Posted by Polar Pilot on May 19, 2001 at 14:40:05:
Came down from the arctic a couple of days back - first task was to get the shed openned - second was to role out my Savage.
Daily it seems I read posts about issues with this machine - and I wonder what causes them.
I got my Savage in 1999. It is a 1988 four speeder.
In 1999, I rode about 5,000 kms. Last year I rode only about 300. When I put the bike away in September of 2000, I was rushed and all I took time to do was disconnect the negative terminal on the battery.
Well - I grabbed a philips screwdriver, reconnected the battery terminal , put the fuel tap on prime - pulled the clutch and punched the starter. She spun immediately (battery had not drained over the winter) within seconds that familiar popping sound commenced ( well maybe a lawn mower type sound is a bit to strong but it is an asthetic question about exhaust sound) did not cough or act up (gasoline was not stabilized over the winter), got down on my knees and hauled the bike vertical to check the oil level ( it was right where it should be at mid glass in the site window) kicked the tires (put a gauge on them later - still at the assigned pressures) and went riding. Cruising along smoothly at highway speeds and a touch more I again mentally congratulated Suzuki for the terrific engineering on this machine and myself for being lucky enough to find one .
The temps in the shop last winter were as low as -15C.
I think this is a hell of a testament for the engineering on this machine -no mods of any kind to the mechanical systems - I got rid of the backfiring by closing the throttle completely on deceleration - what more could we be asking of a motorcycle.
Pure joy - hard to fine - harder to describe.
Made it a great day
Keep the rubber side down
Polar Pilot