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SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> New Experience /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1345494304 Message started by Barrett on 08/20/12 at 13:24:55 |
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Title: New Experience Post by Barrett on 08/20/12 at 13:24:55 Hey everyone, I just became a member of this forum today. Let me first start off by saying, I have learned so much from this website in the last 5 days it's unreal. I've been browsing for hours just searching through different topics and getting as much as I can out of all your posts. I've been riding for almost 3 years and I really enjoy it. This is something I will definitely do for the rest of my life so I would like to start working on different projects besides just the absolute basic maintenance on my bike. I am impressed by all of your knowledge and hope to learn quickly using this site :D I have a 97' Savage with a Jardine slip-on muffler with 13k miles and it rides incredibly well. My girlfriend also just bought a custom bobber style 07' s/40 with 4k miles (really jealous!). So far, I have done oil changes, cleaned the air filter, and installed a Raptor Petcock on my motorcycle, but there are so many other things I would like to do after reading different topics on this website. To be quite honest, I am only able to understand about 15-20% of most conversations that I read here. I do not have much experience working with motor vehicles and engines. This is all new to me but I really enjoy fixing things :) Does anyone have any recommendations to help me understand the different topics? I think if understand how the engine works it will help me exponentially with the comprehension of all these topics. Anyone know of any well written literature on this? Any projects I should start off with first, like checking/cleaning the carb? |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Routy on 08/20/12 at 13:31:54 You clean the carb when it needs it, not before. But welcome here |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by WD on 08/20/12 at 14:35:29 How are the brakes, tires, sparkplugs? 13K miles is too much if you have IRC brand tires. The other bike with 4K is pushing it. Welcome aboard. Where are you located? Stateside, Canada, northern Europe? Kind of hard to tell, lots of pine trees in the pic... |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by hotrodbobber on 08/20/12 at 14:37:51 hi there, i think your in usa, is that right?, im in england and seems not so many savages here, glad to see a new commer with so much enthusiasm to learn more, there are loads of ebooks out there but just learn about how a four stroke engine works, there all the same from a single cylinder like the savage, up to a large V8 just more parts, when you understand the basic princibles you can look at a diagram and find all the parts, just pic one thing at a time. regards dave |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Barrett on 08/20/12 at 14:51:39 I'm from Guilford, CT, USA. The breaks seem to be in good shape. I used the Savage motorcycle manual to figure out how to check them. When I bought the bike with 6k miles on it, the dealer put new tires on it. The tires say "DURO BLVD" on them. My older brother helped me take off the engine and inspect the sparkplug and the tip was tan so I guess that's good? |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by J C Stokes on 08/20/12 at 15:57:19 Your girl friend may wish to consider the fork brace thing from TKAT as she doesn't have a front mudguard to brace her forks. She would probably have tov dwestroy the plastic fork protectors to install the TKAT or pehaps revert to a stock front mudguard. I hope knowledgeable people will comment on this. |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Dave on 08/20/12 at 18:55:52 Buy a Clymer's manual......it will help considerably. |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by verslagen1 on 08/20/12 at 19:15:19 I'd take it easy, there's no rush to learn it all. learn what you need to learn, it'll stay with you longer. Look at your bike, it'll tell you your next project. How about your brake fluid? what color is it? |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Paraquat on 08/20/12 at 19:22:46 Guilford, eh? I'm over in New Britski. Let's ride sometime. You have a lot of scenery down there. --Steve |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by ToesNose on 08/20/12 at 19:24:43 4C777A6D7C706B6D767E736C1F0 wrote:
+1 ;) |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/20/12 at 20:52:50 I have a 97' Savage with a Jardine slip-on muffler with 13k miles Otta listen to the cam chain at least, if not have a look in there. |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Boofer on 08/20/12 at 21:12:40 Barrett, glad you're here. I like the Clymers manual or any manual I can get for any vehicle for the pics, if nothing else. When I bought my 2001 I started riding every chance I got and read the Tech Section on here almost every day. Lot of folks put some time into taking photos and and explaining the pitfalls, even small ones, of how to work on this bike. Since you like to fix things I take it you know your way around a wrench, so no trouble. Check out the Tech Section. And if you get 15 to 20% of what I post you ain't right. Just ain't right. ;D |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Barrett on 08/20/12 at 21:18:12 JC, I have noticed that the Bobber handlebars will shake more than my bike when riding. It isn't too bad until I go over 55 mph though. We have the original front fender so if we decide to put it back on that should add more stability to the handlebars and front forks correct? I will definitely look in to getting a Clymer's manual. Thanks Dave. Verslagen, my brake fluid is a golden/bronze color. My girl's brake fluid is much lighter in color on her bike. I'm down for a ride anytime Steve :) JOG, I'm not sure what a cam chain is but I will do my research and see what I can do! Thanks |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by verslagen1 on 08/20/12 at 21:59:28 52716262756464467973647F62100 wrote:
This covers replacing the brake line, just look at the fluid replacement part. http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1155017333 and here's the cam chain check. http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1191167029 |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by J C Stokes on 08/21/12 at 00:20:53 According to some posts I've read replacing the front fender may help stiffen things up. I'm no expert but there are plenty here who are. Some speak highly of the TKAT which is possibly the way to go if you want the custom look. They are about $100US and easy to install so I'm told. |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Barrett on 08/21/12 at 08:18:50 Thanks Verslagen, looking into those two projects now. And JC, after reading about the TCAT, it sounds like an excellent idea, thank you! |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Pine on 08/21/12 at 11:22:32 Welcome! Great looking set of bikes... got your own Savage club going on! |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by groupus on 08/23/12 at 08:02:20 Welcome! You picked a great bike. Light and maneuverable but with enough oomph that it is not a beginner bike. And that's great that you lady has one too. I got my savage as my first bike in 07, an 03 with 2075 miles, and was a complete n00b. It has almost 24k on it now and I have helped build several custom bikes since. My advice is read lots of the articles in the tech section. Learn about your bike and do as much as your own work as possible. You will always have a better understanding of your machine than some mechanic who is seeing it for the first time. And if he 2can do it, you can learn it too. You just might need to buy a few tools. With 13k, your bike won't need anything more than an oil change and maybe a splash of carb cleaner couldn't hurt (there is much debate over the legitimacy of certain brands, but let's not get into that). The cam chain tensioner should be ok until 18 or 20k. Look at it then unless it seems noisy. IMO, leave the front fender on for now, it keeps it stable, keeps the mud out of your eye, and is free. Good luck! |
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Title: Re: New Experience Post by Paraquat on 08/26/12 at 18:50:09 Sent a PM. The PM's are screwy here so let me know if it didn't go through. --Steve |
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