Yeah buddy!
I rode to work last week Tuesday through Friday.  First time is quite a while and was pleased she turned over without problems.
Been getting a little smoke for the first minute of warm up so gotta troubleshoot that.
Truck comes first, though.  Need to sort out a vibration that's getting worse.  And 4WD has been giving me problems.
Ah, vehicle ownership.  It never ends.

Gus wrote on 02/25/16 at 06:00:19:


KY might be suitable for a ride as well on Saturday with a morning temperature in the middle 30's and up to the 50's in the afternoon - but Sunday will be better as we should get up in the 60's.

I am of the opinion that "starting" your bike and letting it warm up when you aren't going riding is not a good practice - it is better to just let the bike sit until a day when you can actually go riding(with a battery tender used occasionally to keep the battery charged).  There isn't good oil pressure and oil flow when the bike is idling, and there is evidence that the cam does not get good oil distribution when the bike is leaned over on the sidestand.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1447331708

Tocsik wrote on 02/25/16 at 06:14:15:


Could this just be condensation in the cold exhaust system?  It is not uncommon for a bit of water vapor to show up in the exhaust when the air is cold.  White smoke is usually just a sign of water vapor.....hold a mirror in the smoke and see if water droplets form of the mirror.  (Oil smoke has a blue tint, and rich fuel mixture makes black smoke).

Gus:

You could be right....3 min. may not make a difference - dunno.

I can't even begin to know where to search - but I do remember reading on this forum where folks have started their bikes up in the winter and let them idle for 30 minutes to charge the battery - and it is their belief that they are actually doing something "good" for their bike.  That most likely is the kind of abuse that caused the cam and rocker to go bad on the bike I bought....with only 3,800 miles on it.

Dave

If you ride your bike for more than just short trips.....the bike will fully charge the battery and it won't need any supplemental charging - but I don't know what the length of time needed to recharge the energy used by the starter motor.  If you have to crank for a while....obviously you will need to ride for a while.

We have had a few folks on this forum who only made a lot of short trips while doing errands on their Savage, and with all the energy used to start the bike.....they would eventually wear the battery down and the bike wouldn't start until the battery was charged again.  I believe we have determined that there is only about 14 watts left over for battery charging when the bike is running, and that is only about 1 amp of charging for the battery.

I have never had any problems keeping my battery charged, and I believe the bike can fully charge the battery as long as you ride 4-5 miles between stops.  You can most likely even make a dozen or so very short trips in a row - but if you keep it up for a week or two of riding - you may end up needing a charge before you get going again.

I'm going riding tomorrow also! Thump on!

I would like to have a small solar panel capable of heating a pair of gloves.

Probably not possible.

Kenny G