Fwiw........
I bought the Suzuki gel seat for my last Savage and found it quite uncomfortable for several reasons:

1)  Gel doesn't add cushioning, it just absorbs vibration.  When they hollow out the seat to embed the gel pad, you lose about 1/2" of foam.  Sitting on even a thin gel seat does do a good job of numbing the pain points from vibes, but you get hammered worse on rough roads because the gel does not compress at a noticeable rate.

2)  Gel absorbs heat and stays hot for a long time, and can be a frying pan if you park in direct sunlight.  It also gets cold on chilly days.  In both situations you have to sit on the seat for a while to normalize it's temperature.  Think of the stuff as a slab of that blue ice goop you pack around drinks and food in the cooler.

2)  The back of my Suzuki accessory solo gel seat sloped up too soon, so I sat against an incline and it tended to slide me forward.  Not much fun riding when the seat gives you a wedgie.

The new one-piece gel seat looks better contoured than the previous effort, but I recommend a test sit before you spend a big chunk of non-refundable money.

I've talked about bike seats with guys who clock a lot of mileage each year, one who did the Iron Butt, and the current consensus seems to be against gel, but in favor of closed-cell foam.  Closed cell has millions of trapped air bubbles which add a lot of cushion as they compress under load.  In comparison, open cell foam relies only on the wall structure of the foam rubber for support.  Building up the stock seat with a layer of closed cell foam may be better than embedding a slab of gel.

> I have a "Butt Buffer" which is a gel pad that you can
> throw on top of the seat.  I find that it really doesn't
> improve anything....

I bought a Travelcade over-the-seat  gelpad from JC Whitney last year to use with an 800 Intruder on a two-state tour.  The pad was substantial, a good value and good quality.  After you sit on an exterior gel pad for an hour, your sit bones sink into the gel and it forms around you.  What they don't tell you is that as you sink into it the gel, surfaces not bearing weight tend to squish up a little and put pressure on anatomical areas not intended to support you.  A thinner slab of gel may have been better.  Gel embedded into seat foam and under upholstery seems to disperse better.

Regarding the rear suspension I whined about, I got a confirmation this morning from Dave Quinn that Hagon shocks are available for the Savage/S40.  These are the good old Girling units under a new name.  I put a pair on a rough riding Yamaha a while ago and they made a BIG difference in smoothing out the harsh hammering.  The Hagons have different spring options, too, so you can dial-in the shock to your weight.  

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hagon's specs are:

280mm
12x19 bush top and bottom
23kg spring
Black body w/chrome or black spring: $179 a pair

Dave Quinn Motorcycles
http://www.davequinnmotorcycles.com

> is there a microswitch on the carburator

Not that I can see, it's the same carb they've used for years.  What did the switch do, trigger a heater?

Jon wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:


Looks really Savage.  Nice bike.  I really like the seat change.  Let us know how it feels after 100 miles.

What are the little goodies that you have up in the center of the bar?

I guess they removed the little reflector from above the license plate bracket for the S40 model.  The bars are kinda like they were in the early Savage years with the flat bars and risers.

> > Posted some photos of the S40 here:
> > http://tinyurl.com/6otyk

Added a few more pics today.


> I really like the seat change.  Let us know
>how it feels after 100 miles.

The seat is good for 100 miles between gas stations, but because of the shocks I'm still happy to get off and take a break.


> What are the little goodies that you have
> up in the center of the bar?

The Aerostich clock and thermometer, nifty little items that are quite useful.  Go here and do a Search for Clock and you'll see the clip-on items:

http://www.aerostich.com/riderwearhouse.store

There are no electrical items on our 2000 and 2001 Savages.

Interesting.