I have a '96 savage with 13,600miles that I got a few months ago. I have been having occasional issues with the bike stalling out while idling or coasting near the beginning of my commute, always when the weather is a few degrees cooler and especially if the humidity is up. I've had the issue more frequently since I moved 500 fit closer to sea level to a town with 50-80% humidity vs. bone dry where I used to live. Yesterday I added a bit more oil to the engine, as it had a slight leak (from the oil plug, I thought, but I took it in and no more drops of oil under my bike) and was a little low. I had a really rough time getting it to stay started (it was probably about 50F out, had to throttle up several times to keep it going until it warmed up). And then on my way home had the sputtering/stalling issue, and I was a bit low on gas.  However, when I got home, I noticed that the exhaust was glowing orange! I've never seen it do that before! So I'm not sure if I've never noticed, or if something changed...I also have been noticing that the top speed and power are a little off lately, and that I'm now getting the post-shutoff "fart".

History on bike: bought it in June with 13k on it, it was running great except for the small oil leak that was fixed and needing a little throttle at startup to keep it going. Has a straight pipe exhaust but no other modifications that I can see. Haven't opened up the carb to see if the jets were changed for the new pipe. I adjusted the idle screw and took care of the startup issue. After taking it in to have the oil leak checked out, it died before I could get it out of the parking lot. I'm guessing the fuel lines/vacuum system didn't get put back together correctly. Only stalled out on me once or twice in the hot/dry/higher altitude climate, always right before/after rain, so the humidity must have been up and it was a bit cooler than normal. Having the issue more frequently in the cooler/more humid area, but 500 ft closer to sea level. Didn't have any issues until the mornings and evenings started to get cooler. I've been adjusting the idle screw to help with the stalling issue, but it didn't help much yesterday, and I'm guessing that having it up too high might have made the exhaust pipe hot...also, my ex helped me move up to my new home and drove the moving truck with the motorcycles, and he has a bad habit of skipping over curbs at right turns, so it might have gotten a few bumps along the way...and was covered in the dirt of the southwest when it got here! Bike has never left me stranded, at worst only needed a few minutes before it could be started back up again.

Any advice or ideas? Should I not be riding it if the exhaust is getting hot and it's stalling out? Anything I might be able to fix myself?

Not any baffling, I don't think. Bike is nice and loud. I'm up in the mountains at 4500ft (previously 5kft), thus the cooler temp and temperature swings (high was about 78 yesterday). I have no idea about the air filters, probably stock, though. Thinking I might need a new one after all the dust from the move...

I was already planning on the carb cleaning, but hoping to wait until winter got going (wasn't planning on riding in ice and snow...). *sigh* any suggestions on jet sizes for the straight pipe or tips for cleaning the carb?

Probably also should have mentioned that I'm pretty sure the bike sat for a while before I bought it, but it doesn't look like there is any deterioration in the gas tank, so I don't think I have gunk in there.  Looks like the bike was dropped once before, too, but nothing major, just a few scrapes on one side.

I just looked for the video where a dealer tried several different mufflers and jetting on a Dyno....and proved that straight pipes (drag pipes) cause a drop in horsepower at certain rpms....and even rejetting can not get all of it back.  The open pipes allow pressure waves to distrupt the exhaust flow.

For our Savage, the used Harley DYNA mufflers are the lowest cost, most reasonable noise and offer good engine performance.  The important thing is to get a muffler with some form of baffling....not just straight through.

Jetting changes on each bike and where you live.  The #50 pilot, #150 main and 2 washers worked best for me.  Anything bigger than a # 52.5 pilot and # 152.5 main is normally not required, and most people use 3 washers instead of the white spacer that is stock.  The Tech Section has several threads on jetting.....and if yo read through old threads you can find discussions on jetting for straight and drag pipes.

Me.....I don't like loud bikes, cars or trucks.  I live in the county 2 miles from a 4 lane highway, and my peaceful country home is plagued by the sound of the "loud muffler" crowd on that highway.

Already tried adjusting idle, which is no longer helping the issue. Tried to start it again this morning (37F outside) and started fine but began to die again. Tried to keep it going using the throttle, but got gas coming out of what looks like the overflow on the bowl for the carb (left my manual at home today, see the attached pic).

I guess I'll try re-jetting and cleaning the carb  

Test your Petcock,.. don't just turn it to Prime..