1st, check your clutch adjustment, you should have an 1/8" gap at the lever.  Also check with bars turned to both sides.

2nd, check the throwout lever on the case, pull up on the lever and it should be between the marks on the case.

Sometimes if your clutch is "starting to go" (getting to the end of its life) it starts slipping under harder acceleration. If there is any slight pull on the clutch, therefore not letting it fully engage, it will wear faster. That's why you need to make sure all the adjustments are right.

This is based off my experience from my last bike. It had a little bit more power than the savage, but right when I'd hit the power band while accelerating it would "let up" and lose acceleration while the RPMs still went up. What it was, was the clutch was worn out and was slipping. That bike had 30,000 miles. Replaced the clutch and clutch springs, tight as could be!

Hope this helps.

verslagen1 wrote on 11/05/14 at 14:52:24:


Really? Cool! (Obviously I'm still new to the Savage) Makes me fall that much more in love with the bike.

I used to have a Yamaha Radian 4-banger wannabe sports bike. So clutches were bound to be replaced.

What if a Savage was ridden harder than usual?

Had you recently changed the oil around the time you noticed this problem?

This clutch design is not very high pressure and slips easily if the disks get the slightest bit contaminated.

Spamy wrote on 11/05/14 at 17:36:42:


I changed the oil about ... maybe 1000 miles ago, and it burns a little bit 'cause I've had to top it off a couple of times since then... And I think i used 20W50 ... I know, I guess for starters i should change it to 10W40 and see what's up? Thanks for your help

You aren't saying what KIND of oil you are using.

You must use an oil that will work with a wet clutch, that doesn't have any "friction modifiers", one that is JASO-MA certified.
Automotive car oil will not work.

While Rotella T6 is not specific for motorcycles with a wet clutch, it meets the  JASO-MA requirements to work for that application.

If the oil kind was switched, like any sort of semi synthetic, synthetic or something like that and back to regular oil, then the clutch fiber plates can be slipping.

Ive tried to clean plates several times and have never had good results.  It has always only been fixed by getting new fiber clutch plates for me. Especially on this bike. It may be $50 you have to spend to find out if thats the problem if you cant pinpoint something else.

Actually "Automotive car oil will not work" is not true. Ive used car oils for 30 years on many many bikes and its fine.  You just have to have the right bare bones simple oil, like Rotella, or Chevron conventional.  And then stay with the same stuff for the life of the clutch.