Posted by Witch Doctor on April 17, 2000 at 03:07:10:
In Reply to: Re: Savage -vs- Honda Rebel posted by Don on April 17, 2000 at 02:18:16:
Mt wife Lisa is the less than happy owner of an 87 450 Rebel. She bought it in decent shape for $800 from the parts guy at the HD shop. I'd taken her in to look at the Hugger, she hated it, TJ had the Honda at the house, and the deal was done. She got around 2000 miles on it, andf it played the typical Honda trick of being indiagnosably dead. The Honda shop couldn't figure it out, let alone the two of us. I sunk a ton of money into it, sprockets, chain, plugs, coil and wire set, overhualed the carbs twice, rebuilt the petcock, and the damned thing is still dead. It has good compression, good spark, gets fuel, beats me what is wrong with it. I even bought a brand new HD tank, cap and petcock to use as a test tank, and couldn't make it run. Will turn over, will idle, as soon as you put any load to it, it gets rough and dies, no matter how you play with the throttle. It has set up for almost 2 years now, and if I don't get it running right soon, it will be cut in half down the frame center, and made into the sign for my little bike shop, if I ever get around to going full time. I think the lack of parts availablity, high maintenance costs, and very smal following will preclude the reintroduction of this model, ever. It's too bad, as the 450 has a lot more potential to be a distance cruiser than the Savage in a lot of respects. It is roomier, has more options, is simpler to work on, smoother, and seems to have more top end AND torque than the Suzi. As for going uphill, Lisa's Rebel would walk away from my Savage, everytime. When we took both on a club ride, her's was welcome, mine wasn't, AND, she could keep up with the big bikes, I couldn't. My money though is on the Savage as the bike to buy now. At least you can overhual and modify it without waiting months for parts to come in.
That's my opinion, and like it or not, right or wrong, I'm standing by it. I've ridden both models, both have their strentghs and weaknesses. Buy what is comfortable, to hell with what anyone else says, and enjoy it.
See ya'll on the roads.
-WD