Bought my Savage a few weeks ago. At first it was great, then started backfiring and popping a lot. Thanks to the help here I found it was a simple exhaust leak. Bike was idling without much choke, running really well, everything was great.

Fast forward to today. I've been out of town and the bike's been sitting for a couple weeks. Great weather near Chicago = riding time. Bike was not idling without full choke. Let it warm up for a while, finally get on the road, very rough without choke. The bike was not happy unless it had a partial choke on during my entire ride. Lurching/surging, lots of popping/backfiring again.

What's up?!

I'm new to this whole thing so any help would be appreciated. I'm more than a little upset. I just want an inexpensive, reliable, fun little cruiser. I don't want a money pit that's a pain in the ass.

Kyle wrote on 06/02/12 at 19:40:24:

All indications that it's leaning out.
could be a dirty carb... try seafoam
or could be the petcock... try prime.

They arent dumb questions, but please, dont go thinking Im even able to be nice,,

YOu  have no reserve if youre running on Prime, so, if it bucks farts & dies cuz its low on gas, youre walking.
Yes, you shouldnt leave it on prime.,Thats just a test, to prove the health of the petcock,

Yea, thats a handy guide he laid out, & carb tuning is in there ( tech section ) too.

If you think youll be pulling the plug & looking there just to see how its running, you have to pull the tank, & thats tiresome,
There is a mod you can do to get easy access to the plug, plug door mod.
No tank removal needed.

http://www.4secondsflat.com/Spark_plug_reading.html

Didn't get a chance to check the plug tonight but I did check the air filter. Bad news is that it smells like gas. The culprit - most likely a bad petcock if my notes are correct on Serowbot's petcock testing walkthrough. Raptor petcock ordered.

I figure while I'm in there I should take a look at the carb. How do I order a jetset kit from Lancer or is there another one I should buy - Dynojet?

I had a Dyna muffler on my agenda. I figured this was a good excuse to move things ahead of schedule and I might have to jet for that anyway. I guess I'll take your advice and do one thing at a time...