Did you make sure your forks won't bottom out into the lower triple clamp.  That 32mm might be cutting it close because the forks sit several mm below the stock top clamp.  So you may have went 32mm + ~10mm and that could be trouble.  See what I'm saying?

Your best bet is to remove the springs and make sure the fork lowers cannot hit the lower clamp when the forks are bottomed out.  (If you didn't do that already.)

Best handling mods I’ve done were installing 11” progressive shocks and a really grippy rear tire. The longer shock puts more weight on the front wheel which eliminates the tippy feeling at parking lot speeds and gives better tracking through turns at speed.
The good grippy back tire really transforms the bike too. Helps with everything- cornering, accelerating, stopping. It’s harder to lock up the rear wheel when braking so that crappy drum brake is more effective. The back wheel doesn’t suffer as much from wheel spin while powering out of hard turns so you can feel more confident leaning lower.
I highly recommended both of these very simple mods.

What you do to improve handling of your bike is dependent on the style of bike  you choose to make from your Savage / S-40 .   Ground clearance must be kept in mind . A stock bike will generally grind the front pegs if ridden hard in corners, and for that reason I would not lower the forks , but rather install taller shocks which increases ground clearance and at the same time decreases stirring angle . You can at the same time go to a 130/90/15 (narrower) rear tire which also makes a huge difference in the way the bike turns into corners.  Extending the swingarm as Brokeass  suggests , will make the bike less "twitchy" (stable) because of the extended wheel base , but only when going straight ,(you'll need longer shocks to recover ground clearance) it will also make the bike less agile in curves . Lowering the front forks with the custom top clamp /or the "Ryca" method as well as the use of taller wheels and shocks works well for a café bike as both decrease stirring  angle ,but keep in mind that these bike use rear set controls so that peg scraping isn't a problem.
      My bike is stock ,I use taller shocks(12") and a 130/90/15 tire and the improvement is substantial, with no peg scraping,

Assuming for a moment that OHIO is correct, I've re-set to 25mm and it will stay there. I also use 12.5'' shocks. This combo works for me, and I really like it . If I were a lot younger I likely would have bought a different bike.
I also own a stock S40 that I'm using for a comparo, but the modded bike is clearly better.  Cheers!  
BAT; I goofed with the 140 tire. 130 next time!

Yeah, that's true. The fork cap pinches the top clamp.  But its not that great of an attachment. It still has wobble because the top triple clamp can spin on the forks and get out of whack with the bottom clamp.

The fork cap just pulls it up, it doesnt do anything to keep the fork tube from spinning in the clamp.  I use the term spinning loosely, its just a fraction of movement.

While riding forks are bending and flexing here and there.  If you have ridden dirt bikes often, you'll find your front wheel and triples out of alignment every so often.  Especially after a crash or bounce the front off a rock.  Sometimes you fix it real quick by kicking the wheel back straight.  If you have the time to fix it better you loosen everything up, straighten it all back then tighten it up.  Similar the savage forks are moving around a bit too.  

The triple just tightens it up a bit.  A fork brace tightens it up just a bit more than that.  

100% agreed on the LS650 is a very slow-turning bike but that is one of the attributes that makes such a good starter and/or cruiser bike.  It won't do anything weird when negotiating a turn, especially if the front suspension is having to do some work over uneven ground.

My Yamaha SRX600 turns so fast it is a bit crazy and while it makes it an exceptional bike for carving turns it also makes it a bit tedious when cruising.  If you encounter uneven ground while going through a fast and/or tight turn it can be a bit disconcerting.

I do agree it would be nice to be easily able to take some of the rake out of the front end but we do have to be careful that the front tire does not hit the fender upon bottoming as it could lock the front wheel...

batman wrote on 05/28/19 at 10:36:42:


YES...  DUH...  I was thinking dirt bikes...  Lots of guys try to fix fork travel by pushing the forks up in the tree and then they land and bottom the forks and lock the tire and hit the ground...