Clearly I am new here, so, hi.  I have been lurking for quite a while, trying to find the answers to my questions, but now have a few things to say.  Let me start of on a critical note and attempt to rectify the problem.  I am not a man to just ask a question and hope I get the right answer.  I research until my little black heart is content.  The search function on this site does not seem to be very effective. I dont know if there some problem filtering the thread data or it the data therein is just not organized enough to show up when searching.  I found much more information by simpky reviewing every thread for the past 50 pages or so.  Having said that, I will attempt to rectify that problem for two or threee of the common topics/issues with this bike.

There are a few problems that are well documented with the savage/s40, of which you are all aware. The 5th ( fifth ) gear issue seems to be hit or miss... kind of like the petcock. Well, when I got my bike the previous owner was using dino / conventional oil.  I am extrememly anal about oil and use only full synthetic in everything, changed as though it was a commandment at 3,000 miles in cars/trucks, 1,500 for bikes.  At my first oil change I switched to rotella synthetic 5w40.  Let me back up... I was pretty sure the bike was not shifting into 5th gear.  I had mentioned it to a couple friends and even remarked that I was going to sound like a total jackass at the shop when I walk in and ask if they can tell me if my bike is shifting into fifth gear.  Well, motorcycle gears are pretty chunky, regardless of manufacturer or class.  When I kicked up to fifth, it was really smooth... too smooth. AND I didnt feel like there was enough travel.  I wasnt sure about the engine revs but I was 80% convinced it wasnt shifting.  Not once did it go into 5th.  I did my oil change with RotSyn and later that day I up shifted and it went into 5th! This confirmed my previous suspicions.  It didnt do it all the time though.  If it didnt easily shift into 5th, I would hold up on the shifter for between .75 and 1.25 seconds and it would finally click in.  Now, about a month and a half later, after the synthetic has found its way into the recesses of all that needs lubed, it shifts easily about 50% of the time.  That is a HUGE difference.  My only hope is that my percentage of successful shifts continues to increase.  And for search purposes here is the word " shift " with no suffix... and thats all I have to say about that.

My bike is a '06 S40.  Its a bobber as you can (hopefully) see in the pic.  The pic isnt great but it is from about 20ft away, digitally zoomed, through a window at starbucks, on my phone.  So with those circumstances I guess its a great pic.  Yay iphone4 (I love you). The bike, you might be able to see in the pic, has rigid struts, a rigid seat, a trailer fender, side mounted taillight and license plate. Intake, jet, plug and harley muffler.  Unnecessaries have have been removed and the guts cleaned up a bit.  Its satin black, and actually the front rim is currently painted black too( this is temporary).  Im running a silverstar headlight and taillight (brighter and makes a nice light on the ground). I just got some new mirrors which are not installed in the pic, but are on now.  I post a pic tomorrow, mb.  My bike is down on the south side and I might forget to shoot while Im there.  My only plans at the moment are to powdercoat the rims red, the spokes / hubs flat black and to slap some whitewalls on it.  Which no one makes.... This brings me to my last point.

The 140/80-15 is a rare tire to begin with... the whitewall ( white wall , WWW , WW ) version is so rare that it doesnt exist. Boo. Nor does anywhite wall that will fit! No 150/80-15 , no 160/80-15 and increasing the rim size to accomodate a tire that does come in whitewall will be just as futile are buying a whitewall with an aspect of 90 because they will both me too tall, long, whatever... too big.  This problem is compounded in my situation bc my fender is fixed, which is great for measuring clearances.  My tire is bald, which is bad for measuring clearances. I have a 19mm gap between the bald tire and fender at their closest point.  I assume the tire has about 5.5-6mm of tread depth, leaving 13mm for a larger tire.  140/80 = 112mm, 140/90 (available in WWW)= 126mm FAIL.  150/80= 120mm WIN!...but no whitewall.  150/90 (available in WWW)= 135mm FAIL.  After many a furled brow and the brink of resigning myself to whitewall paint, I stumbled across a website.... I want to give props to the biker at the 24 hrs starbucks for pointing me to mooneyes, which lead me to make my discovery elsewhere.  There is a company called diamond back in South Carolina that vulcanizes whitewalls onto existing tires.  Not just whitewalls, 3 layer whitewalls with a stain / leech blocking layer, so your walls STAY WHITE! This service is primarily for restorations, hot rods, rat rods, etc, but there is a pic on the site about tires for trikes and a small blurb about motorcycles... and to call for info.  Tab is the man to talk to.  He is truly a good guy.  He is ordering the avon front WWW and bluffing and polishing it for me because he says the factory whitewalls have what he calls a sharkskin texture to them the traps dirt/grim making it near impossible to clean.  He is doing this out of the kindness of his heart... and charging me his cost on the front tire plus shipping, obviously.   In summary, I get a Dunlop K555 150/80-15 with wide white walls and an avon 100/90-19 WWW for $408 shipped to my door.  Im the only kid on my block with 15" WWWs!!!! They can apply any width whitewall you want.  I told him to use his descretion in regards to whitewall thickness, not to match the width of the front, but if it is so wide in the rear that it will look funny, to make it a little skinnier.  I think he appreaciated the free reign.  Folks.  We can have whitewalls, any kind we want!  Im not spamming, btw, Im just completely stoked.  I got off the phone with them just before this post.  I wanted to make sure all was good before my proclaimation.  Ill post the number it anybody wants it.

