Hi All,

I just picked up a 96 LS650 and had some issues and questions i thought id ask. Third owner, its got 12500mi on it. Previous owner put a different handlebar on it, not sure what from, and a Jardine Exaust. Also a bmw LED taillight on the underside and led tape under the fenders to add lighting to the side/ground.
Issues:
Every so often the headlight doesn't turn on, low or high beam, and HB indicator doesn't light up either. Replaced headlight it the first time it happened thinking it was bad. Fuses are good, wire shielding looks intact and no amount of fiddling with it seems to make a difference, it just turns back on when it wants to. Needless to say i don't ride in the dark until i solve it. thoughts?
It backfires, a lot, i'm at 350-400' above sea level (read somewhere that mattered) and its not just at idle, rolling off throttle at speed to just slow down for a merging car ahead or anything like that, it pops. Shut it off it pops sneeze, it pops, you get the idea. help?  
Headlight dims(when its working) with blinkers on, i'm assuming this is a weak rectifier. recommendations?
I love the sound of the exhaust but it is horribly discolored, i know there is some kind of polish/cleaner out there but i don't know what it's called.
Occasional squeak/squeal when accelerating, sounds a bit like a car brake pad squealers but not as loud/fast < not a clue on that one cant place where its coming from but applying either brake and continue to accelerate does nothing to the sound.
Needs new tires and a seat lift and ive found those in the forums to make those happen.
Any other thoughts on simple things i can do to just get this thing running strong/right. I have a fair amount of technical knowledge as i work in theatre and do lighting/sound and automation fx but have never worked on cars or motorcycles before.
Thanks for some info and help in advance, and the tech section is awesome, ill probably read everything there and end up broke once i've tried most if not all of it.

Luke

Do you know if the PO rejet the carb?
Is there any exhaust leaks at the connections?
Are they little pops or big bangs?
How is the power with the jardine?
When I had mine my bike was gutless before I rejet.

I believe savages will almost always pop a bit, even when tuned correctly. If it is excessive chances are PO didn't rejet and its running lean or you have a leak.

The polish you're after is called "blue job", I probably wouldn't bother using it until your carb is tuned cause chances are it will just come back.

Check this out: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1309246277
It is extremely helpful.

Rejetting, adjusting my fuel mixture screw and idle speed correctly eliminated my backfire on shutdown and stopped bangs. I still pop a little on decel though.

I've been told that you can hold a BBQ lighter or candle flame to the connections to help find tiny leaks, just to be sure.
I found a leak in mine using a small bit of tissue paper.

Unsure on exactly where to find the blue job. Personally I'd order it online but I'm in New Zealand and lazy.

For your headlight issue, I would be interested in knowing how the PO tied your fancy LED lights into the wiring harness.  You can find a wiring harness schematic in the Technical Section....there is an index with links at the top.  If both the headlight and the high beam indicator don't work I would expect the problem to be somewhere in the wiring harness that is common to both those circuits....something before they split off and go their seperate ways.

The jardine is a hard pipe to tune for.
You ought to drop the bowl and take a peek at the jets to see what sizes you got.  A '96 will have 145 main and 52.5 pilot.
someone will let you know if they're way outta line.
blued pipes might be an indication that it's running lean.
pull the plug and compare with the sparkplug reader in the tech section.

Where are you located?

As for the squeak on acceleration, put your hand on the speedo when it happens and see if it stops. Sometimes the speedo can loosen and make a squeaky vibration noise.

Long wear tire? Metzler, Bridgestone, Dunlop. I'd normally recommend a Michelin Commander 2, but haven't seen our size listed. Of the 3 I prefer Dunlop, although they don't seem to wear as well now as they did in 2005/2006.

Whatever brand you buy, make sure you order a 140/90-15 and not the 140/80-15. The 90 series corrects the built in speedometer error.

You have spoked wheels not made by BMW... you need a tube. Tubeless bias ply motorcycle tires are designed to run capably with or without a tube installed.

If they have Michelins that fit, grab them, a set of new tubes and a pair of new rim liners. The set on the 1500 Drifter has held up pretty well.

And yes, you want a 100/90-19F, 140/90-15 rear. Stock is 140/80-15 and it throws the speedometer off by 10% or so.