Greetings everyone!
I have been looking to buy a simple and reliable motorcycle, and have narrowed it down to two; the s40 being one of them. I am looking for a bike that will go 25,000+ miles without having to mod anything and without having to add oil every time I fill up (a little exaggerated). I am drawn to the s40's simple and effective design, but have a few questions:

1) Does it use oil? I currently have a gs500 and the little thing uses no oil, no matter how hard you run it.

2) Will this bike require mods to get high mileage out of the motor or is the stock setup reliable?

My riding will mostly be 55-65, some in town, and an occasional interstate jaunt of 45-50 miles with a 75MPH speed limit.

Thanks in advance!

I find that I get some oil use if I cruise at 75+mph for any length of time...  This is normal for a big thumper... otherwise I have zero consumption between 2k oil changes...
... and I have 24k miles with no major failures other than a petcock...
Neither me or my bike, like going faster than 70mph for more than short passing spurts...
I'm gonna' look into my camchain for wear soon, but no symptoms yet... some people have reported problems there much earlier, but I don't know why...

Curiosity, what is the other bike you are looking at?

Betcha one of us owns it as a second  bike (many of us have multiple bikes)

The Versys is a nice bike, little tall in the crotch for me but appealing on a whole lot of other points.

I wish they had a sit up style Versys with a nice low 28" seat height, but if wishes wuz fishes we'd all cast nets, huh?

The Versys beats the Savage on all performance criteria and the predecessor for Versys had a rep for durability as a race day bike.

Thanks for the responses. I am STILL drawn to the simplicity of the S40 though   Been doing some research on the cam chain problem and it does not seem like that hard of a fix. The price for the S40 is another selling point for me as well. In any case, is there a mod to help talk my wife into it  

Thanks all!

Here's a tip concerning the wife...  I'm assuming she doesn't ride, so if you think, even at the most remote possibility, that she'd ever want to ride on her own, let her know that this is a great bike to learn on.  Its a "beginner's" bike for many, but soon becomes a passion that holds on.    

Take her out for steak and lobster, but first have the waiter slip the Suzuki Savage brochure in the menu, when she opens it just say "ooops how did that get in there,must me an omen"
I would say "worked for me" but it didn't ,so I just got rid of the wife,
and boy did that ever save me mony.
Don't do it if you have kids.