Doh: pic too big.

Reesetricted wrote on 12/06/10 at 13:50:32:


I'm a newbie also. I was having the same search frustration until I realized that you have to use the search tab as opposed to the quick search (Magnifying glass) and then change the search time frame to all posts. It defaults to one week.

Nice looking bike!

An MT90-16 tire fits in the swingarm and is available in white wall
All you need is a 16" rim which comes on a GS450, but all of them are mags.

140/80 15s are not rare by any means...Dunlop, Metzeler, Conti, IRC, Avon, to name a few....the other thing is, not all manufacturers have the same dimensions. The Avon 130/90-16 I like is a bit shorter than the Dunlop 40X....which is different from the Bridgestones I run on another bike. Not all tires with the same size stamp are the same size when you measure them......

OCDave- Genius! I had used the tab before, but I think I was on my phone and I definitely used the quick search more often ( to my detriment ). Thanks for the tip and compliment.

Boofer- Thanks for the heads up. Ill make sure to check it often.  As anal as I am about changing oil, Im just as lazy at checking it.

Verslagen- Im not sure, but my fender may be closer than the swingarm.  I didnt measure, but just from looking.  It is excellent info to have though.  Im pretty sure Im sticking with the spokes.  I have a feeling it is gunna be sick.  I already cant go anywhere without people talking to me about it.  If Im not around, they just walk circles around the bike.  Its crazy how much man appeal it has... and how little girls notice it.  Women see a beat up old project bike.  Men see a rugged, purposeful looking, hardcore machine.  

Edgar- Cut and mounted. I ground the tube frame under the seat flat and bolted it there.  Tacked on the supports and mounted them to the swing arm by tacking a couple nuts to the bottom.  The fender is just a boneyard single axle trailer fender, cut basically in half. And thanks!

Einheit- I apologize, my reference was a little to bold. My thought when writing was that the tire is not commonly used on late model cycles. Im probably wrong but I think the S40 is the only one. Again, probably wrong, but its the only one I can think of/ know of.  The avon 130/90-16 being shorter than the dunlop 140/80-15? Is that what you were saying?  i know tires measurements dont stictly adhere to the stamp, but certainly you are not telling me the avon ( which should be 130 x 0.9= 117 + 11mm for the added inch of rim= 128) is shorter than the dunlop (140 x 0.8= 112)?  You mean the tire itself is shorter right? Not the standing height of the tire?

Max Moreley- The Maxxis classic, which was their only WWW optioned tire (came primarily in BW, WWW not available on all tire sizes, including 140/80-15 and 150/80-15) was discontinued.  Im 97% sure on that data.  Ive been proved wrong on my 3% data before, but it was just once.

I took pics of the mirrors but they look terrible and you cant really see them.  Ill have to take pics in the sunlight.  The flash corrupted them, combined with the black background ( they are black and chrome ).


Ya'lls info rocks!  Thanks for all the comments and tire suggestions. I have resolved the problem, but Im quite sure others will benefit from the data contained herein.  My tires should arrive in 2 weeks. Now my goal is to pull the wheels and get the powdercoated before the tires get here... and I can be pretty lazy sometimes.  Ive already got new kevlar pads/shoes to eliminate the brake squeak / squeel and perhaps give me a bit better stopping power ( though Im not holding my breath ).  Any other suggestions while I have the wheels off and the bike lifted?  The darn thing has been running so lean it has died on me a couple times.  You jet it in a Houston summer and it struggles in 30 degree weather... or so I assume is the case.

Thin blood in winter...

I definitely buy the oil story. Additives in oil can clean metal surfaces of crud build up and make them slicker. Castrol synthetic pours into my bike like thick water. Rotella pours like molasses. Rotella leaks at the head worse than syn, which has to be added to after running the 4 lane. Plus the PO may not have changed the oil at all. Putting fresh oil into an engine like that has to have some cleaning effect. Not looking for an 18 page argument, but just think about it.

Im sure 5th was there, i just didnt know I had to hold up on the gear to get into it.  It definitely never worked with normal kick.  Now it does...about half the time.

I understand what you are saying about the tire.  10-4.