I bought this bike for my brother in-law. It was a straight up basket case but I only gave a couple hundred bucks for it with a clean title. The wiring harness was completely destroyed, the paint in terrible shape, the frame showing its age and the bike was just all around rough. It was also in pieces. When I got it home I built enough of a harness just to see if/how well it ran. Runs great, idles great, pulls hard throughout the range and the transmission/clutch is perfect. After a day of testing/tuning, we tore it down to get started. Its been a week and things are progressing a little slower than I'd hoped but I've been running between Chattanooga and Atlanta working on a hydrogen generator(I work for an alternative energy company).

So far we have stripped the tins, repaired the dents, blocked the tank and primed the frame. Tomorrow we'll be finishing the prep and spraying the tins, frame and motor. We couldn't decide on color but then found some Dodge Viper blue(very fine flake) from a past build that we'll be using. I'll be making some side covers, the bike didn't come with any and I don't like the factory ones. They leave too much of an empty hole behind the motor.

I'll be upgrading the brakes to a dual disc front, disc rear. Not only is this my brother in-law's first bike, my pregnant sister will be a passenger on it. I want to have more stopping power than we need. I'm hoping to keep the stock forks to keep cost down but I don't know that I can shoehorn in dual discs between the legs. I have a set of stock forks with triples from my 2001 ZRX1200R that I may try to use. I've also got the rear braking system from my 2007 Harley Streetbob collecting dust. The bike has a 150 15 on it now and I'd like to get a 160 back there if I can.

I'll post some updated pictures tomorrow after the tins are sprayed. If all goes as planned the bike will be on the road this coming weekend. This is my first Savage build and so far its been a joy. The machines are beautifully simple.

One thing I'm not sure about is the decompression system. When I made the harness to run the bike I bypassed it. The bike starts quickly and easily without it so I'm debating on all together ditching it to clean up the head a little. Thanks for the forum and hopefully you'll enjoy the build. I'll update daily.

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dual fronts with the stock forks will be difficult.  not only does the right fork lack the mounting, but the hub lacks it too.  It'll be much easier to swap something else in there.  any of the gs series will bolt right in for the most part.

the rear drum while much maligned, is quite capable of locking the rear.  getting a disk in there will be quite difficult too.

How many miles on the motor? Cam chain tensioner might be near it's limit depending on mileage ... ya might wanna have a look see and consider swapping it it for one of Verslagen's "verslavy" modded tensioners ...

Good luck with the build and please keep us posted ... am anxious to see how this one turns out!

Unless you really just like projects and scrounging around for parts.....the stock brakes are up to the job. They can handle the power and weight of the bike.  When we go to the Dragon Run in North Carolina and Tennessee and spend the week chasing Oldfeller around with some very spirited riding, we have never had any issues with the brakes.  This year Oldfellor and I found a road just like the Dragon that was 30 miles long and road it non-stop.....and never once did the brakes even cross my mind.....they work fine.  I think Oldfeller got his pretty hot when chasing BigZuke - but never to the point of causing any problems.

Working on smoothing the repaired dents. We pulled what we could and fiberglassed the remaining divots.


Rust proofed the underside of the fenders before the rubber undercoating was applied.






I didn't get the tins sprayed blue today like I planned. I got hung up on the triples and then worked on rust proofing and spraying the frame. More to come tomorrow.

Be sure to read this thread before you apply the finish coat.  Several members of this site have attempted to paint their bikes with rattlecans and find a paint that will hold up on the gas tank.  To date....the only paint that shows any ability to hold up is the 2K clear coat.  All of the other paints have peeled, wrinkled or discolored when a bit of fuel is leaked from the tank or dripped while fueling.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1384003491/0

Dave wrote on 12/09/13 at 04:18:53:


I'm not rattle canning it. The only thing rattle canned was the self etching primer and undercoating. My primer gun is clogged and I didn't feel like cleaning it.

This is the rubber undercoating. I applied it before I painted the tins but forgot to post pictures in order.






More pictures to come as the build progresses.