Sonny wrote on 12/01/15 at 23:23:49:You know, I have thought a fair bit about that OEM vacuum petcock. It's way more complicated than a simple off/on/reserve valve, and why? One reason. So you don't have to remember to turn the gas on and off.
Just about every new motorcycle has an automatic petcock or a fuel pump, these days......another part of the system that makes your life convenient, and safe. The kick stand safety, clutch safety and automatic petcock are there so you don't have to think "too much", and protect you if you do happen to stop thinking for a moment.
Those safety devices probably helps a lot of new riders - for most of us old folks we already have the routine down pretty well as we learned long before those safeties were on motorcycles. The downsides of all the safety devices is that they add some weight and complexity to the bike, and they can fail and be somewhat hard for folks to diagnose on the side of a road. The petcock and sidestand switch are the two most common failures that can really get you looking in the wrong place to solve the problem.
I am not sure if the other bikes with vacuum petcocks have as much failure as the Savage does......my Ninja 250 and 250 Super Sherpa both had vacuum petcocks, and the 1972 GT550 Suzuki tank I put on my bike came with a vacuum petcock on it.
And when it comes to safety interlocks....the ones on new mowers drives me crazy! My mother's Cub Cadet stops the mower blades whenever you back up, and the interlock on the seat is far too sensitive and when a bump causes you to get a little light on the seat...the interlock stops the cutting blades as it doesn't think you are still sitting down. It takes about 10 feet to get stopped when this happens, then you have to back up and restart the mower deck so you can cut the part that wasn't cut when the blades stopped. (If it was my mower I would have those interlocks (reverse and seat) bypassed before I ever used the darn thing).