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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> High miles for a Savage?
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Message started by lossfound on 12/06/06 at 21:42:39

Title: High miles for a Savage?
Post by lossfound on 12/06/06 at 21:42:39

Hey, everyone. I've been taking a look around here tonight and the community looks great. I am a relatively new rider and I am on a budget... there is a local '98 Savage that I might be able to afford.

Believe it or not, I've already owned two bikes since passing the MSF course in September and while I've managed to get about 2k miles under my belt, they've both given me a fair amount of mechanical troubles. The '98 Savage for sale has almost 30k miles and I will know more when I talk more with the seller, but it seems to me that this mileage is pretty high for this bike just looking around here and elsewhere. I've also heard that the delay in oil getting through the crankcase at start may affect the engine's longevity to an extent.

The bike has to last me at least another 5-7k, to around 35k, if not more. Is this realistic? Any high-miles owners of the late 90s bikes around who can put me at ease? ;)

Thanks, everyone.

Title: Re: High miles for a Savage?
Post by PerrydaSavage on 12/07/06 at 00:42:54

A pal of mine has an '87 Savage that he inherited from his brother ... it shows 25,000km on the clock ... and over the years, was left outside in the weeds for 4 years straight without running, was driven from St. John's, Nfld. to Montreal and back twice, wrecked once ... and up until this past year when the Bike had a bit of a cosmetic make over, about the only maintenance it rec'd was an occasional oil-change & a set of tires ... the thing has the infamous head-plug leak, but it runs like a top!
Had the chance to Ride it myself about a month ago, and that 'lil Bike can scamper ... seems to have much better acceleration than my '03!

Title: Re: High miles for a Savage?
Post by lossfound on 12/07/06 at 03:57:32

Broken in, perhaps? :) Thanks, Perry... anybody else?

Title: Re: High miles for a Savage?
Post by Ed_L. on 12/07/06 at 06:50:42

The cam chain and tensioner is only good for around 25k miles so sounds like the bike you are looking at needs one unless it was already replaced. If there is a problem with the chain or tensioner you will trash the engine. To check it all you need to do is pull a side cover and measure the streach in the links. If you get the bike replace the parts before you do any riding at all or at least check to see if it has been replaced. Nothing $ucks more than blowing up a bike as soon as you get it. Just my .02 cents on it. Once you get the chain and tensioner replaced there is no reason you can't get another 25k miles out of it. He11 the rest of the engine is just broken in. Luck with it

Title: Re: High miles for a Savage?
Post by lossfound on 12/07/06 at 07:09:03

Ed - *awesome* advice, thank you so much. What should the length between the links be if the chain is good?

Title: Re: High miles for a Savage?
Post by lossfound on 12/07/06 at 09:58:11

A couple searches and I found what I was looking for in the archives, I think. Thanks for the tip, Ed.