AzDon wrote on 11/29/08 at 18:36:03:About a year ago my son expressed the desire to start riding a motorcycle, and so the search began for a somewhat cool beginner's bike.
When we started looking around, the Savage/s-40's was the only bike that genuinely matched the styling and features of my Sportster 1200 custom, but weighed half as much while posessing 650cc's. Belt drive, step seat, bobbed fender, fat 15 rear, slender 19 front..... Heck, this model even does my sportster one better by putting the speedo on the tank!
I picked up an 87 copy for $700 last week and this thing is a blast, even if it does seem a little small to me.
To me, it is the one metric cruiser that any newbie should be able to get on and ride in a group of Harleys and blend in perfectly. It is the motorcycle that Harley should have been building all along for customer development purposes, but has chosen not to.
I've got a little fixing up to do, but I think my investment won't return too badly if/when my son wants a bigger bike!
I had a '99 Sporty for a year and the deminsions of the bike compared to the Savage/S40 is virtually identical. It is 200 lbs heavier which makes it harder to move around and the low end torque is greater than the Savage but all in all the total performance is pretty much the same.
Mine had Screaming Eagle pipes and a rejetted carb and would top out at the 95-100 mph range.
I ended up selling it in order to buy a Yamaha SRX600.
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