Does anyone have the owner's manual (not the repair manual) in a pdf they can send me?  I just bought a 96 Savage yesterday, and I've got no manual.  I'm definitely gonna buy a repair manual, but in the meantime I'd love to have my hands on an owner's manual at least so I can see all the specs for fluids, etc.  This is my first bike and I've got no clue what I'm doing.  For instance, I really don't know the difference between "ON" and "PRI" for the fuel switch, and when I need to use which one, or what the different positions of the choke are for, how much oil I need to have in the bike, tire air pressure, thread depth, etc.  (feel free to answer any of those questions  )

I found a bunch of links on this site for an owner's manual, but none of them were any good.  If anyone's got one, feel free to send it to vanillaxtrakt <at> gmail.com

Thanks!

Bryan wrote on 08/04/09 at 08:40:22:


PRI vs ON : PRI = prime, it allows fuel to flow without the aid of a vacuum. Used primarily to fill the carb bowl after a long storage or carburator work.

On = well, on. This is the setting you use when riding. The engine creates a vacuum to allow fuel to flow in to the carb. When bike is shut off, if there is nothing wrong with the petcock, no fuel will flow.

RES = Reserve. This setting is to allow you to get the last dregs out of the tank if you run out of fuel while riding. Usually it will give you about 5 to 10 miles (just guestimating) so you can find a fuel station. (remember to put it back to the on possition after fuel up or next time you begin to spit and sputter because of low fuel, you will be out of luck and have to push. Res works off of vacuum, like the On possition does.

You can ride while in the PRI possition, but will have no reserve, and if you did not put it back to on after shut down, you can flood the bike.

Oil capacity is about two quarts.

The "choke" is actually an enrichener. Instead of closing off the air flow it dumps more fuel instead. It depends on your particular bike on whether how much "choke" to use. All bikes are different even if they are the same exact brand, model, and year.

Great, thanks for all of your help.

Does anyone recommend a certain type of oil?  I normally use the cheap store brand stuff in my car, but it's got 200K+ miles on it.  My bike's only got 2300.  Should I use synthetic?  Synthetic blend?

Bryan wrote on 08/05/09 at 07:06:20:


I have always used Suzuki brand dinosaur oil 10W-40 in cooler weather and 20W-50 in hot weather.  There's a lot of evidence that synthetics lubricate better and I'm seriously thinking of switching.  There are some here who also swear by the Rotella T (diesel) oil sold by the gallon at Wally World and everywhere else.  It's certainly cheaper........

Yonuh Adisi FSO wrote on 08/05/09 at 09:42:56:


Good point!

Mirror from auto store on collapsing pointer thing - makes seeing the window possible.  When changing oil, rock bike a long way each direction sideways, gets oil out of all kinds of places.

I've had no problem just holding my bikes (two ls650's and one sportster) by the handle bar grip and checking the oil level window. The savages especially are very low and not heavy at all.

sakara wrote on 08/13/09 at 08:22:00:


It's just hard on knees, and difficult for some folks to tell whether the bike is level.  With the mirror I can check the oil sitting down, then pop the mirror back in my tank bag.