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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Preparing for a long-distance Savage trip
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Message started by fnfrck on 02/27/21 at 01:17:27

Title: Preparing for a long-distance Savage trip
Post by fnfrck on 02/27/21 at 01:17:27

Hi all!

So, I'm fairly new to motorbikes. I got my license in late 2019 and bought an old Yamaha SR400. Then I got hit by taxi while stopped at a red light and ended up selling the bike, not having the money nor the know-how needed to fix the bike. Last year I bought a 90's Savage. This summer I'm hoping to be able to take it for a longer trip. But I don't know the first thing about repairing motorcycles. Now, I'm not going on a trip around the world, and will probably be able to get assistance if needed. But I would like to be able to take care of the bike myself to a degree. So I have some questions for y'all:
- What are the most common issues with the Savage, that I should be aware of or able to fix before such a trip? Could you recommend some videos on how to fix them?
- What tools are necessary to bring along with me? (Not really Savage-specific, just in general - again, I'm very new to motorcycles...)
- What are some other recommended preparations?

And any other tips you think might be helpful are of course welcomed :)

Cheers

Title: Re: Preparing for a long-distance Savage trip
Post by Dave on 02/27/21 at 03:09:22

How long have you owned this bike, how many miles are on it, what maintenance has been done?

The vacuum operated petcock is a known problem.
The head plug will begin leaking someday.
The cam chain tensioner is is over zealous and self adjusts too often and causes the chain to stretch.
Tires are only good for about 5-8 years...and about 8,000 miles or so. You most likely will need tires before you leave. Depending on the length of your trip you can get by with affordable tires.....or you may need to get Michelin Commander tires that last a very long time.

All of these issues have been discussed at length on this forum, you can do a search and/or we can link you to some of the previous discussions.

This will get you started:

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1366651397