My new '96 Savage, when picked up
new out of the crate from the dealer in '99, did not perform all that well either but I just assumed that it was due to the econo nature of the bike and rode it like that for the first year. During spring checkup for the next riding season I pulled the tubes to check the oil level and found NO OIL AT ALL....yep, a great job done by the dealer on this one !
When I turned the tubes upside down just a few
drops of oil came out. *#^&*% me off, let me tell you. If the dealer had not been so far away I would have made the trip to crawl all over his head for this total screw up. No wonder the thing did not work well.
Apparently it is normal for the bike to be shipped without oil, depending on the dealer to service the forks before releasing to the customer.
The ride quality during the first year without oil in the forks was rather harsh; it did move but offered little smoothing effect; surprisingly there was not much of any pogo effect.
After a thorough cleaning and actually having oil in the forks, it is amazing how much better they work.
I used 20 wt Amsoil fork oil and was rewarded with a very nice controlled ride. It really smoothed out the ride and the control in cornering was sooo much improved.
I was surprised at how well the econo forks worked.
So, I would suggest that you check to see if there is any oil in the forks first. If yes, then check for proper level and if not then service according to the instructions.