Hey everyone -

I am in the market for a Savage.  I have owned two Rebels (not enough power), an Intruder (too heavy), and have decided that my next bike should be a Savage due to the combination of light weight, low seat height, and power.  I am a lightweight guy and have difficulty with a heavy bike if it starts to drop.

Okay - all that being said.....which year(s) do you guys recommend as the best for the Savage?  I know they have made changes over the years (gears, lighting, etc) and wanted to check with the experts for advice on this.
Do some have more power, better ride, easier to maintain, etc?

Also, is there anywhere I can find which colors were available for each year?

Thanks!

Drake

8)I'm gonna pitch for the 2002 & newer LS650's due to the fact that the pesky rubber plug that was prone to leaks found in the cylinder head was replaced with a better designed plug in 2002. The '04's had nicer looking bullet-shaped directional signals and oval mirrors which replaced the earlier lobster-stalk directionals and rectangular mirrors. The '05 Boulevard S40 (S40 replacing "Savage" as the model tag) is arguably the finest looking LS650 with a cool one-piece saddle, drag bars, lack of sissy bar (for a more stream-lined look) and very unique pearl white paint job!

I didn't know about what they mentioned when I bought mine, but I did know about the gear changes.  Somewhere in the early 90's they change to 5 speed.  Does fine with 4 I guess, but I would rather have 5.  The new blinkers are nice, but cheap and easy to change yourself.  Same with the sissy bay.  Other than that it is pretty much the same bike it has always been.  Jetting has changed since the 80's, but you will eventually want to change that to your own liking anyway.  Again, easy to do.

One thing you might look for is someone who bought it with the "accesory package."  This is what the guy who bought mine said it was called and he mentioned several things it included.  I forget all of them now but one was a gel seat.  Hard item to find, and a much desired item.  Saved me a sore butt, headache and over $200.

The 5-speed models of the LS came out around 1990 or so, but may not have been sold in the U.S. during the early/mid. 90's, only overseas

drake wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:10:


They fixed the head seal/plug issue in 2002, so it's fine after that too.  Mine is 1998 and I just fixed it myself some months back.  It's not difficult or expensive but it is time-consuming and tedious work.  However, I found it interesting and educational too.  So far as the seats go, the 2-piece is intended for the Savage because it comes with a 2-piece stock seat.  The 1-piece is intended for the S40 because the S40 has a 1-piece stock seat.  There are very minor differences in mounting but the S40 seat fits on my Savage quite well.  The S40 (1-piece) gel seat also has the option of the "pillow" style, which is what I bought.  So far as which is more comfortable, you'd have to check it out yourself - maybe at a dealer.  I've only tried the stock Savage seat (one that was seven years old already) and the pillow style S40 seat.

I've had an '88 for a while and really love it.  It's got the flatter bars which I really appreciate.  Only quibble is a lot of times I'm hunting for another gear so maybe the newer ones would be better.  But if you get a good deal on a low mileage older one, no way i would pass it up!

Oh, and if you like the sissy-bar, it comes with the Savage but not the S40.