I think I have developed a bad exhaust valve. (super loud tick on the front top it seems.  Valve clearance was normal when I had the mechanic check it at the suzuki shop.

Here is what appears to have happened.  Was riding bike on highway and while riding the speedometer cable appears to have vibrated loose allowing the bike to loose oil. I did not realize this until I was at an exit and than heard the bike running a bit different but nothing real noticeable. I parked the bike and went to my meeting which just happened to be right around the corner of the exit.   Wehn I got out of my meeting I checked for oil of course- it was really low. I went to the  corner gas station and just bought some oil - (I no know that car oil is bad but anyway it got me on the road and thought that was that) I stopped at a bike shop to get the oil changed and to have it all checked - new to motorcycles and really thought it was best to have it looked at.  I got the bike back th enext day and it was sounding awesome and thought all was good- rode it for a few days than this loud ass tick was there again- even louder than ever before. I took it back in and asked what they thought was up.  The mechanic first thought it was the nut came loose on the valve adjustment- he checked and said all valves were adjusted right- he than said the exhaust valve had something wrong but was not sure why. he did some more digging and put th ebike back together. he said yea th ebike doesnt sound great but thats what it is going to sound like because the exhaust valve is worn out. and something else but that was baout it- he pretty much said don't bother fixing it just ride it and dont waste putting money into it.  I was kinda like what????

Anyway can you please help me - ask me some questions and give me some direction. I am very new to bikes so all this is new so keep it simple. I am willing to pay to get it fixed but feel it is weird that it sounded awesome for a few dasy than all just went to hell. How can that be and why can't it just be fixed?  Is it a case he does nto know what is wrong or maybe he screwed something up when he adjusted it the first time.  I am not interested really in blame more interested in making it sound good. It really sounds loud with the ticking- enough that bikers look at it and wonder if you know what I mean.

it is a 1995 - with 12,000 miles on it and from what I can see taken care off does have jardine(spelling?) pipe and it also seems to be running rich or whatever makes the pipes turn purple and have black crude on the back of the bike just outside the exhaust.  Please advise what to do... interested in fixing ticking first.

The bike appears to have good power still and runs well- normal shifting, normal power strong starts and runs up to 75 easily- well as easy as the thumpers can go!  

kinda falling for the bike so want to get it some love it needs

i did not do the 11,000 mile service - they did mention it to me but I thought to hold off until I had rode it a bit more.  I am willing to get it done. Just didn't want to waste money.  I kinda felt when they offered it too me he had just qouted me low and was truying to get more money out of me- maybe that was wrong to think that but again all new to this.

What more info do you need? Like I said it did sound nice when I first picked it up and rode it the first two days. So not sure what that tells us.

the mechanic did wait an hour to look at it- he did say it was best to have it cool but would try to take a look to help me figure it out. He also thought it was possibly a screw that had come loose- he said that was not the case.

He did show me kinda what he was looking for but to be honest this is really new to me. I am not sure I am able to begin working on it even if I got the tools- I will over time but not sure now is the time. I will change the oil and filters of course and even begin to check the valves.  

Per what they did the first time when it ran well after picking it up- changed oil and filter adjusted belt, adjusted valves and did a basic safety check such as cables, brakes, tires, etc.  An overview of the bike. they did also take th etime to show me how to change th eoil myself and were pretty cool to the newbie. They charged me $116 bucks. I thought ouch but figured it was a dealer and the peace of mind was worth it. But now do I take it back there again- what do I ask them to do.

ah we may be getting somewhere. He mentioned decompression as an issue - he got that info by calling in for tech support. so maybe he just didn't to dig deeper on it. I will go check it here in a few. please tell me a bit more description- so I know where it is.

By the way I ordered the book for the savages off of ebay today... I guess all real bikers must be gearheads too. I can live with that.

The decompression cable is like I said on the left side of the bike just under the tank forward of the spark plug. You can see it without having to remove anything. The adjustment nuts are 10mm. Wait, scratch that, do you still have the chrome covers on the bike? If so you will have to take the tank off to see the cable. I have had my chrome off for so long I keep forgetting that the Savage/S40 comes stock with it.  

There is a very good thread in the Tech Ref section covering decomp adjustment.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1169356966

If its the cam chain, I hope they warranty that. Well, how many miles have you put on it?

Yea,, what was I thinking,,

okay- you did it by thinking it.  I was on the side of the road and yes the engine is blown.  I have not dug into it yet but from what my frined saw he ithas a crack cylinder and who knows what else.

So what do you think went wrong?  Well I guess taking it to a dealer to tell me what to do was my first mistake.  Can I get another engine for this thumper?  or am I left with parting it out now and finding another one.  

Totally sucks but somehow it just seems it was destin to happen.