Howdy!

I just bought my first Savage brand new, 0.7 miles on showroom floor. It now has 590mi. I did my first oil change at 520 mi. Did it "correctly", warmed the bike up, took it around the block and parked it, drained the oil, then took out the filter, replaced it, filled it halfway between the lines with the bike sitting upright. Cranked it up for 30 sec., checked the oil again and added just enough to bring it back to middle mark.

At this point, that's all I've done.

Plans I already have for future are:

Harley Dyna muffler swap, THEN carb tuning.
Install sissy bar from Suzuki
1000mi oil change, each following per owner's manual.

My questions now are,



1) As experienced Suzuki owners, what would YOU do next?
2) I've read up on some of the other Mods, which are most crucial to extending the life of parts on the bike (i.e. will the superbrace make the forks last any longer by having it installed?)
3) has the quality of the rear shocks improved at all in the more recent models? Or is it the same as the first ones made? My wife and I will probably ride 2up very often. combined weight with saddlebags & back rest 300lbs. if that's something that will wear them out sooner than later, what would be a good replacement shock? i'm mainly just concerned about suspension that could comfortably handle 300lbs, and then some just in case we load extra luggage on it. not too worried about raising or lowering the ride height, I really do not want to raise it at all since I'm a short guy.

I've been trying to research as much as I can to not have to ask questions. If these are redundant, I apologize.

I know this is a NEW bike and I probably don't have a lot to worry about, it's just having come from owning a 1986 Yamaha Radian over 30,000 miles that was burning oil every 100 miles and leaking fork oil, I want to try to extend the life of my new Fox as much as possible.

I think those are my main questions...

Thank you for any help or advice you may give me.

savskad wrote on 10/03/14 at 14:56:24:


ride about 5k miles, and change the oil once in awhile.

Serowbot wrote on 10/03/14 at 15:15:30:


Alright. I hear you on all that. I have regular Yamalube oil in it right now for the remainder of the 1000 miles. My last bike I used Mobil 1 10-40 syth, granted it had 30,000 miles and was worn out so I didn't worry too much about it.

in specific, a friend recommended Royal Purple motorcycle oil (he uses it in his M109 and owns a machine shop), but still the savage is a completely different animal than the m109 or anything that rolls into his shop.

thanks for the rapid responses everybody, I'm thrilled to be here and to finally own one.  

Serowbot wrote on 10/03/14 at 15:52:31:




lol, I know right?! My Honda civic is a 1.5L so his bike has more engine than my car.

pg wrote on 10/03/14 at 16:34:59:



Yeah, I was looking through there, trust me, had I not, I would have had sooo many more questions.  I tried to narrow it down to the stuff I was most stumped on.

Thanks!

As I understand it you should still have factory warranty on the bike. I would be inclined to consult the selling dealer as to what you can do yourself without getting into potential warranty issues should they arise. Having said that, many North American owners on this forum seem to regard "dealerships" and their service departments with virtual contempt. Having said that, may you get many miles of satisfaction from what is a fine little machine

Hey man, welcome to the forum and congrats on the new bike! Kinda envious of you guys in the US still able to buy one brand new. Like the others said, run it in nicely and enjoy the ride. Re: the shocks thing. If you decide you want to upgrade the rear shocks, you might check with Fournales and see if they have some that fit. It's an adjustable air spring shock and very comfortable. A couple guys I know have them on their Harleys and love them.
Happy days.
s

A retorque of the head bolts is called for at around 4K miles. Some do it, some don't and the dealer will charge a pretty penny for the work. Don't think my '02 has ever had it done and it is still running fine with no leaks.
 Keeping th RPM's over 1000 is the most important for long engine life, beside that ride it and have fun