What's this about a 13,000 mi. life expectancy?  That's just plain rediculous!

Torque?

I figure there is about a 1% failure rate, by which I mean, savages that die, or need to be rebuilt for more than a the cost of a used one, before 20k miles.   User error?  Factory f*ck up?  Yes.  Both?  yes.  The savage is a cheap bike with 20 year old technology.  How many bikes can you find that essentially haven't been changed for 20 yrs and still sell well and you still see on the road?  1!  the savage!  (that I know of!)

It's a solid bike with a few, uh, problems (i.e. the stock seat is horrible, it's slow as mud from the factory, there're few aftermarket parts... until you come here!)...

but it has a lot of plusses to it...:

no one knows what it is... it's unique!
a lot of room for growth for a little $$$  
     (<1.5k$; performance, comfort and style)
It handles very well
It is essentially reliable (see many other posts by me.. it
     has taken care of me when I all but drained the oil).
it's very simple (e.g. to work on and to look at)
low insurance and theft rate (for whatever that means to
     your biker buddies - ???)
once you hop it up, even a little, it rocks (i.e. will smoke an
     HD sporters  883... will kill my V* 1100 when I get  a
     "new" carb from lancer)
The supprot from this website
This bike has a soul.
Uh, what am I leaving out?

In the hands of a not so smart owner-rider even 3K is a lot. Believe me- I've seen this .

vroom1776 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


Kawasaki EX250

Whoo Hoo Aussie ... thanks for the words of encouragement! Congrats on the high-milage Savage by-the-way! Very Cool!

I took 45 lbs or so off the thing.  Remove the snorkel to the airbox, bolt a kn air filter right to the carb,  add a good pipe, and rejet accordingly, and go on a diet .  Cost: < $100.  There are more ways to get more HP & torque, like junking the stock carb and adding one of lancer's, bore out, regrind the cam, port and pollish...  but I only ripped off the weight, + air, pipe, rejet.  See the "savage Mods" in the tech section...

Keep in mind it'll still get whipped on the highway, but around town, it is quick as hell.

What I took off:  fender, seat, turn signals, battery box & toolkit, 1 mirror, stock bars (made new one out of a pipe) left side control housing.

Lancer, that would give you about 5 more HP!  

AussieSavage wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:

Wow, that is one of the highest mileage Savage I have heard of. How long have you owned the bike an how many kms did you put on? Do you know what engine work previous owners had done?  I find it interesting to hear the history of high mileage motors.