When I got the SVS I rather quickly decided it wasn't a good bike for long trips. That turns out to be badly mistaken. True enough, a vfr is more comfortable on long trips, but the svs is more than capable, possibly better in warm weather.
This discovery was somewhat accidental: Despite my best efforts, the alternator on my vfr failed (open stator winding) at a point when it was necessary to do some long distance (130 mile round-trip) commuting and a 1k mile road trip. The SV has acquitted itself very handsomely.
The change in opinion is probably a mix of revised expectations and rider adaptation, but whatever the cause the svs has demonstrated a competence that wasn't apparent before.
One gripe persists, the lack of wind protection. That's a mixed bag, the windblast really does support the rider at speeds above about 60 mph and greatly eases the sitting position. Bugs, cold and rain are of course a nuisance, but cold and rain can be dealt with by good riding gear and bugs wash off. In warm weather a breeze helps. Better wind control on the handgrips would be useful; it was easy to implement on the vfr, maybe a greater inspiration will strike me on the SVS.
The vibration which seemed so annoying and caused wierd sensations in my hands seems to have gone away; maybe the problem was in my grip, maybe the windblast took enough load off my hands so they could cope. Either way, that "problem" seems to have evaporated.
The SVS's small size makes it a wonderful lanesplitter, something I generally try to avoid. I-405 between Sunset Boulevard and LA airport tests human patience beyond my limit. Easy and precise, with enough practice on the clutch. A Yoshimura Tri-Oval can (along with first gear at about 6k rpm) provides sufficient presence to allow polite progress even for a coward like me, albeit slowly.
In sum, the svs is a more-than-competent long range bike. It isn't perfect, but nothing is, and as an engineering compromise it merits considerable praise.
If I had to choose between the vfr and the svs the vfr would have won. Until now.
The folks at Suzuki know what they're doing.