Posted by Bruce Clarke on February 23, 2000 at 04:38:55:
Lately I've been riding my 'new' KZ650 a lot and have been letting the Savage sit more than I maybe should. Last week I only rode it maybe two or three times for short rides around town. I last rode the Savage after work on Friday to pick up some bread from the supermarket. All weekend I rode the KZ, and then on Monday I go to start up the Savage to go to work.
Crank-crank-crank, but no start. Dang. The battery seemed to have juice and the starter kept turning over but the engine wouldn't start. After trying for a few minutes I gave up and took the KZ.
It was a long, kind of crummy day at work. When I got home from work I checked to make sure the bike had plenty of fresh gas and that it was flowing into the carb okay (it was). I then pulled the gas tank off the bike and checked the spark plug.
You know, whoever designed the placement of the spark plug and the battery for the Savage should be shot. On my KZ I can easily replace all four plugs in just a few minutes, but the Savage requires you to pull two bolts on the seat, two bolts on the base of the tank, and then you have to struggle to remove the frigging tank. All this for one lousy spark plug. I couldn't get the electrical connector to disconnect for the speedometer, so I left the gas tank sitting loose on top of the frame bar (this would turn out to be a mistake...)
I see the spark plug is pretty dirty and fouled up, so I decide to change it. It looked like it might rain, so I draped a cover over the Savage before I left. I buy a new plug and get back home. As I pull the cover off the bike, the cover pulls on the gas tank - and you guessed it, the tank fell off the bike and landed on the ground with the speedometer face down.
I stood there and stared at it. I actually started to laugh because after the lousy day I'd had at work I just _knew_ there'd be a dent in the tank. I pick it up and flip it over. Yep, a nice dent right next to the speedometer. It looked like someone had gotten mad at the tank and punched it, leaving a couple of big knuckle-sized dents. Great.
So I get the new plug in and hook up all the connectors and cables. I try starting the bike. Crank-crank-crank. No start. Dang. I check the plug. No spark.
At this point it was getting dark outside so I gave up for the day.
Tuesday I had the day off from work, so first thing in the morning I pull the battery. Here's this idiot Suzuki engineer at work again. On my KZ you unlock the seat, unbolt the terminal leads, and lift the battery out of the basket. On the Savage you have to unbolt the seat, unscrew the left side cover, take off the tool cover, remove three (!) frigging screws for the tool bag holder, unbolt the terminal leads (which are kind of awkward to get at), and finally pull the battery out.
I see that the battery levels are pretty low and it looks like there's some sulfation happening, so I figure it's time for a new battery (this one is the original and is a good three plus years old).
First thing in the morning I go down to the bike shop. A new Yuasa battery is $65! Great. After giving it a few hours to charge I pick it up in the afternoon and put it in the Savage. Va-room! the Savage starts up on the first try.
So what did I learn from this exercise?:
- I probably should have checked the battery before the plug. I figured that if the battery could turn the starter over it should be able to spark the plug, but now I know better.
- The design of the Savage is not very maintenance-friendly. It shouldn't be such a hassle to do something as simple as change a spark plug or a battery.
- It's very easy to dent a gas tank!