SuzukiSavage.com - Seems a lot of maintenance

Oldnewguy Senior Member Offline thumpin' along! Posts: 369 Upstate NY Gender:	Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa Reply #30 - 08/12/09 at 10:59:22 I am not sure what that is, but you can bet that by December I'll have the best of what I need. I have a lot of homework to do! I suspect that all of that is covered in the tech section? I see that Lancer is the "go to' guy for parts. That modified tensioner must be the Verslavy mentioned before.
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Digger

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Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa
Reply #31 - 08/22/09 at 19:24:58

Toymaker wrote on 08/08/09 at 05:30:24:

Can I ask why you need to pull the cam cover every year?

Torquing head bolts happens maybe every 10,000 miles.

Not much really to do with bikes....anyone?

The book says to torque the head bolts every 3500 miles.

With my luck, if I waited 5000 miles to do this, I'd blow a head gasket. Sad

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Digger
2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
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Digger Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ya gotta be tough to ride singles! Posts: 1604 Colorado Springs, CO Gender:	Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa Reply #32 - 08/22/09 at 19:26:20 justin_o_guy2 wrote on 08/08/09 at 07:39:53: That head retorque thing,, I have 20,000 on mine, those head bolts have never been touched..... The book says to torque the head bolts every 3500 miles. With my luck, if I waited 5000 miles to do this, I'd blow a head gasket.
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Digger

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Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa
Reply #33 - 08/22/09 at 19:32:41

voldigicam wrote on 08/08/09 at 02:12:21:

Seems like there's lots of regular maintenance. Weird stuff, too. Torque head bolts. What car needs that these days? Short oil change intervals are OK. But having to disassemble the cam cover every year? And having to check the cam chain? What if that tensioner is bad? Lots of work.

Are all motorcycles this way? I'm kind of surprised at how much is called for so often. If I find there's too much to track all the time, maybe a different bike would be in order. No idea what would be lower maintenance.....

Compared to most other Japanese bikes, the Savage needs more frequent maintenance.

It is, thankfully, easier to work on than most other bikes are.

I think comparing motorcycles to cars when it comes to maintenance intervals is like comparing apples to oranges. Motorcycles must be designed with much lighter weight and smaller components than those that go into cars. Therefore, the design margins are tighter on bikes. So, bikes will generally require tighter maintenance intervals than cars do.

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Digger
2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
I don't own a cage.
www.astronautbiker.com

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Digger Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ya gotta be tough to ride singles! Posts: 1604 Colorado Springs, CO Gender:	Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa Reply #34 - 08/22/09 at 19:38:24 Charon wrote on 08/08/09 at 09:20:22: ....I do not understand the rationale for short oil change intervals on bikes, unless it the the "fault" of the transmission gear train running in the same oil and reducing the oil viscosity by shearing. Charon, I think you shacked it right there!
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Digger Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ya gotta be tough to ride singles! Posts: 1604 Colorado Springs, CO Gender:	Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa Reply #35 - 08/22/09 at 19:46:05 Duane wrote on 08/10/09 at 08:44:38: ...I'm really not looking forward to taking the pipe off. If you have an OEM pipe, don't worry about it since removing it is the easiest thing ever. 4 bolts and she's off!
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Digger Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ya gotta be tough to ride singles! Posts: 1604 Colorado Springs, CO Gender:	Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa Reply #36 - 08/22/09 at 19:48:20 voldigicam wrote on 08/10/09 at 08:58:03: ....I describe where I go and where I'm likely to go and what I like to do - and three different people immediately came up with the KLR650..... I consider the KLR to be more rugged than the Savage, but the KLRs have their own set of problems to deal with.
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Duane

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Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa
Reply #37 - 08/22/09 at 20:49:23

Digger wrote on 08/22/09 at 19:46:05:

Duane wrote on 08/10/09 at 08:44:38:

...I'm really not looking forward to taking the pipe off.

If you have an OEM pipe, don't worry about it since removing it is the easiest thing ever.

4 bolts and she's off!

You were on the money, easy on easy off. I hope I got a good seal putting it back on though. I reused my old gasket.

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Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. JFK

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Charon Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 1811 Harvard, NE Gender:	Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa Reply #38 - 08/22/09 at 21:13:15 Hey Digger, were you ever in SAC? That's the first time I've seen "shacked it" since I left 1CEVG and RBS.
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Digger

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Re: Seems a lot of maintenance - all motos this wa
Reply #39 - 08/23/09 at 21:48:43

Charon wrote on 08/22/09 at 21:13:15:

Hey Digger, were you ever in SAC? That's the first time I've seen "shacked it" since I left 1CEVG and RBS.

Nope.

Spent my operational years flying A-10s and F-16s in TAC, USAFE, and PACAF.

Someone had to do it! Wink

My son, however, served for over two years in the missile fields around Malmstrom AFB. A modern day version of SAC, I guess.

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Digger
2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
I don't own a cage.
www.astronautbiker.com

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