BurnPgh wrote on 06/24/10 at 21:51:20:Charon wrote on 06/24/10 at 13:13:25:I am sure to catch flak for this, but as a rule stock motorcycles tend to be more reliable than modded ones. Minor body mods such as fenders, mirrors, foot pegs and so on have little effect, however. Motorcycles seem to bring out the "modify it and make it your own" folks. I have caught flak before for saying that modifications tend to reduce resale value - but they do. It is your money and your choice, but if it were me I would consider keeping it stock for a while. After all, the time you spend modifying is time you won't be riding.
+1 to a point.
Uncharted waters tend to bring about mishaps from time to time. Good thing is...extensive mods have already been tried and perfected on the savage. There's a lot you can do to make it your own that you dont have to be the first person to try. From practicality in maint, to cosmetic to performance. Lots of options. Extensive modding does lend itself to (1 - addiction. Its easy to start tinkering and never finish (2 - From time to time you may well f$*k something up that you have to go back and fix.
That being said...I personally have no plans of selling my savage so I dont mind tinkering and putting money into it to make it my own. Being a new rider you may or may not end up wanting something else in the future. Before you go doing anything extensive it is a good idea to decide what you're plans are for the bike because if you decide to sell, Charon is right...anything that isnt stock will be a hit, even if modest, to the resale value.
I figure you'll have it a year or two before you get up your confidence enough to start changing anything major. By that time Im geussing you'll have made the cost/benefit analysis deciding whether the savage is a keeper or if you'd like something else...or both, but again...for a beginner the savage is a good bike and its a blank slate for much more if you decide to take that route.
i agree 100%. Charon is *gasp* absolutely right.
haha. stock will give you the longest lasting, most economical machine. little things for comfort improve the ride - windshield, forward controls, bars, seat. an exhaust maybe to make it not sound so much like a sewing machine. replace the tank with a bigger one or a sporty if yours is dented. sooner of later, you'll make SOME mod, and then
BAM! you caught the bug. haha.
my addiction was accelerated by needing to repair after my first crash
. but the savage is easy to mod and you got a great bunch of people here to help. just stay away from the carb and engine and you shouldn't have trouble.