No disrespect intended, but you will probably learn a little more by taking the course. When I returned to motorcycling after a twenty seven year absence, I took a refresher course which made life a lot easier.

Pay scrupulous attention to the tech on this forum, don't trust a dealer as far as you could throw his building, and you'll do alright. For a bargain basement throw away, it is a pretty decent little bike. It has several well known and easily remedied design flaws, but on the whole, other than way too much chrome, no kicker, CV carburetor and an electronic ignition it is a quite decent platform. Make it yours, make it fit you properly, wear it out, and repeat. The old forum regularly saw them top 100K miles w/o major issues.

Suzukisavvy, hop over to the Café section and put your age in the how old are you poll, and tell Stones you aren't cheating. Doing this will somewhat lower the average age of Savage/S40 riders.

I'm in the same boat! After doing a little on-line research, and compulsively taking one for a test drive I was sold. The second I popped it into gear and twisted the throttle I was sold. It was like getting on an amusement park ride. Could not stop smiling.