More curiosity than anything, but has anyone set up a Savage as dirtbike?.  I would think with all that torque It could be quite good. Raise it up a bit and maybe convert to chaindrive. I have seen many big singles as trials/scamblers etc. Any opinions?

not really thinking of doing it to my bike.  I like riding it too much to take it off the road.  I have looked at a bunch of Enduro's etc and some fairly poor ones people were asking $700-$800. This is more curiosity as to whether the end result would be any good.  If a savage came up really really cheap I might have a go at it.  The truth is I don't really have the tools or knowledge to do a job like that, but I could learn.

SteveRocket1 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:
Probsbly not that good -- the transmission is geared too close.  If you reduce the final drive ration to give you a good walk over rocks first gear you won't have any top end speed to speak of.

After several thousand $, you'd still be better of with a bone stock DR650...

So the opinion is it would be a waste of time,money and effort. The end result would most prob be crap too.  Thanks for your insights, like I said wasn't really thinking in a serious way.

I think the motor would be great in a dirtbike. Light & torquey. I'd drop the gearing about 20% & let 'er rip! The problem would be the chassis though. 35 degree rake; the front tire would wash out easily & standing up would have you leaning back. Interesting idea though. That green scrambler looks cool!

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


No doubt the 35º rake needs addressing, but for one thing, as you change the height of the rear shocks up, and the triple tree offset, your rake and trail figures are going to change anyways. Also, besides raising the rear and changing the rake with longer shocks, it would be necessary to get a taller rear wheel/tire, as almost no 15" knobby tires, and very few dual sport 15" are available. The 17" (is it?) sprocket and spoke rear wheel from the GS series would seem a natural since it is already the one parts are being picked off of for the sprocket swap. At least that is the direction I would investigate first. However, it would be nice to find a cross reference part that had nice alloy rims.

You might actually only have cut down a couple of degrees  of rake to get the spec in where you want it (if any). Personally I like a bit of rake and trail on an off-road bike. The super quick steering of a low rake angle can be handy in really tight woods or trials bike like riding, but for simple pleasure trail riding, having really tight steering gets annoying and tiring after a while. Just depends on how you intend to ride.

This is all daydreaming for me anyways... I've got to decide what I can do with my 4-speed next, as I don't think it will make a suitable dirt/tracker etc... Maybe a Cafe' with no intention of getting over 80-85mph? Optimizing for torquing around 25-50mph tight roads might be fun.

Could just bolt on a fat azz solo seat and big windshield; and add some really tall highway sprockets on it, so it would just go putt.....putt.....putt at about 75-80mph. Then just not worry about having to slip the clutch to get her rolling in first gear!