Oldfeller - From 1 cyl to 2 you need to drop 25% displacement, and going to 4 from 2 is another 25% drop in displacement - you know,

Old world super bike rules.

Also I prefer comparing weight class and size class instead of just displacement.
But - A 650 1 cyl will be a 500 2 cyl, which will be 400 4 cyl.

Of the 3 a 400 4 cyl will blow the doors off the other 2 categories. It will also be a good 40-80 lbs heavier.

You also cannot compare sport bikes to cruisers. Sportbikes are built for speed and they throw a lot of high tech at them for that purpose.

The comparison for a savage will be a virago 535, a shadow 600 (yea I know 600 ... but wait and see) vulcan 500 (sport bike motor in it) and some other assorted older bikes. Of these 4 the savage definetly holds its own ... that shadow 600 is overweight and more looks than running ability.

The vulcan atleast in the late 90's was a definete revvy bike but it ran great inspite of that. The virago 535 and savage are pretty close, I have had 3 of the 535's and 4 savages. Savage is lighter, but virago does have more power ...

Gerald.hughes - I have had ~40 bikes ... though 17 of them have been GS500's, 4 have been eliminators, 4 nighthawks, 4 savages, 3 katana's 4 virago's (3 5353's and 1 1100) ... the whole savage appeal is how small and light and yet gutsy it is.

Flemming - I'm yet to see a chineese vulcan look alike. However I have seen several chineese virago look alikes ...  
Cool.
Srinath.

Bobbert wrote on 12/01/08 at 10:52:49:


Savage power has little if anything to do with European power restrictions. There's no 31 hp limit anywhere here. It would make no sense to make the whole engine restricted to meet a given limit for a single country and sell the same restricted version all over the world. German 27 hp limit for a cheaper insurance is made thru throttle limiter (piece of plastic tube) but the open power 31 hp version is what it is. There are or were restricted versions available for most of the bikes but at the same time full power versions for people with full licenses and with higher insurance classes.

Bobbert wrote on 12/08/08 at 18:47:35:


British 33 bhp limit for learners was introduced in 1996 so the bike wasn't specifically designed to pass under the limit.