Hello Savage fans!
I am JJ, I have been admiring this web site for some two years now from the shades. Some wonderful people are here and they have excellent knowledge and a benevolent general attitude.
I have worked with marine electronics and electrics on high seas since 1980. Quite a difference on my field since 40 years - the only tubes (valves for the Norteamericanos) are the magnetrons in radar and those are on the way of the dodo in some years. I have some years left I hope. Savage is the embodiment of the technology of the ‘80s and I feel right at home.
I have had bikes since the early ‘70s, from moped to Zundapp DB200, Jawa250, Honda CL72, CX500C, MZ TS125, Suzuki GT750J, Kawasaki Samurai, BMWR1100R. Everything that rotates interests the fool. But the older I got, the less I drove. My last bike, the Beemer I had for 17 years with 6000 miles on the clock when I gave it to my son-in-law. That was 2017.
Enter the COVID-19 virus.
I have searched for a TLC -level Savage since March when I stopped working due to virus and the risks it poses. In August I found one some miles away and drove her home as my emotional support animal to weather out the virus. Matching the budget pricing, she has had a rough life already. She was marinated in Atlantic salt sprays for years under a palm tree if at that and she was finally resurrected on the last moment to commuter duty with her oxidized aluminum painted over with matte black rattle-can and rusted chrome bling ground dim with sand paper. But the PO claimed that her 3000 miles shown was real and engine started and run happily. It stopped with after-fire so I knew it was not really molested. Sure enough, I drove home with a smile. The cam chain plunger was 13.4mm out so the 3000 miles is quite believable. Original tires she had too, all rounded up from the sun exposure. Oil test drop on business card came out clear and oil did smell and look and feel ok. Poof. First part of budget- check.
I have preference over roadster -type of a steed and from these pages I learned about the potential of Savage for such a conversion. So I got to work with masseuse tools enforced with angle grinder and battery drill and hack saw and metric tap kit and my stainless bolt and nut marine installation stash. In November I invested into a Harbor Freight drill press and screw bench for it as I noticed that none of my newly-drilled holes were so straight.
I invested about a 1000 bucks on eBay and ordered some bright work and wheels with usable tires and a triple-tree lower part and 25tooth front pulley and a spare pulley bushing and GT750 rear light and GS750 rear fender (my friend builds my old GT up in Finland as he retires in February - this GT rear is a tribute) and GS650 center stand and Intruder 800 footrest support and GT750 gear pedal Intruder 1400 rear brake pedal and links and Kawasaki 400 instruments and long engine bolts and other leftover stuff from SV650 stripping and rust encapsulating rattle can of matte black paint. I also ordered a ultra-cheap (and thin) Chinese tank for GN125 and two ultra-cheap RFY 350mm shocks to raise the rear (very good shocks even without fill-up and higher gas pressure IMO) intended for small ATVs. This is a budget build taking advantage from the two-meter social distance requirement which allows some gross imperfections on a 2004-model with ex-beach boy background. I rigged an electrolytic rust converter bath from a 6V battery charger and started converting rust back to iron, I cut the lower triple-tree shaft off and drilled the stub off using the Harbor Freight step-drill which had the exact size. Now I can let the fork drop down 50mm to make the steering less radical. I reinforced the upper triple-tree to take the original handler and I rigged the mid-controls to work in unison with the original gearshift and brake pedals. I re-purposed a tile cutter electric motor to turn a Harbor Freight rag disk to polish the oxidized aluminum parts - fork legs, engine sides, triple-trees, what ever there was. A lot of wire-brush - 120 -320 - 600. - 1000 sequences preceding the enjoyment of seeing the aluminum shine. Lint now covers many a surface on my garage. Along the project, I took some pics, mostly after but I will publish some. As many of my processes are quite non-professional and will certainly need ‘don’t try this at home’ parameter set, I will be suitably light in many details as many of my mods are directly dealing with brakes, gears, instrumentation and frame geometry, all affecting the unit in traffic situations. As she left factory this motorcycle of mine is not. But the daily tinkering has kept me sane. Or has it?
Verslagen, Gary from NJ, SavageBob, Oldfeller, Super-Bike Mike and many other talents both in technology and altruism are like characters on This Old House but infinitely more accessible and free from any commercial links and aspirations. I have daily referred to the parts list, service manual and Motorcycle Handyman CD made available on this site for no cost. This website is a wonderful and remarkable resource Thank you for letting me participate.
Suzuki Savage on its various appearances has not been a perfect product from the Factory. Carburator and emissions on a single cylinder air-cooled engine are not really compatible without compromises in drivability. The expansion of the high cylinder really calls for a better design of cam chain tensioning system. The front brake has been weak from the beginning, the economy has won over usability. But all this just seems to increase the charm of this motorcycle. It is just simple enough that fixing these items seems to be possible to a mere mortal, adding sense of ownership and encouraging tinkering. No computerization to dazzle the uninitiated, no data bus, only three diodes in starter logic and a manual choke will please the owner from the onset. I have had old English Fords (Anglias and Cortinas) and there is a very similar often deceptive I admit, aura of general simplicity with the Savage: I can fix this, I can repair this, I can modify this. For someone like me who cannot leave something well enough alone, the pull of Savage has been impossible to resist. This site adds gasoline to the flames.
I hope you all members feel properly thanked because this praise of what this website represents is all true.
Stay healthy and keep the shiny side up!
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