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Message started by SCS40 on 06/14/21 at 18:11:26

Title: New Member and New S40
Post by SCS40 on 06/14/21 at 18:11:26

Hi all. Glad to find such a resource which is part of what swayed me to the Savage/S40. My other consideration was the HD 883. I've always liked the Savage and applaud Suzuki for manufacturing them. Well, until 2019 anyway.

A brief history of my rides, for anyone interested. My first bike was a Honda 50 about age 7-8. I have a pic somewhere of me on it, grinning and perhaps shy a tooth or two, in a denim jacket and white open face helmet that looks huge. Maybe I can make that my avatar when available.

Around age 10 I stepped up to a used Suzuki TS75. Loved that bike.

Late teens saw me on a Kawa 440 LTD and Yamaha 400 Maxim. Early 20's I had a late model Honda Hurricane 600 (when they were actually called that). Scary fast.

I also had a 1984(?) Ironhead Sportster which was very much a love/hate relationship.

I sold both when I married and bought a 1985 Maxim X (700) which was a totally badass bike. However, I sold it when my younger son was coming.

Early 30's saw me on the Katana, which I also loved. Once again, hard to justify a scoot with kiddos coming.

My, how time flies. I turn 55 this year.

So, to present day. My older daughter turns 19 next month and has wanted a street bike since before she could drive. She finally got her wish and bought a CBR250 a few weeks ago and got her permit. I was glad I was able to help her pick it up (although I think she paid too much for it). ;)

So, I was tasked with teaching her to ride in advance of her MSF course (next weekend). The teaching part I'll save for perhaps another post, but in the process, I of course had to RIDE her bike to a nearby church parking lot. If you're on this forum, I probably don't need to say more.

So yeah, I started searching.

Initially, my #1 was the 883 Evo as I mentioned. No, Harley isn't "there" with the Big 4, but they've come light years from the Ironhead I had. Oddly, the most endearing thing to me about that bike WAS the vibration. It felt...rough...primitive...perhaps "savage"?

Perhaps it's a good thing my finances simply won't allow for such as I'd have missed out on the S40.

I rode and bought my first one today after weeks of searching, researching, messaging, and having a few bikes sold from under me. Bah.

The bike itself is a 2-owner and totally cherry, which is what I wanted. And with very low miles, always garage kept. The color was an added bonus.

Amazingly, the original tires are in decent shape. The front sidewall shows very light signs of dry rot but has plenty of tread. The rear is the opposite. I think I'll go with wide white wall replacements on both.

The tank showed no signs of rust and the PO always used non-ethanol gas. No oil leaks, fresh oil and plug. The drive belt looked in great shape. All bulbs etc. worked. So, we fired her up from cold.

She turned over somewhat slowly and required choke to catch. The owner included a charger and leaves a lead on the bike. However, he didn't keep it charged this past winter. Probably will need a battery.

The idle seemed low as she warmed. Another issue but free and easy to correct.

With my only recent riding experience being on my daughter's CBR, I was a bit nervous. This wasn't helped by the forward controls and drag type bar, nor the fast clutch. Of course, I stalled it.

Getting used to the forward controls was easier than I thought. I only really searched for the missing pegs once. Pretty much.

The Suzuki windscreen was nice although the windy day was distracting...and reminiscent of days gone by.

The couple of miles of back roads leading to the 4 lane were nice and I learned quickly. This odd seating position seemed normal. The bike felt...secure...as if saying, "I won't hurt you."

However, I noticed her surging, more pronounced at light, steady throttle. I thought perhaps this was a thumper thing, but more likely partly clogged jets, as if she needed to clear her throat, but couldn't.

The highway's speed limit is only 45 with fairly light but steady traffic. We accelerated nicely, even briskly, to top gear. She felt light, but solid. Safe. Secure. Maybe "natural" is the best word.

She stalled at the first stop light, not my fault this time. The battery hesitated to turn her over and actually stopped for a moment giving me some concern. But, it had enough to get through TDC and she caught, perhaps teasing me. From then on, I kept a little throttle open at stops.

I opened her up a few times hoping to clear the carb but with no luck. I returned her, dickered, and bought her. Sadly, I was alone and have to wait a few days to bring her home.

