Alright... I have a 96' Savage. It has been neglected for the past year. This is due to a deployment to Afghanistan. So during that time it was NEVER started, and the only time it moved is when someone backed into it and knocked it over. My wife then moved it to a spot so it wouldn't get hit again.
I figured this would be a great time to mod and fix her up. The chrome is rusty and dull (I don't particularly like chrome). I'm 6'3" and feel like a fat guy on a little bike.
The things I know I'm going to do are:
Paint it from the faded cherry red (now pink) to flat black or Olive Drab
New front tire
New battery (mine is dead)
and new handle bars cause mine hit my knees
Oh yea... I'm cheap and will do most the work by myself.
Thanks in advance.

  Most people don't do anymore than richer jets and maybe open the exhaust a little.The more you do to hop up and the motor want hold up,Its made for low rpm not high rpm.

96BigSingle wrote on 04/04/10 at 08:08:46:


What you can also do is get a set of forward controls. Contact Ed L., he's a member of this forum. He makes a fine set of aluminum forward controls. Or you can attempt to make some yourself as Routy and I have done. It will increase your comfort level by a considerable margin.

Moving the controls forward really does make a difference in comfort for us tall guys.

RTC wrote on 04/04/10 at 21:14:13:


RTC, see that little button on the right top corner of your post that says quote? When you want to put some one's post in "the blued out rectangle thingy" that's how you do it. You just click that and the reply window will show up with the poster you want to quote already in brackets like these [ quote ] [ / quote ] with out the spaces of course.

Jack650, that looks like a real comfortable saddle.  Do you at least remember if you had to take away stuff and/or add stuff to make it fit the Savage?

By the time this seat went on I had already changed the tank, which altered the tank-back/seat-front bolt situation a bit. If memory serves me I had to change or add the front-of-seat flange. The original is notched if I remember correctly. The new seat attaches basically the same in the front, just modified to the higher tank rear and its longer bolt.

The back of the seat (as it sits in the pix) is mounted the same way as the stock seat. E X C E P T  that the V-Star seat doesn't have the back flanges to bolt to the tabs on the 650 frame. So what you have to do is make a wide, shallow, square cornered "U" shaped bracket to attach to the bottom of the seat pan. Trial and error on the size and depth of your new bracket.

Once you get the shape, size and location for the the bracket figured out you attach the bracket to the bottom of the seat (I used a construction adhesive and pop rivets) with the arms of "U" pointed down and over lapping the frame bolt down tabs. I had to bend the frame tabs out a bit to get things to line up. Drill holes in the bracket ends to match the tabs and bolt/ or tap-and-screw the bracket in place. Do it right and you can just about lift the bike by the seat. You will end up sitting higher than the stock seat by the way.

My next step, when I decide to either shorten the front of or get rid of the back seat, is to move the saddle back a bit, lower it back closer to stock height and, I hope, add some springs

I've also been looking at, of all things, bicycle saddle seats with springs. With the "widening of Americans" these seats are getting bigger, stronger and a lot more comfortable. I'm giving some thought to getting one and trying it out on the Sav. Shouldn't be too hard to fabricate a mounting system. My one complaint with the V-Star saddle is that it's just a tich wide and can be a bit chafey (is that even a word?) on those consecutive 500+ mile days. Of course that problem could be solved by lowering the saddle. I've never been too worried about what people think of the bike's looks, so if it's comfy it's a keeper.

Jack