Today I took a drive (it's raining here in MA, again, more flood warnings) to a new powersports shop  - Redstreak Motors, in Hudson, MA - one town over from my day job, to check out some scooters, and lo and behold it turns out the place is also a Hyosung Dealer.

On the floor, the shop had a couple each of the four currently imported Hyosungs on display - the GT250 variants (which look a bit like a v-twin powered suzuki GS500s) and GT650 Standards/sportbikes (which look very much like the older tube-frame Suzuki SV650s), the GV250 Aquila 250cc Vtwin Cruiser, and the GV 650 Avitar cruiser...

GV650 in repose...

(Photo Credit www.onewheeldrive.net)

I've seen pics of the GV650 Avitar on various websites (IA included) and wasn't really too impressed, but in person, the bike is pretty nice.  The paint  - on the model I looked at, a very pleasing and pretty sky-blue metallic - is relatively smooth, the welds are all clean and everthing fits together nicely. 

It's got a few wonky (I love the tech jargon, don't you?) details: The ignition switch seems rather exposed, being placed low on the right-hand "air sccop"- not sure how that would take to being tipped-over onto, and the cable-operated clutch felt loose and imprecise. Watching the input lever on the top of the transmission case,  I could see that motion was being transffered equally from the handlebar to the input lever at the smallest movements, but the handlebar lever lacked the "tightness" common to other metrics. Contributing to the poor feel, the clutch lever itself was loose in the handlebar housing, in the same way that the lever on my 26-year-old yammie XS850 is loose in the housing, and has a crappy feel. The rest of the controls moved smoothly and somewhat more exactly, at least according to my calibrated feel-copping, sitting there on the bike in the showroom.

Lifting the GV650 off the sidestand, it felt light and easily tiltable, and is a long and low machine, easy to flat-foot when sitting. The cockpit is roomy, but I found it an easy, natural reach to both the forward pegs and the wheelbarrow-ish handlebar, for my 5'9" inch self, anyway. The seat is well-shaped and seems comfortable enough, though a showroom sit isn't equivalent to an extended ride, so any judgement as to it's actual comfort should be reserved.

The seat upholstery was lifted from the underlying padding on the forward section of the saddle. Don't suppose that matters much, comfortwise, but it's still a small issue of quality. The bodywork includes a bunch of plastic chrome (but then, so does the Honda Rune and VTX, the Suz LC1500 & Vol - I mean the Boulie C90 and C50, etc...), but the only really grating (to my eye) cosmetic features were the countershaft/beltdrive covers - seemed a bit cheap, and the styling was a bit afterthough-ish. Still, overall it's really a rather handsome and substantial-looking motorcycle, with a fashion-forward V-Rod-merged-with-a-Warrior kinda vibe. It certainly has a more modernistic motif than the usual stereotypical americana styling.

The engine - a chromed-out version of the 90-deg 648cc DOHC water-pumper also found in the GT650 and GT650R standard/sportsbikes - doesn't stand out particularly, being overshadowed in the styling - unlike many other V-twin cruisers which exalt the engine. The engine bay contains some componentry, like the ugly and tacked-on evaproative emmisions cannister, which might have been hidden or integrated a bit better. Some won't like the exhaust, as the GV650's got a big old poop-tube. Unlike many, I like the fat exhaust cans. They speak of sufficient volume for effective flow, without neighbor-annoying "look-at-ME!" loudess. The GV650 has a singular feature to it's exhaust though: the rider can unbolt the tip and rotate it to vary the styling effect! "Hmm, today I'm feelin' 'oblique, 30 degree, upward-facing slash-cut'...yeah, baby, trick-ayyyyyyyyy!"

The instrument pod contains a single LCD readout (see the attached onewheeldrive.net article for an eval of it's usefulness) and, stylistically, reminded me of the martian deathray in the old Gene Rayburn "War of the Worlds".

Aye, a bit of heel-draggin' makes the day complete, eh?
(Photo Credit www.onewheeldrive.net)

All in all, in the metal, it's really a rather handsome machine, long and low in the modern sport-cruiser idiom, and with enough shiny bits to enthrall the most bower-birdish among us. For about $6500 USD, it's a pretty sweet rig, and at a claimed 70hp, (so figure 55 @ the back wheel) and 485 dry lbs (so expect a real curbweight number in the 520-530lb range) it's suck the headlight out of just about any other middleweight cruiser (including most 1100s, and possibly a heavyweight or two).  Even better, you wouldn't see yourself driving the other way down the road every day - unless, of course, you like that kind of thing.

My, but she's go' a luvly bum...

(Photo Credit www.onewheeldrive.net) 

Included below is a link to a short ride review done by the Canadian site, www.onewheeldrive.net . According to the article, the GV650 is called the Aquila in Canada, whereas, the US Aquila is the 250cc model.