I am a first time buyer, I got it used 2002 with 7000 miles on it,I love the bike,reminds me of my youth when I rode an ES2 norton back in England,I am 69 years old.
I noticed that she back fires quite allot when winding down,is this common? should I switch to premium gas?
or is it some thing else?
            Any ideas,  Mick

Hi Mick,

Welcome to the Savage world.  It is a fun bike.  I am a former BSA Goldstar (DBD 500) rider and had an instant like for the Savage because it is a big single, although the performance is not on par with the Goldstar.   You can improve the Savage a good bit with carb, exhaust & cam mod's for more usable power.  The suspension, brakes and seat also need attention but that is another story.
Back to your backfiring.  It results from the very lean carb jetting, particularly the pilot jet.  There are many discussions on this site about removing the plug covering the pilot jet adjusting screw.  Do that if it has not been done already.  Depending on whether you have the stock exhaust or not, adjusting the screw for a richer mix may stop the backfiring.  Turn it out no more than 3 turns.  Once you get past 2 turns out, you should start considering going to the next larger pilot jet.

mick wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06: