After reading all the comments and all the modifications on this forum since I have become a member almost everybody makes or is planning to make the following changes to their Savage:

1) Replace  the driver's seat with something more comfortable.

2) Replace the stock muffler with something that sounds better

3) Replace the stock foot pegs/controls

4) Replace the stock handlebars

Ya think Suzuki will EVER get the hint?

I see your point WD. When Suzuki originally designed this bike it was aimed at a particular demographic market....it was also designed in Japan where everybody is 5'2" & 120 lbs ( except Sumo wrestlers and some politicians) The ergonomics of this bike prove that...anyone over 5"8" and 175 lbs has problems with the riding position myself included. I don't think it would be too much trouble for Suzuki to take a look at the market they intended the bike for and who is ACTUALLY buying it and make some ergonomic adjustments. This is what I meant by Suzuki getting the hint. Just the other day I read a post from a 6 foot plus gentleman who sold his Savage & bought a Harley for just the reasons I am repeating here.

The very first thing I changed on my Savage was the seat...found on ebay a seat from a Suzuki S50 Boulevard (800cc V-twin) for $50.00 and free S&H Suzuki doesn't need new tooling to put a different seat on this bike...they have several seats that are better and available on some of their models. Moving the foot pegs forward doesn't cost anything either. If Harley can put a nice sounding muffler on a bike why can't Suzuki? Why should that cost Suzuki more? I am a parts manufacturer myself and it does NOT cost me any more in time and materials to manufacture a part that is right than it does to make a wrong one.

Don't get me wrong....I LOVE my Savage but it surprises me when I see Suzuki has the potential to sell a lot more of these bikes if the made a few simple changes. I for one would like to see more of these bikes on the road.

if Suzuki was to make the fixes I suggested here then folks like me who are never satisfied and love to tinker with our bikes would have to find something else to complain about

When I bought mine in February 1998, the dealer told me that each U.S. dealership was allotted 2 per year. He had between 12 and 15 in stock, other dealerships were dumping them on him as fast as he could sign the transfer papers. They couldn't GIVE them away, he couldn't stock enough of them. I've talked to 8 Suzuki dealers in the 4 state area, and not one wants to have them on the floor. My closest dealership takes them, leaves them in the shipping cages, and stacks them against the back fence hoping the scrappers will steal them. He flat will not allow his wrench monkeys to assemble them. He won't sell them, part them, etc. "Yard art", he absolutely despises the model. He has brand new 1980s models rotting away out back.

I could use some new parts