CONGRATULATIONS! I'm happy to see you got it going.
Now, could you explain howcum it took three MONTHS to get your good friend over? Whatsamatta with you? You couldn't buy some beer and some meat to scorch on the grill and invite the guy over ? Man, someone who can Fix the starter, not just replace it,,sounds like a genuine mechanic to me. Did he explain what it was?

Yeah, I have been messing with a riding mower for a month,, used stuff, you just never know.. I'm glad I didn't buy it.. yet. The three hundred dollars he wanted ain't happening.

Wow,, a horse and doodle buggy trader! What a way to go from spending five bucks at a garage sale to Savage owner. I trust you made some bucks on that last Trade. And yeah, a Goldwing is just a heavy beast. What tip to those who have what it takes to ride them.
I've seen skinny old men with not so skinny women on the back. How they hold them up is beyond me. I nearly dropped the Savage at stops a bunch of times.

Man, what do you want to do? You wanna play video games or ride or what? And how does anyone trade, pardon my ignorance, whatever a colecovision and a Sega for a motorcycle? Where are you finding this stuff?

Ohh, and just to be clear, I applaud such horse trading. I watch American pickers and other such shows.

Ohh, I had feet down, but it just nearly took me down several times, early on. Later on, after plenty of experience, I nearly lost it on Sandy, gravelly stuff at a stop sign. Power splits,,

I'm in Canada and primarily use kijiji. I have lucked out so bad to have worked my way up.to this bike. now I got.the Yamaha to part out. isn't running but has a lot of sellable items. using it to fund the savage and what I want to do to it.

those gaming systems had their day. I would never play them again so figured why not use them as currency. if he guy has a bike chances are good if he's young he likes games too lol

the guy I got the goldwing from was a bit of a tool very surprised that deal went down lol. with ownership. lol. people that saw.the goldwing thought he ripped himself off lol.

the dude I got the savage from was a bit.sketchy. he took the goldwing. he was a tool too. he wanted a bigger bike. that was the goldwing.  after we traded he never returned my texts or emails about the problems. the guy must have known. the thing with me is that im curious, stubborn and resourceful.  and cheap lol so the less I put into the bike initially justified buying a part here and there.  but all at once the once in a while things became the norm.

oil leak
electrical short
battery not charging
battery case made contact with terminals sparking as you rode lol.

got a new battery. new regulator. resoldered a lot of wire connections. drag bars and a misfits sticker.  lol.

and tomorrow if all goes well I'll be riding for more than 25 minutes  

Well, if you've had your bat box out, you'd notice several wires are routed behind it.  maybe one of those is shorted.

Yes, we should ditch all those beloved metal parts for plastic ones so you don't get a short in your shorts.  

The S40 is one of  the easiest handling bikes I have ever owned.
I have to admit that my Bonneville T 100 can be a bit intimidating all 500 lbs of it.

It would be nice to be 6' or so and 200 pounds. A 29" inseam just doesn't cut it. :'(