Good afternoon Savage lovers,
I have had a 96 Savage for a little over a year now and I love everything about it. I like how light it is and how that big single cylinder brings me right back to my dirt bike days as a kid. Anyway on to the problem.
My 650 ran strong all last summer, fall and winter (until it got 10 degrees and i gave up for the season).  About 3 months ago I hopped on it and it started right up but a mile down the road it bogged down and died like it was out of fuel.
I checked the petcock and put it on prime. No luck. Reserve maybe? nothing.
I had a fun afternoon pushing my baby uphill back to my house. I drained the tank and removed the petcock to clean them both out. After re-attaching the petcock to the tank and mounting it to the frame I filled it with Premium gas and prayed for the best.
IT WORKED. I rode all day with a friend and stopped for lunch and it cranked right back up and i rode the 50 miles back home.
A week later I hopped on because a friend from out of state rode to town so we were going to ride. My little yellow savage cranked up idled for about 10 minutes and Died. I tried to re start it and nothing. As soon as it was hot it refused to run.
So I pulled the tank, changed the spark plug, on the advice of a friend I bought a replacement rectifier and a new battery.
I crossed my fingers and got on. With the push of the starter it sprang to life. I rode for about 15 minutes and it left me stranded in traffic.....
It was then that i remembered that my 650 has always leaked oil and i could feel it burn my legs when i was on the highway which I couldnt remember feeling earlier that day.
I felt down around the cylinder heat fins after it cooled and it wasnt slick with oil.
After calling a friend with a truck I got my bike home and drained my oil. To my horror only about a pint of oil came out.

Is there a low oil sensor?

I changed the oil with 2.1 quarts of 10w40 and my bike Purred back to  life and I put 200 miles on it last weekend with zero problems but a LOT of oil leak.  Today it wouldnt start again... I am at a loss as I dont think it should have leaked that much oil in 200 miles?
any advice please.
I am the third owner of my bike so I cannot say how it was maintained before my ownership.  But I am very handy with a wrench and I have zero fear of pulling anything apart as long as it will fix my problem!
I have mine turned into a bobber.

Ryca motors cone exhaust with titanium wrapped header
clip on handlebars
re-jetted the carb
K&N cone filter and 90 degree elbow joint(to clear battery box)
Bobber seat
lowered front end
Blah blah and stuff I cant remember I love my bike but I am so frustrated at my incompetence at fixing this problem! Please help

Thanks for responding,
I think its blow back from somewhere else.
I torque everything down pretty tight and in accordance with the recommendations for the savage so I know nothing is loose. I will drain the oil and measure it when I get home this afternoon to see how much it has actually lost.
The previous owner broke the little glass (or plastic Im not sure) window gauge that you can see the oil sloshing around the engine and replaced it with a piece of black plastic..... So I can't measure or even guess how much oil I have without draining it and measuring.

Does anyone know if the savage has a oil sensor that will shut the bike down if there is an insufficient amount of oil?
I don't wish to damage my engine by riding with this leak but I just don't understand what could have happened during the off season to cause this massive loss of oil.

Idk who knows I may go home and have 2 quarts of engine oil sitting in my drain pan and find out I have an electrical problem...Im not sure If I should wish that or not or what is a more serious problem.

Could it have been overfilled at one point and the compression blown a seal?
if so does any expert know which seal would give out and burst?
Thanks everyone

Our bikes do some strange sh*t.
I don't know of any aftermarket low oil sensor, though anything is possible.
You can feel it spitting hot oil on ya when ur riding her?... so where is it coming from?
That's the first thing you need to fix 'cause uneven pressure in the crank case will make our bikes act funny.

Serowbot... there is suppose to be a mesh screen under that breather spout coming off my head?

There is no "low oil" shut off on this engine....and not even an "oil light" to show you when you lose oil pressure.  More expensive bikes have those features....this one doesn't.

If you ran your bike with so little oil....you may have scored the cylinder wall or piston or stuck the rings, and that could cause you to lose (burn and blow by) a lot of oil even if the wire screen is in place.

Does the oil blow out the breather tube and get collected in the air filter chamber.......does a lot of oil come out the drain tube when you remove the plug?).  (The wire screen is located in the cylinder head cover....so if that has not been removed the screen will still be in place).  

Most of the time that an engine has a severely scored the cylinder wall or stuck rings they don't have enough compression to start well - I have never heard of this causing them to quite running once they are warm.....however it could be the cause of a lot of oil consumption.  A cylinder compression check might help to determine if the piston/cylinder is undamaged.

If you don't get a sight glass for the clutch cover and know how to install it.....watch eBay or this forum for a used clutch cover and install it.

Thanks everyone.
I pulled the tank to check my wiring to the controls just for giggles and found that I can touch the bundle going to my headlights and they will completely turn off and on so my bike may have a bunch of wires that are crimped or dislodged from age or from wiggling the tank around trying to reattach it. That's probably causing my bike to run and then stop.

I guess my next step is to go to lowes and get some 16 gauge wire and try to replace the copper going from my harness to the front stuff.  Hopefully this will get me on the road. I also noticed that my 17mm bolt holding the oil inside my engine is pretty badly stripped so that may be part of my leak as well. Probably not all the blowback but maybe most of the drainage. I looked under my frame and under the engine and that is black with oil also. I ordered another because my current bolt only gets finger tight and I imagine a long ride on the thumper will jiggle that loose in no time.

Anyone try to re-wire their Savage or make a custom wiring harness?  I would kinda like to go this direction so I can know exactly what to fix if something messes up in the future.  Im sure its already been posted in this forum so if it is I apologize for re-asking the obvious.

I am mainly concerned because I don't know what all needs fuses and what doesn't but I am willing to learn.  I have seen some people on youtube go straight from the battery to the headlight to a ground and then repeat for every other component. Not sure if that is an appropriate way to approach this or not.

Thanks everyone hopefully my moto will be back on the road soon