Flow and gearing.
I've had my Savage since February 1998. In the same time, we've had: 87 Honda CMX450C (killed it), 1999 VN800A (loved it, but had to sell it or lose the house during a work slow down), 2005 VN800B (despised it) and a 1957 HD Panhead rigid framed springer equipped barhopper (not worth fixing).
The VN800A was THE best bike I've ever owned, out of over 100 street 4 strokes I've had since I started riding in July 1987. The Savage is a fun little toy.
Had access to a fairly rough running cast wheel, disc rear XS650 Special that would outpull the Savage w/o breaking a sweat. Once the XS got straightened out (sat for a long time, had carb issues) it would flat out leave the Savage in the dust. Light to light, they are fairly evenly matched, unless you are really heavy on the throttle. The XS is still in second when the Savage is needing to go into 4th gear. Out on the suberslab, it is no contest, the XS is still in 4th when the Savage is maxed out.
I'm turning my Savage back into a low bar fuel sipping gutless commuter. And saving up for another clean used VN800A. Which will spank an XS650 the same way an XS650 will walk all over an LS650... My 99 800A wrung the speedometer cable in half once when I pegged the speedometer, the next part failure was the rear wheel hub mounted speedometer drive. Speedometer pegged on a VN800A is an indicated 140 plus... Mine was severely hot rodded though, and regeared for top end speed, put out more rear wheel horsepower than the stock engine did at the crankshaft.
If you don't ride it wide open all the time, the Savage is a decent bike. If you want more top end power and speed consistently, even with all the hot parts, a Savage is a slow poke. Slow is relative though, Lancer's hopped up 96 is good for the ton plus.
Keep in mind too, that most of my riding friends won't let me near their machines... I blew up 4 engines and 6 transmissions in 6 months on a brand new, in warranty HD Big Twin... and shattered the crankshaft in a Katana 750...
And have not grenaded the engine in my Savage, ruined the transmission, flipped it getting on the throttle too hard (did that to a couple street 2 stroke triples)... and it has been ridden hard since day one as a primary or back up bike. Had it 5 minutes on day one and popped the fork seals airing out the front tire...
I should realistically have a sport bike, but I prefer cruisers.