Howdy fellow Savage riders.

As you can probably surmise, I just bought a 2000 Savage....originally rode a Buell Blast for a couple of seasons and then stopped for a few years.  

My thoughts on the 650 after a few rides:

Plenty of power....great acceleration and keeps up highway speeds.  

Nice lines...a classic design.

Definitely better on the ears...my blast was friggin' loud.

All in all, I like it....sorry no pictures yet (I know someone will request pics).  It's yellow...kinda looks like a taxi. Ha!

So I'm thankful that there's a forum dedicated to just the Savage....muchos gracias to the webmaster.  I'm already learning alot about what to expect with my new thumper.....very cool.

-sean

Welcome aboard.  How would you compare the two bikes power and handling characteristics?

welcome, from sw arizona. what part of NY state are you in? there are other savage members up that way too. enjoy the ride. 8)

You ought to add a checker board stripe!  

Hi azjay...wish I was in Arizona.  I'm an hour south of Rochester....basically the middle of nowhere.  I live one town away from Alfred University...small private college.

Well after a couple days of ownership I've noticed some of the signature Savage traits....backfires, lean mixture, etc.  I may check the valves and spark plug soon though, never know what the dealership really inspected.  

I ran a search regarding the backfires...not a big deal in itself.  One post mentioned the junction at the header pipe and muffler....apparently this is fairly common to not have a perfect seal at this spot???  

Long story short, my bike does the same thing...the junction isn't air-tight.  I pulled the muffler and applied some high-temp silicone.  Replaced the muffler and gave the silicone time to cure.....started her up and there's still an exhaust leak.  Ugggh.  Oh well, at least I tried.

Hmmm, what else.  I decided to pull the wind-screen....too much concentrated wind on my helmet.  

So there you have it folks...I'm settling in on my new ride and getting used to her quirks.  I must say, the look of the single giant cylinder is growing on me...at first it looked lonely with all that empty space around it.  

Anyways, I digress.   That's all for now.
-sean

well I got a 2000 and it is the wonderful yellow. I am currently in a bobbing process (slow due to lack of funds) but i dont think that ill be keeping the yellow paint much longer.

Hey George,
I used the Permatex Black High temp gasket silicone...should hold up but I may switch to the copper, unless it's just a different color.

I didn't give it the full 24 hours to cure either....my bad.
Because reinstalling the muffler required several twists and turns and manipulation for a proper fit (darn brackets), I might have forced some of the silicone out of the junction.  Might just pull the header pipe/muffler assembly as one piece and rework it.  

Then again, the blackish smoke I saw post silicone application could've been excess silicone being burned off seeing how I didn't allow the full cure time.  It definitely smelled funky...not like ordinary exhaust fumes.  I'll check it out today...will report back.  

If this is the most amount of trouble I encounter with my Savage then I'll be a happy man.  Honestly, this is just to try and reduce the occasional backfire.  This type of thing definitely doesn't make or break a bike.  As long as she's mechanically sound....that's all that matters.

-sean

glad the longer curing time worked for you sean - I would not have known to do this had someone who had not already gone through what we did (putting on new muffler) advised me to do it.

must admit I'm not bothered by  wind - maybe because my bars give me a lean forward stance. only ever had 1 bike with a full fairing (a BMW R1100RT sports tourer) - it certainly paid @ the speed I would haul on the odd occassion (like over 100 when overtaking a truck before settling back to a mere 85 - the interstate limits here are 75 but I've found the cops fairly forgiving of folk doing 85).