his pickup to his garage. It would be nice to find a freelancer like that.
Got it. You're correct, it did take a while to service the bike with all the different spots to drain the oil, etc. Twas a pain in the ass. lol. First few times I did it my wife would watch and was amazed at the acrobatics necessary to get all the different spots drained. On a good day it was about 1.5 hours.
I got rid of it for a couple of reason. One of them is the reason you started this thread. I bought the bike new from AF1. With ZERO factory Ape support in the Chicagoland area it made my pucker factor go up and I had to assume it would cost me an additional $1000 in round trip shipping should anything major go wrong. I loved the bike but knew someday it was going to grenade. I know there are a lot of very competent mechanics on this board but after buying the special tools required to build the motor I felt my money was better spent in shipping to Amauri.
Personally, I think the SXV is a perfect second bike. I had a GSXR 1K (K7) and the SXV for a while. Then like a dumbass I sold the GSXR thinking the SXV could itch that scratch. I was wrong. For me, nothing can fill that void better than a liter bike. I quite simply missed the ridiculous power of the liter bikes.
I'm not selling my SXV. I bought a RXV for dirt riding a couple weeks ago but to be honest I am a bit intimidated with dirt riding-seat is way to high 37", strange protective gear (big uncomfortable boots, roost, armour). Just don't think I have the time to learn it. Sticking to the street where I know how to drive recklessly and get away with it. My love for the SXV led me to purchasing the RXV. I am sure I would have loved it if I knew how to off-road properly.
I did find a mechanic at MCC in villa park who works on my Aprilia's although he charges $90/hr but he's close to home and is very experienced.
Did you ever figure out what kind of pre-mix to run in it? And using Armor-All on the tires in your eBay auction is brilliant. I have seen some people do that to their bike tires, but seeing it done to knobbies takes it to a whole new level.
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