shift pop is usually an air leak.

check the header bolts and muff clamp

then use a candle while it's idling to detect any puffs of air coming out of the exhaust.  especially along the bottom as it can rust out.

Tell us what kind of muffler you have, what modifications the bike has, and if anything has been changed from stock.

Also put your location in your CPanel so we know where you live.  That way people can contact you if they live near you.....and can help with your techical problems.

I suppose some of that Jasmine or Patuolli incense would work for finding leaks......and would make your garage smell nice!

ok, added in my address, I'm in SUllivan County NY. The bike is a '03, has no modifications, everything is stock i bought it off a guy this January with 2900 miles on it, he bought it for his wife, but she since decided she liked riding on the back of his bike better. He claims he used to take it out for a few short rides a year to make sure it ran, told me it had a oil leak, I noticed it was overfilled on oil, the oil was leaking out somewhere from up under the gas tank, but now that it has the proper amount of oil in it, it doesn't appear to be leaking ( would only leak when hot). I had a issue with the petcock, but I pulled that apart and cleaned it and it's worked fine since then, I changed the oil and the brakes this year before I rode it, threw some seafoam into the tank and it did a good job helping clean it up, had alot of smoke coming out and idles much better now, he claimed he changed the spark plug last riding season, so I havn't changed that yet, it fires up every time no problem, but the backfire problem is pretty bad, no cop has given me a ticket yet, as I work for FDNY they've extended me a professional courtesy. I havn't seen cops give tickets for the exhaust being too loud, but it's been described to me by people as sounding like a shot gun going off everytime I let off the accelerator, so that may be why he's starting to get a little aggrivated, but to take it to a shop is so expensive. Evereything is stock though, still all has the Suzuki labeling on it, if you want part numbers I can probably get those later on certain things, my side job is a HVAC mechanic so I have mechanical ability just dont know what I'm looking at when it comes to a bike, but I really wanna learn.

Does the rear of the muffler have a single outlet.....or does it look like someone has drilled holes around the single center outlet? Has the brass plug been drilled out and removed from the carb?

You should go to the Technical Section and read up on these issues:
Here is the link to the Index......go to the Backfire Issues section and read.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1181745927

It is possible the rear baffle was drilled out.
It's been some years but I'm pretty sure mine only had the hole in the middle.
Impact driver (the kind you hit with a hammer not the gun) will get those 4 bolts out no problem.


--Steve

If I were you I would replace your petcock with a Raptor petcock.  If you already know you have fuel flow issues you will not be able to tweek the carb correctly.  I had similar problems and thanks to finding this site found out that a petcock off of a yamaha raptor 660 is a direct replacement for a manual on/off/res petcock.  Just plug the vac port on the carb.  I don't have the part number off hand but search this site for it.  For me it solved my fuel flow problem and gave me a stable starting point to start tweeking.