sluggo wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:09:


Yep.  With all the V-twins out there, a parallel twin would have to be MY choice....the Speedmaster is around $8K and pretty cool looking.  I sat on one last weekend.

HawkEye1967 wrote on 05/08/08 at 12:33:01:

I put down a deposit on a new 06 900 last month.  Then I decided not to spend as much money and got the Savage.  I like the Savage a lot, but get bummed when I see a 900 in town.  Very nice bike for the money.

Was curious what happened to you and your decision.  Hope the new ride treats you well, keep us posted .

Hawkeye, I'm betting you made a good choice for your stated needs.

I've been searching later model and new bikes for the last couple of years, and I also have "past history" with both Honda and Kawasaki which left me favoring the other two large Japanese builders for many years.

Here's a short list of some of the bikes that I entertained the idea of buying in the last few years. Some are brand new models and others might be considered 'odd' by some people... But my general criteria were along the lines this thread had been describing: A bike a bit larger and more powerful than the Savage, without getting into the huge honking tanks that seem to be appearing at every stoplight lately. IOW... in the 750cc-1300cc range without getting into the silly 1600cc-2000cc+ 800 pound monstrosities.

The Honda 1100 Shadow: Excellent reputation, and due to two pin crank and twin carbs, known to run with bikes of larger displacement. Decided against it when I started thinking about the prospect of having to work on those two carbs jammed up under everything else.

Started looking at the VTX1300 due to its seemingly more simplistic build, but then I discovered something about the Honda bikes... Their fuel mileage sucks! Even the 1100-1300 only get in the 30mpg range! Heck my wifes old Plymouth can get over 30mpg out on the highway.

Realized that a lot of the newer FI bikes, Including the H-Ds are getting much better mileage than the Honda offerings. I dunno what the Kawa is getting, but even some of the large displacement H-D bikes with FI are getting 50mpg on the highway!

Since I've been wanting something to haul junk around on (a "grocery getter") I looked into the former Kawa 805cc Drifter, which I really like the looks of; and if I found a deal too good to pass up I might still want to try one for a while. Same goes with the Super Scooter looking Honda Pacific Coast 800 (A big attraction is the humongous trunk!) While I think actual high speed scooters like the Bergman 650 are just an accident waiting to happen; because of the small wheels and HUGE holes in the roads around here; I think the PC800 could probably survive our roads with some care. But I think the high speed small scooters of late are downright death traps; no kidding.

And even though I keep looking at all these other bikes as time goes by... (I have a current fascination with the Kawasaki Versys). I'll certainly keep at least one, and probably two of my three Savages. I've had a fairly wide variety of bikes in my life, and very few have offered the smiles per dollar ratio of the Savage.

  FreeSpirit I had a vx 800 same motor puts out about twice the horsepower as the s40,It would run all over the s40 easy

willrph wrote on 05/10/08 at 14:32:14:


Yes, start a spread sheet, one column for the Savage's plusses, another for the minuses, do the same for the bigger bike, then add a column for quantifying the differences between them for each entry.  Now toss in an overall column, then total up the differences.

Now, having carefully evaluated and quantified and listed and compared --

THROW AWAY THE SPREADSHEET AND GO WITH YOUR GUT!


You haven't wasted your time with the spreadsheet -- it's purpose is to get you thinking and feeling while you do all the busy work.  It provides a structure to hang your thoughts on, not a definitive answer.

Dude, keep us up to date with your riding reports...how it feels to you...power & responsisveness...comfort...handling...can you mount a video cam?  

A friend at work has a M109R, indicated on the speedo is 150mph. It is fast but we still have the torque.