1. Even when I allow my bike to warm up in the morn for a couple minutes, leaving the choke out half way, when I put the choke back in and leave it feels like I haven't really warmed up at all.  There's all kinda of surges and hesitations, feels like I'm running out of gas or something.

When I pull the choke back out halfway, the bike starts acting better (and the backfires even go away).  So does this mean that I need to do the fuel/air adjustment screw mod?  Is leaving the choke half pulled while a ride a sufficient temporary solution?  How much extra fuel does that allow to go through?  Will I see decreased mileage when I leave choke out or pull the screw out a turn or so?

2. My front brake squeaks when I'm very light on it (when I need to really brake, it's fine).  Looked at the pads, they're fine - could this just be the result of the brief dirt road I have to take from my house and the dewy grass?  They squeak all day long, so I didn't figure it was dew.

3. How often should I adjust the belt?  I just took the bike for a 500 mile round trip road trip, which was very fun.  But towards the end of the whole thing, the belt started squealing a little around 30-40.  Do I need to adjust it or just wait for some real squealing.

Overall thoughts on trip:
Wife said the pillion was too narrow and hurt her ass.
After 3 hours the vibrations started to get to me, so I may be looking for a gel seat to absorb some of that and some of her complaints.
Any suggestions on a cheap seat with a big passenger seat.

Around 50-60 vibrations aren't too bad, so I enjoyed turny roads much more than interstate (and I think I got better gas mileage off the interstate)

I made a luggage rack for about 15 bucks out of some corner braces from lowes screwed into the holes already in the sissy bar- it worked very well, supported at least 50 lbs the whole trip, and looks pretty good too, maybe I'll get some pictures after a while.

I'm not sure it's too healthy running with the choke part way out. How does it get once it DOES warm up? Since it's been really warm out, I start the bike without the choke. It seems like it surges a bit like you're saying, but once I get around the block, it's usually running pretty good.

cruzr hit the nail with the OEM pads... They are the reason for the squeal. If you upgrade to some aftermarket pads, it'll stop that from happening (or as you found out, apply them a little harder)

As for the seat. My girlfriend said the same thing about the seat being pretty narrow. Is wasn't the pad that was hurting her butt though, it was the muscles she was making  by keeping her legs in and tight around me. I added the sissybar, which allows her to sit back a little more comfortably now and she can relax her legs a bit. Might be worth a shot for you too?

2.  On my '06, the OEM pads squealed pretty much from day one.  I read this board for long enough to be expecting it, but it was still disconcerting.  The OEM pads went after 3380 miles, so I put a set of the EBC Organic pads on it after reading this http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1188427160/0

No squeal yet and the feel is much better but I've only added about 100 miles since Friday.

1: Normal.  The bike is jetted exceedingly lean from the factory.  Drill out the A/F mixture screw and then do the white spacer mod.  All very well documented in the Tech/Reference section.

2. Normal.  The stock brakes squeal like a stuck pig.  Either learn to live with it or put on a set of aftermarket.  The EBC reds are very quiet and stop quite well.

3. Normal.  The belt drifts from side to side on the pulley (depending on the lean angle on the rear wheel)  It is normal for an otherwise properly adjusted belt to make some noise after a long ride.  Push it around tomorrow after things cool off and you won't hear a thing.

General maintenance tip, the belt tension should be checked every 2000 miles.  Again, all the info you need is in the Tech/Reference section.

4. Seat comfort.  Good luck.  Even with a $400.00 custom fit gel seat, my butt would still smart after an hour or so.  You will have to do some fabrication to get an aftermarket one to fit.

5. Pillion seat comfort.  I told you so.  You can try this http://www.seatsaddle.com .  It helps, but not alot.  The pillion is too small, too narrow and the back rest is too short for long distance rider comfort.

There's no cheap answer for your complaints.  The spacer mod and the A/F mixture you can do.  Everything else is going to need alot of coin.

You should have gotten the other bike.  The Savage is the wrong bike for 2 up long distance riding....

You were warned - repeatedly - about that passenger seat. Don't be too surprised if your wife refuses to take another long trip on it.

When I did the "white spacer mod" to my '07, I started in stages. The white spacer holds the needle down against a spring in the slide. Removing it allows the needle to rise and enrichen the mixture. The spacer is approximately 3 4-40 washers thick. I removed the spacer and installed two 4-40 washers. My fuel mileage immediately dropped from mid-50s to high 40s, and the backfire didn't go away. The white spacer is reinstalled, and my mileage is back up. I saw no point in continuing.

Interestingly enough, my front brake doesn't squeal. But the rear one does. Since I usually use ear plugs when I ride, I didn't notice it until one time when I was riding a short distance at low speed and didn't bother with the ear plugs.

calm down scrapiron:
I know what I said and I am happy with the bike.  My wife still rides it with me every day and will ride another long trip.  I'm not looking for a lazy boy, I'm just looking to make it tolerable.  She had a broken tailbone before, and that link you gave me to seatsaddle is a perfect solution, puts some of the weight on the hips vs tailbone.  I'm going to try and make my own little seat saddle this weekend.  Most likely I'd have had to make a similar little seat modification no matter what bike I got in my price range.  We were way more happy getting back home to see my mom for $14 (rather than $32 in my car) than we were dissatisfied by the seats.

We are happy with what we bought the bike for - gas mileage, and we knew we were sacrificing comfort - now I'm just looking for a couple little solutions to make everything else we sacrificed as good as we can get it.

Thanks for seatsaddle.com, don't worry about the I told you so
everything is fine