I'm back on a bike after a fews years.  Found a good deal on a '02 Savage with only 1,300 miles.  Feels great to ride again.

There is some excellent info here, even after my brief flip through some of the posts.  Will spend some time looking around.

Looks like a lot on mufflers/sound - if I do anything to the bike, getting a little more throat out of it will be at the top of the list.

Thanks.  

Feels great to ride agin, been a few years following the loss of a close friend to a wreck.  Following that I sold my old '81 Honda 750-Four Classic.

When I saw this bike posted on a local forsale newsgroup, I went to have a look more just for the heck of it.  My first impression was "wow, it's small!"  Kinda like the first time anyone sees the Alamo.

The owner asked if I wanted to take it for a cruise and I was nervous as a cat (of course, I had brought my helmet with me!).  After about three minutes, I realized this was the bike for me.  I'm not a big guy (5'9" - 155 lbs) and it fit like a glove.  For $2,500 with a Memphis Shades screen, saddle bags, cover and various and sundry items like a few OEM oil filters, plugs and shop manual, I couldn't pass it up.  The previus owner also addressed the carb spacer to rid it of backfire.

The bike is pure stock and barely into its break in at 1,300 miles, well, 1,450 after yesterday.  It's great on the back roads, but I was still a little freaked at highway speeds.  I can definitely feel the difference in weight.  More likely, it's just me getting used to its characteristics.

The stock exhaust sounds like my B&G 5HP lawn mower so I wouldn't mind a little more noise.  On the other hand, I'm on the fence with not keeping it stock.  

I'm not real up on MC mechanics, but I'm reasonably handy, so minor mods should not be a problem for me.  I also have a good buddy (HD rider, of course) who's pretty handy with a wrench.  Has anyone had any success with drilling the baffles in the stock muffler? Raising the front of the seat seems like a good idea too but does that force even more of the weight to the tailbone?  Every bump in the road seems transfered right there.

I look forward to getting ideas from the group.  Will post a pic later.

She looks nice and clean....welcome.