Aw, no sweat.  He aspires to be a writer, has an agenda, and is passionate about his own beliefs.  

The downside of the article is that he doesn't use a spell checker.  The upside is that his rambling sentence structure will bore you quickly enough to save you from reading all 89 pages.

If you have time to waste, it will be well spent.

justin_o_guy wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:


Ah, but he starts with the premise that the bike requires all these improvements...

Just sort of turned me off because not only does he think the bike needs the mods, but that we also need to be informed.

It's a tough job, but I guess he's got to do it

.. part 2 ..

Since selling the Savage I started to do some bike maintenance side work with small things, valve adjustments, brake and carb overhauls, and finally became friends with a national A class racer and have helped him since 1996 or so, in 600 Supersport A, 600 Std and 600 Stocksport classes, mostly national but also a few Scandinavian races. No amount of street bike riding or maintenance has taught me about serious bike maintenance as much as hundreds of race weekends camping in paddocks. This is why I think I know something about performance modifications. I won't say anyone shouldn't put on a, say, HD exhaust if he/she likes it, but as a serious performance modification.. no, never. Next one who mails me to tell original HD exhausts are the best power upgrade to any bike should first explain me why even Harley guys want to get rid of the pipes in the first place.

I honestly think Savage culture and heritage could use a kick forward, maybe slightly away from HD exhausts and vinyl fringes, 'plug reading' and some of the wrong kind of biker mentality. Singles don't need to be developmental backwater. For a nice thumper example take a look at this local supermoto thumper. Suzuki DR762, Schnitzer S 39 turbo, intercooler, oil cooler, Megasquirt v3 EFI, lots of carbon fiber parts which owner made himself plus suspension and brakes from several donor bikes. There are few reasons why a Savage could not have basically same engine modifications. I would really like to see Savage, not necessarily just like this, just a bit like this, improving handling and performance in a noticeable way.

In regards to missing spell checker there actually is one in my Finnish MS Word, but I never know should I use the US english or British english spelling because there are readers from all over the globe. That's why I don't use it. I know Americans have a funny way of saying 'tires' and 'grey' and 'awesome' but I've never learnt the finer points of the dialect. Maybe someone would point out the most glaring mistakes so I may correct them at the next version edit. Also, those who say they know far better than me, I honestly need every bit of performance minded technical info you could give me, there's another racing season appearing and we need to run against riders 20 years younger and 80 pounds lighter, some of which have had wildcard rides in WSS and WSB. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

And, finally, no I don't sneer at the bike you ride. Do not forget I used to ride one myself. I may sneer, for example, to people who do more forum posting than actual riding. I think bike fraternities, including Savage 'community' do not need posing, lots of ordinary riding should do just fine, stock or modified bike.
If anyone wants to comment my view of things, my e-mail is rdr647 (at) netti.fi . Mention 'Savage' or LS650' so your mail won't be spam filtered.

Best regards,

Tumi Laamanen
Finland

Gee's
This guy will never write for a newspaper. He doesn't say anything with all those words.

I appreciate the time the man took to put out something I can use. I certainly don't expect to see me tearing thaT thing down & checkin the Squish band. That's more than I want to be doing. However, should I find myself in there I just may give it a go.
I had the idle too low, thought it sounded cool Idled up to make sure the oil pressure is enough to protect the top end.
I just got finished increasing the volume of the airbox in the area between the filter element & the carb. No grit in the air passages so filter is doing its job.
I also grooved the brake shoes & now have decreased the surface area by between 30 & 50 percent.  I feel confident it will stop. Maybe now it won't lock up so easily.

REEL< aluminum base shoes>  Are EBC's different?

Paladin. wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:


+1

I started a lengthy response last night but decided not to post.  In essence, what I think Tumi missed is that "low-end torque" is more what "big torque" means to a thumper rider.  The LS 650 runs even with an SV 650 thru 4000 RPMs.  Low end torque is what makes for a much more "streetable" engine in my book, especially in stop & go traffic and low speed city driving.  At 60 MPH, I had to drop my Magna TWO GEARS to get into the power band.  On the other hand, I still remember my KZ1000 fondly...