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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> How far do you drive your Savage?
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Message started by johnnymac on 10/24/11 at 14:09:58

Title: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by johnnymac on 10/24/11 at 14:09:58

I'm just wondering what kind of commute people have. I go 47 miles one way and I think it might be hard on the Savage (and me) going 40+ miles at freeway speeds. It only has 4900 miles on it but it has been neglected before I got it. Now I pretty much ride it around town on short hops, sometimes 20 miles 55-60 mph and it does OK. It is a great bike. I just don't want to destroy it going 70 MPH for an hour at a time. Any comments?

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by MrBrownTX on 10/24/11 at 14:31:30

I ride 12 miles one way takes about 15 minutes. I don't really go much faster than 55 - 60 mph all though the coutry road I drive is 70mph. This feels like the perfect ride for my savage. At 55-60 it just feels like it is in the zone. I don't ride too far and never get farther than a short ride from a gas station so the tiny gas tank doesn't bother me too much. You must have to get gas everyday.

I don't think what you are describing is in anyway harmful to your bike.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by johnnymac on 10/24/11 at 14:44:17

Yeah MrBrownTX I would agree at 55-60 the Savage is happy with everything. I rode the bike from Shawnee OK to Chandler OK, about 27 miles and it was a good ride at 60. When I first got it in July I had it on the freeway once for about a mile. It was running kinda rough as it had sat awhile and I had to run the bugs out of it. She is a lot smoother and backfires a lot less than at first. Still, it has that California carb thing going on and lets out a pretty good bang once in awhile. WOW! A dog followed me up to my driveway the other day. After I turned it off the bike went BANG!! and the dog went running home. It doesn't follow me anymore.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by Demin on 10/24/11 at 15:01:25

180 miles one way,at 70ish the whole way.30 some thousand miles on mine.I do half to 1 hour runs 65-75 all the time.I lived in Tx.100 degrees.Still ran fine. :-/Keep your oil checked...............No oil wars. ::)

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by scottnj on 10/24/11 at 15:25:19

10 miles each way for daily commute, 35 mph (ish). Occasionally take longer trips -- most recently rode 1000 miles in three days, with a bunch at 60-70 mph with no ill effects. No prob keeping up with traffic on the highway for me. Totally stock setup (muffler, intake, etc).

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by drums1 on 10/24/11 at 15:27:30

I used to do 100+ miles in a day all the time, mostly highway speeds. (55-65) My longest 1 day ride was about 200 miles total, all around SE Wisconsin. Stopping for gas and a short lunch break, of course. That's about the limit my a$$ can take on this seat.

Since running over the big rock, I don't go so far any more, for fear of bike breaking down. My lovely JB Weld repair has been leaking some oil again lately. And the bike makes funny noises and vibrations that it never did before hitting the big rock. So I stay a lot closer to home now. It really sucks, since I just spent about $1400 fixing it up last winter, intending to road trip this summer.

The best layed plans of mice and men..... :-/

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by johnnymac on 10/24/11 at 15:38:16

The best layed plans of mice and men..... AMEN to THAT!

I have been driving a 99 Escort 5 speed getting about 36-38 but still had to fill up every couple of days. Working locally (10 miles) the past few months, I have been driving a 125 Kawasaki that gets 75-77 MPG but it wont go over 60, and if I tried that for any length of time at all it would be toast. The best I ever got out of the Savage was 48, but I have only put about 500 miles on it since I got it, and it was running pretty bad when I first got it.

Seems a lot of guys riding a lot of miles and doing OK. I might just have to ride it to work once and see how it does, and to see how I do

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by Routy on 10/24/11 at 15:47:54

If I had to cruise 70mph for anything near an hour every day, it wouldn't be on my s-40,........thats pushin it too hard IMO. And thats because I once had a 750bike that would cruise 70 quite easily.
However, if I was satisfied w/ cruising at 55-60 mph, I could easily ride for an hour one way.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by bluesrockdoc on 10/24/11 at 18:54:45

12 miles one way, 45-55 speed limits, maybe I don't pay attention to that often enough.... 8-)

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by built2last66 on 10/24/11 at 18:57:22

K&N Air filter, 155 main, 55 pilot, RAASK exhaust... I'm cruising at 60mph in 4th gear.. gonna start checking into cam stages... still getting around 110 miles per tank on highway drives going 60-70 mph where speed limits permit.. no windshield ;)

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by stinger on 10/25/11 at 00:15:47

