Hey there! Please help! I just bought a 2003 Suzuki Savage LS650 and haven't been able to ride it yet  

My Issue:
I took the battery out earlier to get it charged because the bike wouldn't start. Now it starts but as soon as it starts up it revs really high and shakes  . This is without me even touching the throttle. When I do touch it, it just revs more. Constant, steady rev... doesn't go up and down at all. No backfiring or sputtering. I've been Googling and reading the Clymer's manual all day and spoke to a friend who works on motorcycles of his own. This is what I've tried and nothing has worked yet

-loosening the throttle cable a bit
-messing with the choke (didn't matter if it was all the way in, all the way out, halfway... started up and revved the same)
-tried turning the idle adjust screw counterclockwise first .. didn't work
-tried turning the idle adjust screw clockwise and it didn't work

I'm not sure what to try to get it to stop revving so aggressively. Do you guys have any ideas for things I can try?


Some background info:
I just bought it a few days ago. It's the first motorcycle I've ever owned. I've never worked on a bike or any other vehicle. But I'm dying to learn, and I'm pretty competent. I felt accomplished getting the battery out and back in this morning   . I have a bunch of tools at available for me to use so I'm open to any and all suggestions for solutions!

The guy I bought it from said he knows nothing about engines and on my way to pick it up he told me the battery was dead but confessed that he had no idea what he was doing. He said he hadn't driven it in a couple of weeks. He drove it over to my house without issues though, was able to shift just fine and everything seemed legit. Got it to the house, put it in the shed and didn't touch it again until today (bought it 2 days ago). It wouldn't start this morning and I figured out that it was the battery. So, I took it out and went to get it charged. The battery was good to go after a few hours of a trickle charge, so I reinstalled it. Now it starts well and immediately. It's just loud AF and revs way too much.

There's no rpm gauge so I can't tell how many rpms it's at while high revving but it's up there, and the bike didn't' sound like this when the guy I bought it from had it running before dropping it off at my house.


So...
Any ideas as to what it could be??? I don't know what else to try  

I'm looking forward to some insight!  
Thanks in advance

 It could be the carb slide is hanging up . You could remove the rubber hose that runs between the air filter box and the inlet to the carb ,reach your finger inside the carb and push up on the round slide ,it should move up and down freely and smoothly . (it is moved by vacuum  and not by the throttle cable ) if it hangs up the main jet stays open and will provide a very rich fuel mixture (high revs) . the fact that moving your choke doesn't seem to affect the motor speed ,makes me think this is your problem ,as the main jet is the only place the extra fuel could come from . If I'm right you'll need to pull and clean the carb ,normal for a bike that's been setting for a while .you could also try tapping lightly on the bottom of the carb (bowl) to see if the float is hanging up ,this could flood the bowl and cause the level to rise up through the main jet area and also provide extra fuel  and higher revs. good luck!

+1...I would make sure there are no binds or kinks in the throttle cable and if it looks crummy anywhere lubricate it.  Agree that s sticky slide can be a possibility as well. Doesn't take much to make one stick if crud somehow got sucked in past the air filter.

Also, I don't think you mentioned the air/mix screw (right-side of the carb).  If this was turned all of the way in or out it could impact the idle if the previous owner tried to mess with this and was not aware of the instructions on how to properly adjust it (it's easy).  Are you familiar with where the air/mix screw is and can you tell of the brass plug has been removed where it could have been monkeyed with?

In this image it is labeled "Idle Mixture". The screw is down in that hole. Very soft brass screw with flat head. Be nice to it...it will damage and strip if you are aggressive with it and don't screw it in super tight when adjusting...as soon as you feel resistance with light finger pressure STOP.

Alright, it's been a busy few days working on this...

