On my way to Erie this morning, I passes a couple riding north on I-79.  They had the bike loaded down with a sleeping bag on the forks, saddlebags, bags on top of the saddle bags, a tail bag and another bag tied to the rear fender.

I thought, wow, they're dedicated.  It was cold and raining at the time.  (no, I drove the cage today.  Too much to carry to the customer for me to use the bike).  Then I pulled out and passed them.

I glanced back over, then did a double take, then a triple take just to make sure.  

They were riding....... (drum roll)...... on a Savage.

Yes,  the much maligned thumper that is chronically labled as a girls bike or just a starter bike was thumping up the interstate with 2 adults and all their gear.  I couldn't have been prouder.  Both of them and the Savage.

I LOVE this bike!

Poor person on back is gonna have a sore tail.

Jack_650 wrote on 05/21/08 at 22:03:50:





Did the bike handle differently with all those items piled on  it, when trucks passed by or in gusts of wind?

The only problems I have with the fully loaded Savage is when it's parked. I try to keep the heavy stuff low, but there's still stuff up high. When you put it on the kick stand it wants to just keep leaning. I carry a small chunk of 2X4 to put under it or look for a place to park it with the stand on the high side of a slant. Of course when you're stopped at a light you want to be very careful with the balance. It's much harder to get back to vertical if you let it lean much with that weight on there.

As to handling on the highway, I don't really notice a difference. This is my first bike ever so I have nothing to compare it with, but even empty I'm not bothered much by the wind from trucks. Sure there's the quick buffeting but there doesn't seem to be any control issues. The only problems I've had that put a bit o' scare into me is when I've been in high speed, gusts from the sides situations. I rode through a storm last year with the bike fully loaded where the side gusts pushed me clear into the other lane on the interstate. Needless to say I found an abandoned gas station to catch up on a little reading for a while.

This is the little bike that can.

Jack

Is that a hitch I see? How did you attach it?

The hitch is not just for looks, although I wouldn't want to use it for towing much more than some camping gear and such. It's not that I'm worried about the bike pulling stuff, it's more about the bikes limited braking abilities to stop it with a lot of extra weight behind it.

I came up with a basic design and had an artistic minded welder in western ND flesh it out. It goes on and comes off in five minutes and is stronger than most of the rest of the bike.

Jack