Wow! Quit worrying about it! This bike will run 65 to 75 mph all day long, 7 days a week with no problems. I sound like a broken record but 48,000 miles on my 02. Most of it freeway speeds and I often take a couple 250 mile day rides in the summer a week. Bike runs as good now as new.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by stinger on 10/25/11 at 00:16:02

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by dinsdale on 10/25/11 at 09:41:40

I commute about 35 miles each way, speeds of about 55-60 MPH for most of it down to stop and go at the end.
Toes get a little toasty when it's 35 +Celsius (over 100 F) but bike runs fine.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by skipkb on 10/25/11 at 10:27:45

2000 savage. 11,000+ miles. i commute daily 6 miles round trip through downtown louisville (= stop and go, stop and go, stop and go).

last summer i'd take 100+ mile trips around the country roads once weekly, and took three separate 300+ mile round trips to eastern kentucky to go camping.... with a backpack on, saddle bags stuffed to the max, and my tent strapped to the back with bungee chords. Went about 80 the whole time, in 100 degree weather, stopping only for gas.

In other words.... ride on!!

(in a related comment... if anyone is in the mid-south... a trip around the red river gorge makes for an amazing day of riding. my buddy rode all the way from Massachusetts and met me there one day just because I talked it up so much... it's amazing)

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by ratz on 10/25/11 at 11:10:57

I ride mine to work every day.38 miles one way and 27 of it on the interstate,70-75 mph.(Sometimes 80) I've put about 13,000 on it in the last 12 months and nothing has let go yet.Really have to keep an eye on my oil level in the summertime when running that speed for that distance,but no problems at all. Mine is a 96 that was a one owner when I got it,had 5300 miles on it.After 14 months of me that's at about 20,000. I weigh 280,so the bike is getting a workout!

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by Arnold on 10/25/11 at 11:23:22

What about the permanent drop of oil on that one bolt on the back of the cylinder? Oh wait, that's my bike...

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by skipkb on 10/25/11 at 16:31:43

687B6E60747C687B7D741A0 wrote:

Really have to keep an eye on my oil level in the summertime when running that speed for that distance,but no problems at all.

When doing that 150mile ride to go camping, I once had to stop and fill up with a quart of oil halfway through the trip in 100+ heat

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by ziggy on 10/28/11 at 18:45:44

Wife and i have 5000km trip planned for 2012 so i hope she can handle 2 weeks of 400km days on her S40

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by JohnBoy on 10/28/11 at 19:42:55

I ride about three miles from home to the interstate and then up the freeway 17 miles to work. The surface streets give me time to warm the engine up, so the 65-75 on the freeway seems like a cake walk.
I was told that the PO ran about 75 freeway milers each day...which is why he got a heaver bike.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by BuckRYCA on 10/29/11 at 10:06:41

I work from home, so there's no commute. Motorcycling is strictly recreational. I have a 1996 Savage converted to a Ryca. Bought the Savage two years ago with 11K miles. It now has 20K miles on it. Converted to a Ryca at 17K miles in mid June. Rides are typically 80-120 miles mostly on secondary roads in Connecticut and Rhode Island with a cafe stop along the way. Anything beyond 100 miles starts to be tiring --on both the former Savage and the present Ryca. The bike is a pleasure on back roads and will keep up with traffic (60-65 mph actual) on the Interstates.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by houstonbofh on 11/08/11 at 14:57:06

Aida and I road the the Lone Star Rally this weekend. 60 miles each way, and we were between 70 - 80 the entire time. She on the savage, and me on the Marauder. The bad part was the traffic at the end to park. We were at idle for 20 minutes. That did burn up some oil. Of course, I can not complain about parking. It takes a while to park 1300 bikes from one ride! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G00T7aUxxNg

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by SurfJunkie on 11/09/11 at 08:36:12

Ive been riding mine 4-5 days a week.
Its a 1987 with 29K on it.

23-25 miles each way, 50-65 mph. No issues other then a pesky little oil leak. Need to switch to something a bit heavier. This old mileage bike is pissed about 10-30.

Title: Re: How far do you drive your Savage?
Post by dozerman on 11/19/11 at 17:22:41

My wife and I rode from Windsor Ontario to Niagara falls Ontario and back. Her on a 1998 savage and me on my hog.( roughly 500 mile round trip). Was totally impressed. That bike ran right beside me all day long and never even gave a hint of trouble!!!!we ran speeds of 55-60 mph all day . No oil leaks or consumption! Awesome bike for my wife. :)