spotrot wrote on 02/15/08 at 05:29:00:


Judging from my experience, you should be fine with a fairly new savage. I'm 6'6" and weigh 280, just 10 pounds short of your weights combined (go ahead, call me fat). I have NO PROBLEMS maintaining 70 going up a hill BY MYSELF. I also have saddle bags, windshield, and trunk.

The bike has to struggle to maintain 60 mph uphill with my wife ( 6'1" 150 lbs.) Technically, when I ride with my wife it is over the GVWR of the bike (785 lbs - weight of bike(360 lbs. w/accessories) = 425 lbs. of passengers;  150 + 280 = 430 lbs  

You also have to take into account that the older the bike, the harder it will be to maintain high speeds with a load. You should be fine with a relatively new S40.

Jack,

I just purchased a 2007 S40 with 5,000 miles on it and I'm totally new to the sport. I love the bike, but notice you mention discoloration of the pipes. The first third of my pipes, and I believe the whole bike is stock, are very blue. (The bike is a deep blue, almost purple color and the pipes almost match) Is that a sign of abuse by its former owner or some other problem with the bike?

Stuart-

Yep go to tech section for how to. My pipe looks new (no discoloration), clean (light grey) with 5400 miles now and pulls like a freighttrain (Oke a little one) with the mods I did. No matter which pipe you want to run, it NEEDS to be enriched on jetting and the needle needs to be raised. This also keeps you exhaust valves cooler (read healthier) See my mods below.
Have fun

Hutch,
Thanks for your input, that's exactly what I needed. The W650 looks good but is a lot heavier at 473 wet. If I decide to go that heavy, the number of bikes to consider goes up considerably.
I'm still on the line and looking for suggestions.
John

Spotrot, the one thing that is nice about the w650 is that you would never know that it weighs that much. You can rock the bike back and forth between your knees, with no hands when it is setting, and it feels like a lot smaller bike. The balance is great and it never feels heavy at any speed. Nor does it lack for power. Mine is stock. It still has the covers over the carb screws and runs great. I just check the oil(hasn't used a drop in 2500 miles) fill with gas and go. I just put on a windscreen and hard bags, and I am ready for the interstate long hauls. Alone or with a passenger, no problem.
First40, The S-40 I bought new in 2006 would accelerate like crazy but run out of steam at 70mph, after the mods. That is why I came up with the chain drive conversion. It still is a slouch in my mind, even with a 14% gear change. I love the bike, but hate it when others talk about how theirs pulls two people at interstate speed. I have been working on bikes for 40+ years of my life, and this thing just barely pulls my 150lbs around at 80mph. I have to lay on the tank to get 88mph out of it, and that takes a long 2 mile, no hill stretch. I've tried all the jets, and some old tricks that I used to do to other bikes, and it runs the best at 70mph. Anything over that and it takes for ever to gain 10 mph.It should be broke in with 3500 miles on it. I even checked to see if the brakes were dragging.  I guess I just bought a dog. It is a pretty dog with all my mods, but mine is used for country roads, and that is it. I even have the speedo marked different for the chain drive. All speeds were checked by a freind of mine, who is a policeman, with the State Police radar in his cruiser. I don't feel completely alone with my bike. I have heard several others complain about their bikes not being able to do things like everyone else either.  Some times you just get a dog. I think Justin-o-Guy2 said it best. "YOU PAY YOUR MONEY, AND YOU TAKE YOUR CHANCES."        Hutch

Hutch, Mine pulls strong sitting upright behind the little factory fairing till almost 90 indicated (86 on the GPS which matches the Sigma speedometer) . Tucked in it'll slowly gets to almost 100 mph. (92.99mph on the sigma). I still run stock beltdrive. I weight 185. Maybe your rings never seated properly or maybe you have a broken one. Run a compression check or better yet, a leak down test, like they do on Porsches and Airplanes which will show even a bad seating intake/exhaust valve or a burned exhaust valve or a leak between cylinder and head surface. Also check exhaust for internal resistance like broken baffles.

Vtail, everything has been checked, before and after all the mods, several times. It has never burned oil, just leaks it out the bottom of the case, about 2 drips aday, even when setting. Valves checked, you name it, it is all AOK. I have tried all different jets and it runs the best with the 152.5 or the 155 main. Pilot jets changed. Jardine pipe. K&N filter. 14% gear change and it will hit 90 mph layin on the tank with a tail wind after about 2 or more miles. I'm quite sure that most of my post from a year ago are gone, but that was the reason that I wanted to change to chaindrive. I went through the whole, try this,check that thing back then. It was all checked before I gave up and went to coming up with the chaindrive conversion. I kept telling everyone my tranny was geared different, or it was just a dog. I am not saying this to be beligerant,just to let you know that I know my way around bikes, but as I said I have had over 30 bikes and have rebuilt bike motors my self for 40 years. I have been able to eek out every mph I could out of a bike, but not this one. I had the same problems with a couple of cars in the past. Identicle cars and motors. Identicle drive trains for gearing, one would run great, the other one wouldn't. I used to race cars at the drag strip for years and built my own motors from the bottom up. Every once in awhile you just can't get a car(or bike) to run like it should. They call them lemons. If the S-40 was my only bike, I would sell it. Fortunately I will sell all my other bikes, and STILL keep the S-40 for back roads, and the W650 for all other rides. I'm not saying the S-40 in general is a bad bike. Mine just isn't up to par with most other ones. It still accelerates like crazy(beating Harleys to 60mph) but still runs out of any good acceleration at about 75-80mph., and is done at 90mph laying on the tank. I just can't figure out why, so I live with it and ride it within it's limits. I still love the bike.  Hutch

My bike got me from Tulsa to Dallas in just under 4 hours on the interstate.  I averaged between 80-92 mph.  The biggest problem I had was butt-hurt from the crappy stock seat.  Mine is a '99 and has a mac pipe on it.  As best I can figure, the carb is in stock, or nearly stock configuration (I haven't had the time to dig into it yet).  I am 5'7" and weigh about 170.  I haven't had any problem with my GF (similar height, about 20 #s lighter) on the back, but we never stay on the highway for more than a few minutes 2-up.