Hello! This post is long overdue.

I've been lurking here since Oct 06, but haven't posted before since any question I had was already answered. Thank you all for this wonderful resource. I have gotten lots of good info from you this year.

I bought my 95 Savage in Nov 06, largely due to this site, the info available here, and the obvious enthusiasm you have for this bike. And the price.

I have been riding to work any day I could, which means any day that I didn't need to haul anyone or anything that wouldn't fit on my bike, wasn't raining in the morning, and temperature higher than 45°F.

It's that last criterion that I have a question about.

Above 50 my bike runs fine. Between 45 and 50, it will run fine if I stay below 55mph and stay out of 5th gear. Below 45°, however, the bike won't idle, runs rough, and threatens to die. It acts as though it were running out of gas. Blipping the throttle a bit keeps it from dying.

Now down here in central Texas, it doesn't get very cold or stay cold long, but it gets irritating when the temp is 42-43 in the morning, preventing me from riding, then rises into the 70s by noon, leaving me in the truck on the way home during a beautiful bike day.

I suspect there are two problems my bike has with the cold. One is the too-lean setting in the carb, that is even worse in the cold, denser air. The other is the fact that the big single cylinder cools off too well and too much.

I have already popped out the plug to the idle mixture screw and adjusted that, which helped but didn't solve this problem. I am getting ready to open up the carb to do the white spacer modification, which should help also.

I know there are Savage owners that live in much colder areas. Do you have any tips, tricks, adjustments, modifications that help your bike in the winter?

I have thought about making a small fairing to keep the engine warm. Just a piece of sheet metal bolted in front to block direct air movement. What do you think?

youzguyz wrote on 12/19/07 at 07:39:25:

Never Heard Of...

That's the answer...

I had the same problem this last Saturday.  Rode to the Morro Bay on the coast and back (300 miles).  Here in the Central Valley it was foggy and I had to have the choke pulled out or it would die at the stoplights/signs.  Once I got over the coastal range and the sun came out, ran normal with no choke.  But coming back into town, same problem.  Had to pull the choke out again or it would die at the stops.

I would turn the idle up slightly.Just like old cars with carbs,had to tinker with'em when it got cold.

When I read the first post in this thread, my first thought was, "hmmm, that sounds like a leaky vacuum line."  If your problem improves with the bike on PRI, look to the vacuum operated petc0ck and vacuum line...

I was having full-throttle stalls (not comfortable when you're riding on an expressway).  My petr0ck vacuum line looked OK, but when I took it off, I found tiny cracks.  The bike was only 4 years old.  I replaced it with some fat fuel line (all I could find with the right inner dia), clamped it with real hose clamps (hard to do on the lower side), and life is happy again.

sluggo wrote on 12/20/07 at 23:05:10:


Yup, I agree. I replaced the vacuum line last night and used real clamps. Now I just need to wait for another cold day to see if that helped.

Another question though, when I took off the vacuum line, I noticed that there was some fuel in the vacuum line at the carb. Not dripping out, but just moist. Is that normal, or is my petc0ck leaking?

IMHO the key to having a MC that runs well in the winter is to make sure everything is "right." My savage ran fine in all temps unless something needed attention. Your Savage should run great at or well below 45°F. To date, my Vulcan and Concours also run fine (rode in this morning at 20°F). FWIW, it's not right to have fuel in your vacuum line. From the brief description, it sound like vacuum/petc0ck problems.