I tried your suggestions though:

-I loosened the idle speed adjuster
-checked the throttle cable for binds and kinks, found none
-I tried messing with the air/mix screw on the right side of the carb (tightened it and then rotated it CCW for 2 full turns to start, when that didn't work I loosened it more, that didn't work either, so I tried tightening it.. which made the bike shake more)
-discovered that I don't have a vacuum line because the petcock was upgraded to a Raptor , so there's just a nipple on the right side
-I took the carb out, took it apart and cleaned it.. looked pretty good, wasn't really gunky, float was good (no holes or cracks), remounted the carb and the rubber boots are good and secure


I know A LOT more about some mechanical things now  , but it's still revving high after startup..as soon as I start it you can hear the RPM escalate quickly and sends strong vibrations through the handle bars and seat without me touching the throttle. Seemed a bit better after I remounted the carb but it's still doing too much...

Aside from trying to figure out what the slide is   and how to adjust that... What's a slide? And how do I check that?  

I'm not sure what else to try  

Any more suggestions??? It sounded and felt find when I sat on it before the guy I bought it from drove it over here (right after I sat on it). Then two days later I couldn't start it, so I took the battery out, charged it and put it back in and it was revving high... so it had to be something I did, right?  

There was a cap on the nipple (picture), but I ran out and grabbed a new one just in case this one was faulty for some reason. The old one did look a little rough and cracked...
new nipple cover didn't help.  

Still revving high when I start it up.  

Let’s go back to the beginning. Before you removed the battery the bike worked fine. How did you remove and replace the battery? Was there anything that gave you trouble that caused you to move or remove something that was in the way?

-Back to the Beginning:
When I started the bike for the first time it was dying and wouldn't start. It had enough juice to turn the light on but wouldn't fully start and was trying its little heart out. The guy told me that he thought the battery died but he got it working before I'd arrived to pick it up. At that point it did sound like it was running fine. It wasn't revving high while idling and didn't shake when I sat on it. I totally forgot to ask him about how he got it started and about the battery because I was so darn excited about the freakin bike. Yes, I know I was a dumbass.

-Battery Removal, Charge and Replacement:
Fast forward to 2 days later, when I take the battery out, get it charged and put it back in. I didn't know anything and had no idea what I was doing but I was being careful not to mess with anything other than the battery. I took it out by removing the seat, then I unscrewed the negative terminal-- had to put the screwdriver at an angle so I could leave all the wires alone. That box connected to wires that sits under the cover by the battery on the side kinda fell loose so I tried to prop it up so it wouldn't just be hanging there. Then unscrewed the positive terminal. Wasn't much in the way. Slid the battery out carefully. It was easy to get it back in.. nothing much in my way then either.
If I had to nudge a cable out of the way I tried to be super careful, and I've gone back since and checked anything I could have touched and made sure it was securely attached.

-No air filter
*** I forgot to mention that I found out there wasn't an air filter in there though! He gave me an "extra" one that was brand new he said he'd bought and hadn't used. So, I put that in after the bike had already started revving high. Obviously it didn't help.

Idle Mixture Screw and Backfire:
Yesterday, I tried adjusting the idle mixture screw again. I first adjusted it after remounting the carb (turned it CW until I felt resistance and it was tight, then turned it 2 full turns CCW for factory settings. Still revved high no start-up though). So, yesterday after looking it up I found out that if you turn it all the way to the right it should kill the engine because it cuts off the fuel supply. I started the bike and gently turned it all the way to the right and the bike idled slightly less rough (SLIGHTLY), and ended up backfiring... still revving high though and wasn't even close to shutting off.

Idle Speed Adjuster:
I also messed with the idle speed adjuster again, and tightening, nor loosening helped.

Throttle Cable:
I've tried loosening the throttle cable (but only toward the bottom where the cam and nuts are... loosened the nuts until the little cam dropped a bit. Also didn't help. Am I not doing that right?)


It wasn't backfiring before, so I feel like I'm just messing stuff up at this point. Trying to be as detailed as possible so I can give you a good picture of what's going on . I live in Knoxville, TN if anyone knows a legit mechanic that might be able to help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

From your carb pict, the only thing I see wrong is the Idle mixture screw looks flush with the surface.  This should be recessed by 1/4" because they come stock with a cap over it to prevent adjustment. (guesstimate)

Pict in reply #8