This won't answer your mileage question - but if some of the fuel does stay in the right side of the tank when the level drops......and the bike does stop running......you can lean the bike over to the left and get some of the fuel to move over to the side with the petcock (a secondary reserve).

And the rattling noise.....could it be that since you don't have the fuel tank/seat bolted down - that the mounts for those could be rattling at certain rpm?  You might try squeezing the tank with your knees and see if the rattle goes away.  The headlight bezel has also been known to rattle....and it sounds like it comes from the valve area - reach up and hold the lens/bezel and see if the rattle goes away.

ohiomoto wrote on 08/12/16 at 07:04:27:


The back of the stock savage tank is pretty darn flat.....I don't think there is very much gas that can't flow from one side to the other.

I didn't know that the spring and lever were still attached....I thought that maybe those had been removed.

Hopefully it was that other piece vibrating that made the noise.

I went for a quick ride last night to see if I was still getting the odd sound at about 2300 rpm....and I am. I'll look into that more when I get some time.

I had my first experience of someone asking about the bike. I was stopped at a light when a guy on a Nighthawk 250 pulled up next to me. Of course he asked what the bike was so I said that it used to be a Suzuki Savage. His response? What is it now?

I wasn't sure exactly how to answer that question because for some reason I didn't want to say that it was a Ryca CS-1. The only other thing that I could think of to say was "better."  

I was also reminded why I want to get a quieter exhaust as a group of Harleys took off next to me on their way to the bar by my house.   The Ryca isn't that loud but it's just a douchebag thing in my opinion to have a vehicle that loud...and I don't want to annoy anyone they way that bikes that loud annoy me.

I will be able to get you a modified muffler core to try out in the next few weeks.....it will help to quite the thing down.

I do believe you will never be able to stop the discoloration of the muffler...unless you get it ceramic  coated.  The exhaust is hot and it makes the chrome turn blue at the hot spot.....mine has it in exactly the same spot, and mine is a really dark blue (almost black).

Another option is to find one of the stainless mufflers from Cone Engineering to use.  Stainless can discolor as well - but it turns more of a yellow color.  The mufflers will need to be adapted to the Savage....they currently do not make a "bolt on" muffler.
http://www.coneeng.com/pdf/motorcycle/MC-finished-Mufflers.pdf

I don't expect everything to stay perfectly sparkly. I dropped my last bike when it has 10k miles on it and scratched up the plastics on one side. I kept them that way and 35k miles later they still look the same. That bike also had a 140hp, 1200cc motor that created plenty of heat and the exhaust stayed nearly perfect for all of those miles. I get that eventually there might be some discoloration but not after 400 miles. I just expected a little higher quality.

Finally tired of repacking  ryca muffler and went the dyna route. Two 3/16 holes in baffle...just right. I find myself riding the bike much more often. Something to consider.

Gary_in_NJ wrote on 08/29/16 at 08:25:51:


Nothing on the exhaust is loose. I checked recently when trying to figure out the source of a rattle.