I'll close by saying I fell in love with bike. Again, "natural" seems to fit perfectly. And to those who call these bikes "buzzy," go try any pre Evo Harley, or even a solid mount Evo, to see what buzzy is. For this bike, I'd describe it as mere "faint vibration". And I love it! As it's natural!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dCnN6n3bLmtT2naB6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/f4fjYxip8UGK8XjYA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7MwguorKVqwGRass8

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by Dave on 06/14/21 at 19:06:19

Welcome to the forum....and the Savage brotherhood.

The surging at light throttle is a common issue - easily cured by a carb cleaning, jet swap, and removing the white spacer on the needle and installing 3 machine screw washers.

The stock vacuum petcock can be problematical - the fact that it has not seen E10 fuel may help it to have survived this long. Installing a manual petcock is recommended, as the stock vacuum petcock is not reliable for long term ownership.

Once your daughter becomes familiar with riding.....it would be best not to let her ride your Savage - she may like it better than the little Honda!

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by Gus on 06/14/21 at 19:39:56

welcome SCS40.

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by SCS40 on 06/14/21 at 19:49:45

1E25283F2E22393F242C213E4D0 wrote:

Thanks for the reply and info. I read about the white spacer and idle mixture (etc) adjustment, but will have to search about on the petcock. I'm assuming it leaks at some point.

I dumped a full can of Seaform in the tank and hope that'll help with the surging. If not, carb clean it is.

Agreed on my daughter. Her CBR isn't hard to ride per se, but it just doesn't feel as natural as the Savage. I'm sure she'll appreciate the boost in torque.

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by jcstokes on 06/14/21 at 21:22:04

With the utmost respect, if the rear tyre is still the IRC brand, get rid of it regardless of condition. I my not so humble opion, these things are useless in wet weather. I've had my S40 58000 miles, I brought new off the dealer. The handling terrified me in wet weather. When the horrible IRC thing wore out, I replaced it with a Continental and after that a Michelin. These transformed the bike and no more wet weather terror.

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by MMRanch on 06/14/21 at 21:50:34

Welcome SCS40

I was going to suggest some seafoam ! ;) We had some of the same bikes early on. The 440LTD I had only went 40,000 miles befor the cam chain was toast. The Savage/S-40 is easy to replace if ya ever need to. 8-)

Hay , the single worse thing you can do is to idle it down . The cam bearing are aluminum and a high idle keeps oil flowing ... all the way way way up there. The 94mm stroke feels great but it make the head way way up there !..

We got a buddy with over 200,000 miles on his Savage. I've got about 50,000 miles on mine and it still runs like new ... maybe a little better ?

If ya do much Super-Slab ridding then the 25 tooth Kawasaki 454/500 belt drive front pulley can be modified to replace the 23 tooth Suzuki stock pulley. It makes it a different machine , all of a sudden you don't need to shift gears in the middle of an intersection and 75 mph feels good instead of making me feel guilty for revving it up. That 94mm X 94mm is GOOD ! :)

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by SCS40 on 06/15/21 at 06:58:14

5C4E5C4E43505F5259110 wrote:

Hi and great tips and nice to find similarities. If Seafoam doesn't work, I'll try a can of carb cleaner. I also suspect the petcock is contributing and plan to replace. (I wondered why there was no "off" position).

Hope to bring her home later this week. Now calling shops looking for wide white walls.

Nice looking bike with tons of storage. I also read briefly about a sprocket change. Great info.

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by springman on 06/15/21 at 10:48:54

Welcome SCS40. You bought a good bike.

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by jcstokes on 06/15/21 at 18:09:46

If you decide to replace the petcock, with a Yamaha Raptor one, get the correct part number as there are several Raptor variants. People here will give you the correct number. Have you drained the float bowl on the carb?

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by SCS40 on 06/15/21 at 19:31:39

767F6F687377796F1C0 wrote:

Good tip and I found the correct one but haven't ordered yet. No, I'm picking it up tomorrow. I plan at least one tank of Seafoam and to replace the petcock. I'll use copious amounts of carb cleaner before having it cleaned.

Title: Re: New Member and New S40
Post by jcstokes on 06/15/21 at 19:40:15

Another small point. If you opt for the Kawasaki front pulley mod, you will have to have a lathe with very good cutting tools or access to a machine shop with such tooling. Dave can tell you how much to machine off to make the pulley fit.