Hi everyone,
I'm new to the Savage world and this is my first post on this forum -- but I'm sure it won't be my last!
Anyway, I just picked up my black S40 '05 from the dealer Friday evening, and rode it home w/o incident. (I've new to Savages, but not new to biking ... I have previous 250cc dirt bike experience.)
On Sunday morning, I got up VERY bright and early to get some practice on the streets while traffic would be at a minimum.
Everything was fine for the first hour or so, but then the bike sputtered to a halt. I didn't think about flipping the reserve switch until I had pulled off onto the shoulder.
Flipped reserve switch. Looked at odometer, which read 35 miles.
Opened up tank, peeked inside. There was certainly enough gas to power me -- about 1/10 of a tank.
Since there was enough gas, I came to the conclusion that my new Thumper had overheated and shut down. It was hot and humid already that morning, but "only" in the high 80s.
I wondered if I had made a big mistake in buying a bike with an air-cooled engine -- if it couldn't handle this weather! Granted, I was doing a lot of stop-and-go maneuvers -- I was practicing, after all. But surely my new bike could handle it, right?
Well, since there was gas in the tank, I switched the fuel switch back to "ON" and tried to start her up. No dice.
Pushed the bike to a nearby city park, parked it in the shade and waited a half an hour. Tried starting her again. No dice.
Then, in a fit of inspiration, I flipped the switch to "Reserve" and tried again. She started right up!
So, long story short (
oops, too late for that, eh?), the dealer must not have put a lot of gas in the tank -- I was only at 35 miles, remember? (Note to self: Give dealer an earful!)
I'm glad this didn't turn out to be an overheating issue
, but I now have a question: How does my reserve tank operate?
When I flipped the reserve switch the first time, right after I stalled, did it dump more gas from a separate compartment into the main tank (which explains the amount of gas that I saw when I popped the cap)?
Or, is there really no such thing as two separate compartments (main, reserve) in the tank, but merely two fuel lines leading from the tank to the carb: one located higher up the incline, and one at the very bottom.
In this situation, when most of your gas is gone, the higher up fuel line will start drawing air, but the lower one will still be able to suck gas. And the fuel switch merely switches from one fuel line to the other, giving the illusion of a reserve tank, when there’s really just one big tank.
Anyone know the answer?
Thanks.
TammiP.S. I’ll try to make my future posts less wordy!