I'm sure you get posts like this all the time, but I've spent awhile going through forums reading them, and I still can't make a decision.  I live in NW arkansas and need a bike mainly for commuting to school.  It's a brief drive with speed up to 55, and I will be riding 2 up at least 50% of the time at this speed.  My wife is tiny and our combined weight is 270.  I also want to be able to make the occasional trip home to see our families, or an occasional road trip.  Nothing over 800 miles round trip, most of the time 400 miles round trip (maybe doing this once a month).  Also, an occasional 10 mile interstate short cut would be nice, but I wouldn't mind making road trips on back highways at 55-60 mph.

The main thing we want, though, is fuel efficiency.  We're really poor and plan to be for awhile.  The bike is really an investment to our future poorness, buying it now while I have a little money.

Between the savage and the v-star 650 I've read a lot of different gas mileage claims, up to 60+ mpg for the both of them, but what I think I believe at this point is that the v-star's gonna get slightly less, maybe 5-10 mpg less.

My gut is telling me to get a savage and deal with less power on longer trips.  The low maintenance side of it sounds great, but it seems like the backfire mods and leak fixing will require a lot of initial work - which, as a complete newb - I have no idea how to do.  I've read about drilling out the brass plug, turning the mixture screw, switchin' the spacer around the needle for a couple of #4 washers, etc - but reading is different than doing, and i don't even have a drill.  Also, I've read alot on people needing to rejet, which I have no idea how to do and only a small idea what it means, but I usually like learning this stuff and picking it up.

Once you turn the mixture screw,  change the spacer, and maybe rejet - have I lost the fuel efficiency advantage over the v-star?  If I'm gonna see less than 5 mpg difference between them, should I opt for the v-star to keep us powered during brief interstate travel?  Thanks, sorry this is so long.

Josh

  I would say the v-star would be better,more room for two up,and the ride would be a lot better,smooth motor,lot more stable on freeways,the plus for s40 cost and a lite weight. some here will say s40 good for freeways and it can be done and and can be done on a 250 too.

The interstate travel I intend to do is so brief that I don't really want to sacrifice my real objective - good gas mileage - for about 10 minutes of comfort a couple times a month.  Right now we drive a 150cc scooter into town on that 55 mph road, so I feel like anything is going to be a comfort increase, mpg decrease.  I'm just looking for the best bike that can handle the task.  The scooter is definitely being pushed a little too hard.  A 20 miles round trip 55mph ride is what we'll be doing daily, sometimes twice daily.  Riding around the town we ride to will be done daily as well (that's why the torquiness of the savage appealed to me).  Interstate maybe twice a week for 10 miles, back highways for 400 miles round trip once a month max.  Once a year maybe 800 mile round trip.  We're generally not very picky when it comes to comfort, a lot more picky when it comes to price - but if its a general consensus that the savage is going to destroy my wife's ass on the kind of trips we'll be taking, I'll take it off my radar.

I know a lot of people who have been telling me to go bigger displacement, and you're probably right.  I just know that at 40 mpg I wouldn't ever drive it.  I'd end up convincing myself to push the scooter once more, or I'd take the car and my mountain bikes for a longer excursion.  I feel like an uncomfortable highway trip is just gonna be better than one that's too expensive.

I almost bought a Vulcan 900.  When researching it I saw a lot of folks that said it got in the high 40's for MPG.  My Savage has been averaging 49 mpg.  So I'm not sure the Kaw would be a huge penalty in MPG.

The only thing I've got like motorcycle repair experience is changing the motor/gear oil on my scooter and cleaning the air filter.  Supposing I did get the savage, how difficult would those backfire mods going to be for me?  Rejetting?  I've read through the tech section, and was wondering if there's a place with similarly detailed instruction with some picture accompaniment.  I'd really like to tinker with my bike a little (another reason why the Savage simplicity appealed to me), and a constant backfire would be a good motivator to get me started.

So here is the thing. My wife did two hours on the Pillion saturday. and she did mention the seat could be more comfortable. but the bike had no problems. We took the twisties up and the freeway back. Went as fast as 70 with throtal to spare. And lets just say I alone weigh in at 280.

  There was a 2004 v-star with 300 miles saddlebags and windshield in the paper yesterday for $3500, I called I wanted to take it for a ride,but it was sold and hour earlier.

It's been incredibly hard to calculate fuel costs, because its hard for me to get any real reliable prediction of mileage.  Even in these last couple of posts numbers have gone from 49-65 mpg in the savage.  Riding 2 up (270 lbs) at 50 mph speed, not too many lights, what should I expect? I know that mpg range is largely based on how you drive the thing.  I have no motorcycle driving experience, but once I figure out how to drive it efficiently, I will for sure.

By the way, thanks for all this help so far - I've already told my wife that I have a little more confidence in modding the bike because of the quick help here.