I have had many bikes, all Europeans except one Yamaha.
At my old ages I bought a Suzuki s40, nice, only 370 pounds  and I do like one cylinders, reminding me of my earlier years riding one cylinder English bikes. (Had one problem oil leaks)
My best bikes were BMW's, first a 500cc, after that the 600cc, put a total of 30,000 miles on them.
Never had any of the problems a read on this website. Tune-ups, I did took about 1.5 hrs,- 2.0 hrs. carburetor, timing, valve adjustment and oil change. I realize now how nice it was when everything is so accessible.
I also understand the Savage is an inexpensive bike, but I can't say that I am impressed with the quality and the lack of improvements over the years.

Sorry, if I hurt the feeling of some of your hard-core Tumblers who seem to like tinkering with this bike as much as riding.            

Doesn’t hurt my feelings either.
I just like this bike, I like the engine, even with all those things we have altered to make it run better and be more dependable.  I still like it.

I like "Simple" and this bike is Simple .   The cam chain tension thing is an easy fix , and so is the petcock .   After that ... your good for 150,000 of trouble free ridding !  

Well , except for Tires and I do change my oil every 10,000 miles weather it needs it or not ...  

I still enjoy mine, although I don't touch the mechanics of it. It's a fun little thing, In another 4700 miles or so, I might even get a Serowbot bronze award. It's good for short legged people, I brought it because I liked the clour, style and price.

I'm also "old", in my seventies and I bought my first bike when I was twelve.  All my early bikes were German, Italian, Austrian and British and I remember them well partly because I still have an old BMW R60 and my buddy still has a 500 and a 650 Triumph.  You know what I remember, they weren't all that great in terms of reliability and maintenance.  Control cables that broke, dim lights, hard starts, flooded carbs, frequent valve adjustments, frequent timing adjustment, weak spark, frequent spark plug cleaning/replacement, heavy vibration, oil leaks, short bulb life, short chain life, lousy oil seals, etc.

I loved them just the same and still do, but my S40 is a lot less work and has never failed to start and always brings me home again.

I used to change oil every 1500 miles when I first got the bike. (old school)
...but they do say oil is much better now, and I'm not only cheap but environmental...
I go 3500 to 4000 miles now.
Harley recommends 5,000,.. I think Suzuki is up 7,500 or 8,000.

I'm not That environmental...   Yet...  

 Change oil every 10,000 "miles" and you are good for 150,000 "Wath" yards?  

NO Silly ,  

Put in Rotella  T-6 and measure in miles .   Ain't nothing hard about it .  

That stuff is STILL SLICK when ya drain it out next  year , you've been missing out if you haven't discovered it yet .

Keep your idle speed up so the head don't get starved for oil and you can't kill these bikes , unless your really doing something stupid .  

 Most of the people I have had on this bike do not like it.   _

Funny , but most of the folks I know just Love this little bike .  

I did have a feller ask me once , "You've got a Harley , why do you ride that thing " , the assure was easy and very quick --- "Because this bike is a lot more FUN ! "